The Top Ten Christian Catch Phrases that Need to be Killed Dead

#10 “You took the fall and thought of me above all”
This is a quote from the chorus of the worship song “Above All.” This song was made popular by Michael W. Smith. Is this a true statement? When Jesus died on the cross did he think of me above all? Pastor Mark Gedicks of Windham Baptist Church, pointed out that Jesus could not have thought of us above all. If he did, he would be the worshiper and not the object of worship. This worship song needs to be retired.

#9 Accept Jesus into Your Heart
This phrase is found no where in the Bible. The Holy Spirit comes into your heart at salvation, not Jesus. We do not even accept the Holy Spirit into our heart. The Holy Spirit is a down payment or an earnest, as the KJV puts it. The core of Christianity is truth. Everything we say should be the truth. Jesus is fully man and fully God, eternally in bodily form. How can a God who has become fully man, shrink down small and live in my heart?

#8 Head's Bowed, Eyes Closed, Raise your Hands if You want to be Saved
Did Jesus use this salvation ritual? No, he didn't. Did Peter or Paul? No, they didn't. In fact, no one in scripture has prayed with their eyes closed. There is nothing wrong with it, but it is not mandatory. The whole alter call ritual was invented by Charles Finney in the 1800s. Jesus said, “if you deny me, I'll deny you before the Father.” (Matthew 16:33)

#7 I preach the gospel wherever I go. If necessary, I use words.
This is a quote form Saint Frances. God has called us to preach using words. Our lifestyle, however, must match our wards. Romans 10:17 tells us that faith cometh by hearing. Preaching implies words. We must speak and live the gospel.

#6 It's not my ministry, it's God's.
People who use this want to take the focus off of ourselves and put it on God. Unfortunately, it takes away the individual nature of ministry. Ministry is personal. My ministry is different from yours. God uses people in coordination with their interests, skills, life experiences, et cetera. This phrase could be egotistical, but does not have to be. Too many people get hung up on terminology.

#5 Let go and let God.
This sounds a lot like Buddhism. God wants us to act. He wants us to abide and bear fruit. We don't spread out our arms and let God take us. We submit to his lordship. We get on the alter Romans 12:1. Everyday, we must choose to be a living sacrifice.

#4 Don't do it on your own strength.
This is a misunderstanding of John 15:3 that says without me you can do nothing, which is a statement of fact, not a command. This is a very Armenian concept. Ephesians 2:10 says “for we are as workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath foreordained that we should walk in them.” Christians do good works after salvation. True Christians abide in him. Christians are consistent in their walk. This sounds a lot like use the force, Luke. A true Christian has God's and automatically uses it.

#3 Joy: Jesus Others and You
When I first heard this, it was hard for me because the emotion was gone. This is not a totally bad statement. The church in the modern age attempted to strip all emotion from faith. When you think of the 1800's church, you probably think of a serious and boring ritualistic service. In the Bible, joy involves emotion. In Nehemiah 8, the people responded to the reading of the law with mourning. Nehemiah told the people not to be sad because the joy of the Lord is your strength. He wanted them to be emotional. In our post modern age, Christians are even more leery of emotion. God wants us to love him with all our heart mind and strength. Many Christians have embraced the view of Plato that emotion is evil. The Bible does not teach that.

#2 Joy is different than happiness; you can be joyful without being happy because happiness is based on what happens.
This sounds really profound, but it's not. It is not a Biblical phrase. I did a concordance search and found 13 verses with the word happy. All but one was positive. Only Malachi 3:15 was negative. Many verses talked about how people who feared the Lord were happy. I have no idea where this concept came from, but it needs to go.

#1 It's not a religion it's a relationship. (Barf!)
You hear this all the time. They say religion is man's attempt to get to God and Christianity is God's coming to us. The Bible does not talk about Christianity being a relationship. God is our Creator, Redeemer, and most importantly our Lord (Master). He is not our boyfriend. A proof text is James 1:26, “If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless.” James is not saying that religion in general is worthless. He is saying that the man who claims to be religious but does not control his tongue, his religion is useless. The very next verse describes what true religion is. If there is a true religion, than religion can not be bad.

Epilogue
These catch phrases, while well meaning, are hurtful to the church. They need to go. I challenge pastors and those who serve as elders deacons or other church leaders to please evaluate these phrases. Jesus wants us to worship him in spirit and in truth. At best these phrases are inaccurate. At worst the are a hurtful distortion of the truth. For the sake of truth, they need to be discarded.