Help Me Understand Evangelical Terminology/Concepts

[Envy2]

I (non-religious, non-theistic) recently took up a position in an office that sometimes works with Evangelical/Televangelical ministries. Now despite my hard moral rejection of these ministries, it's a very good job for me for various reasons. I need this job right now and for the foreseeable future.

One of the tasks we do is recording/summarizing prayers and I'm sometimes at a loss as to what people are actually praying for. Some things are clear like healing, financial breakthroughs,etc. However, there are other things they pray for that are much more cryptic. I was raised a Christian, but a very light form of Christianity that didn't talk about these things.

Typically I can summarize by just recording what they said, but sometimes I have to creatively summarize and that can be difficult without understanding the concepts.

One of these that I think I'm finally at least understanding is "harvest". The first time I saw it I thought the individual was a farmer wanting a good harvest in their crops. Lol. Even still, why I now understand it is a different concept from that I still don't understand it.

Others off the top of my head are:
Deliverance (I think this means removing something from one's life)
Divine Healing (I know what healing means, but is this the same thing?)
Seed (related to Harvest, I think)
Anointing
Holy Spirit/Ghost (I do understand that's a part of the holy trinity that many Christians believe, but when someone asks for something from that specifically, is that important versus just saying "God"/"Jesus"/"Lord")
Speaking of "the enemy/enemies"/taking back everything that the "enemy" has taken
Salvation/Saved/Come to the Lord/etc. (I know what these mean in general, but is there a distinct difference between each one, or can I substitute one for the other?)
Generational Curses

I have more. I just can't remember them right now! D: I will make a specific note of some when I'm back in my work week and come back and list more.

PS, this is a straight question, not an invitation for proselytizing. Keep that in mind, thank you.

 

[2PhiloVoid]

The first thing to understand is that the term "Evangelical" covers a spectrum of positions within a certain movement of Christianity. It isn't a synonym for "Charismatic," which is but one type of evangelical.

You're in a very specific brand of Evangelical employment and the terms you hear on the job are peculiar to that slice of evangelicalism. You won't necessarily hear them in other kinds of evangelical churches/denominations.

 

[Mr. M]

Holy Spirit/Ghost (I do understand that's a part of the holy trinity that many Christians believe, but when someone asks for something from that specifically, is that important versus just saying "God"/"Jesus"/"Lord")

Let me start with something positive. You do well here with this one.
2 Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
Therefore, simply using "Lord" is fine. This is the case throughout the scriptures.

Anointing

Think empowerment. If someone is praying for an anointing, they feel called
to perform some task on Christ's behalf, and seek His power and authority,
in a sincere desire to not attempt such efforts on our own strength.

Divine Healing (I know what healing means, but is this the same thing?)

If you sought the aid of a physician, and he/she told you there is nothing that
can be done for you via the medical community, who you gonna call?

Speaking of "the enemy/enemies"/taking back everything that the "enemy" has taken

This is a highly questionable one, since it is often God's Will to remove something
or someone from especially a new believer's life. The tendency to blame everything
on the devil(the enemy) is common. The prayer of faith is for the Lord to replace
what was lost, preferably with some better thing that is in His Will.

I think I will stop here. but since I took the time to respond, please allow me
to ask one question concerning your statements.

Now despite my hard moral rejection of these ministries

What hard moral objection could you possibly have toward ministries that are
committed to helping others and ministering to their needs?

 

[Clare73]

I (non-religious, non-theistic) recently took up a position in an office that sometimes works with Evangelical/Televangelical ministries. Now despite my hard moral rejection of these ministries, it's a very good job for me for various reasons. I need this job right now and for the foreseeable future.

One of the tasks we do is recording/summarizing prayers and I'm sometimes at a loss as to what people are actually praying for. Some things are clear like healing, financial breakthroughs,etc. However, there are other things they pray for that are much more cryptic. I was raised a Christian, but a very light form of Christianity that didn't talk about these things.

Typically I can summarize by just recording what they said, but sometimes I have to creatively summarize and that can be difficult without understanding the concepts.

One of these that I think I'm finally at least understanding is "harvest". The first time I saw it I thought the individual was a farmer wanting a good harvest in their crops. Lol. Even still, why I now understand it is a different concept from that I still don't understand it.

Others off the top of my head are:
Deliverance (I think this means removing something from one's life)
Divine Healing (I know what healing means, but is this the same thing?)
Seed (related to Harvest, I think)
Anointing
Holy Spirit/Ghost (I do understand that's a part of the holy trinity that many Christians believe, but when someone asks for something from that specifically, is that important versus just saying "God"/"Jesus"/"Lord")
Speaking of "the enemy/enemies"/taking back everything that the "enemy" has taken
Salvation/Saved/Come to the Lord/etc. (I know what these mean in general, but is there a distinct difference between each one, or can I substitute one for the other?)
Generational Curses

I have more. I just can't remember them right now! D: I will make a specific note of some when I'm back in my work week and come back and list more.

PS, this is a straight question, not an invitation for proselytizing. Keep that in mind, thank you.

What you don't understand from the request, I recommend in your summarizing that you simply repeat the words of the supplicant, for you do not seem to be qualified to summarize them correctly according to the supplicant's true meaning/needs.

 

[William J]

For the "harvest" one, the background may be Matthew 9:37-38,
"Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”" (NIV)
In this context, it refers to people coming to believe in Jesus.

Deliverance could be removing something harmful from one's life, but I would define it more as being saved from something, so maybe that's the same thing, I don't know. In the Lord's Prayer, also known as the Our Father, Jesus famously said, "deliver us from evil".

Divine healing probably just means being healed by God, either physically or spiritually.

The seed could refer to God's word in the Bible, that can grow within us.

Anointing could mean literally pouring oil on someone's head but it's more likely used figuratively to mean being set up for a specific role by God.

Explaining the role of the Holy Spirit in Christianity is rather difficult, so I won't attempt that here.

The enemy usually means the devil, also known as Satan.

Salvation is also a big concept that is hard to summarize, but basically coming to believe in Jesus and getting to go to Heaven. We believe salvation is accepting Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross for our sins.

I have never heard Christians talk about generational curses before, but I would guess it's something like the parents passing on some sort of sinful practices to their children. I'm really just guessing though.

I hope your job is successful and maybe that being around Christian terminology might prompt you to take another look at our faith.

 

[DragonFox91]

As an evangelical:

Deliverance: freedom from sin; no longer a slave to it

Divine Healing: a person medically very ill or very sick becomes well despite doctors saying odds not good, most likely doesn't really have a scientific explanation. Can refer to sudden freedom from mental illnesses as well

Seed (related to Harvest, I think): Not sure about Seed in particular. But In regards to Harvest: there are good & bad 'seeds' in the world. When the time comes, God will harvest the crop from the seeds & judge what seeds brought good fruit & what seeds brought bad fruit.

Anointing: someone called & blessed to be holy, usually in a church setting

Holy Spirit/Ghost (I do understand that's a part of the holy trinity that many Christians believe, but when someone asks for something from that specifically, is that important versus just saying "God"/"Jesus"/"Lord"): In the Book of Acts (after Jesus's ascension into Heaven), the Holy Spirit provides many miracles to the early believers. The Holy Spirit also works in us in other ways (for example he draws us to the Father & the Son). Christians who pray to the Holy Spirit recognize this & so that's why some prayers are addressed to him.

Speaking of "the enemy/enemies"/taking back everything that the "enemy" has taken: The enemy is those who work against Jesus or don't live according to what he wants. They live in sin & delight in it. The enemy has turned the world away from God & we want the world to be turned back

Salvation/Saved/Come to the Lord/etc. (I know what these mean in general, but is there a distinct difference between each one, or can I substitute one for the other?): I believe they can all be used interchangeably. One who's saved has salvation, they have come to the Lord.

Generational Curses: When one sins, he isn't the only one who suffers, his decendents suffer as well. Adam is the best example: he brought sin into the world & we are all suffer because of it (tho we would have also made the same or similar mistake). Jesus is the New Adam.

 

[Envy2]

You're in a very specific brand of Evangelical employment and the terms you hear on the job are peculiar to that slice of evangelicalism. You won't necessarily hear them in other kinds of evangelical churches/denominations.

That's fair, but these ministries all do seem to use the same kind of lingo. Perhaps I should specify that these are the kind you see on TV.

What hard moral objection could you possibly have toward ministries that are
committed to helping others and ministering to their needs?

I appreciate your answers. However, know that I am not here to debate. In fact, it is the very reason I eventually left these forums after deconverting. I'm happy to discuss these matters, but not on a Christian forum, as that is me coming to your space and starting arguments.

What you don't understand from the request, I recommend in your summarizing that you simply repeat the words of the supplicant, for you do not seem to be qualified to summarize them correctly according to the supplicant's true meaning/needs.

I want to get better because I plan to be at this job for quite some time (until I move out of state). Perhaps I'm overthinking things and my management thinks I'm summarizing fine. I am prone to insecurity at new jobs.

I hope your job is successful and maybe that being around Christian terminology might prompt you to take another look at our faith.

You can hope and pray what you wish. But I will assure you there's no way that I would come back to Christianity through these ministries.

Thank you for your answers. Anointing seems to be a physical thing in these ministries, as they sell anointing oil.

@DragonFox91 Thank you for your answers. "Seed" seems to be related to donating. My first thought would have been that it is the idea of planting a seed in someone or a group of people to change them over time. However, it also could be something more general, like it being a "seed" that leads to the "harvest" of the person's prayers coming true, or it's a "seed" that is just to help the ministry do more. IDK.

That is where I am confused. It could be any number of those things, or perhaps it is a different thing every time. lol

 

[Gregory Thompson]

I (non-religious, non-theistic) recently took up a position in an office that sometimes works with Evangelical/Televangelical ministries. Now despite my hard moral rejection of these ministries, it's a very good job for me for various reasons. I need this job right now and for the foreseeable future.

One of the tasks we do is recording/summarizing prayers and I'm sometimes at a loss as to what people are actually praying for. Some things are clear like healing, financial breakthroughs,etc. However, there are other things they pray for that are much more cryptic. I was raised a Christian, but a very light form of Christianity that didn't talk about these things.

Typically I can summarize by just recording what they said, but sometimes I have to creatively summarize and that can be difficult without understanding the concepts.

One of these that I think I'm finally at least understanding is "harvest". The first time I saw it I thought the individual was a farmer wanting a good harvest in their crops. Lol. Even still, why I now understand it is a different concept from that I still don't understand it.

Others off the top of my head are:
Deliverance (I think this means removing something from one's life)
Divine Healing (I know what healing means, but is this the same thing?)
Seed (related to Harvest, I think)
Anointing
Holy Spirit/Ghost (I do understand that's a part of the holy trinity that many Christians believe, but when someone asks for something from that specifically, is that important versus just saying "God"/"Jesus"/"Lord")
Speaking of "the enemy/enemies"/taking back everything that the "enemy" has taken
Salvation/Saved/Come to the Lord/etc. (I know what these mean in general, but is there a distinct difference between each one, or can I substitute one for the other?)
Generational Curses

I have more. I just can't remember them right now! D: I will make a specific note of some when I'm back in my work week and come back and list more.

PS, this is a straight question, not an invitation for proselytizing. Keep that in mind, thank you.

Sounds very charismatic/pentecostal, I tend to see things differently but here is how I understand the terms you have laid out.

Deliverance: Exorcising a demon, sometimes means removing an oppressive influence from someone's life that may or may not be a demon.

Divine Healing: Healing requested to God to make it happen, faith/trust needed as a conduit.

Seed: Tends to relate to planting a seed and watching it grow. Usually is used related to paying an offering, or contributing to a ministry and expecting a financial blessing in return later on. There is an alternate meaning in the bible, but it is rarely used in those circles.

Anointing: The way it feels when the Holy Spirit of God is blessing you.

Holy Spirit/Ghost: In context of the other examples, especially deliverance: God, the Holy Spirit makes it happen.

Salvation/Saved/Come to the Lord/etc: Salvation is being born again by the Holy Spirit. When you are born again, the body stays the same, something inside is transformed and made alive. The way people see this happen varies, so there are varied terminologies.

Generational Curses: This is a teaching that states, your grandma was cursed, so your mother was cursed, and so you are cursed. So the prayer is to break the chain so there is no more curse and no more transmission.

 

[2PhiloVoid]

That's fair, but these ministries all do seem to use the same kind of lingo. Perhaps I should specify that these are the kind you see on TV.

Right, you probably do hear the same stuff. But without knowing the exact ministries you're working for, I'm just going to guess that most of them are "Faith Movement" advocates, and as I implied before, the terms they will likely use in their lingo on a regular basis are specific to the working vocabulary that that slice of evangelicalism has developed over the last several decades.

The terms used by your fellow working constituents which you're telling us about here imply, to me, that you probably not working for the some evangelical media group like the BOTT Radio network.

I wish you the best in your job, and I know we all need employment to feed our families, but I dare say that if you're an atheist, you've ended up in a very challenging place to work due to the ideological disparities that exist there between you and the rest of those folks. Good luck with all of that!

 

[BobRyan]

One of these that I think I'm finally at least understanding is "harvest". The first time I saw it I thought the individual was a farmer wanting a good harvest in their crops. Lol. Even still, why I now understand it is a different concept from that I still don't understand it.

depends on context but often it refers to "harvest of souls" after sowing the seed of the Gospel (see Matthew 13) - other times it speaks of some form of prosperity.

Others off the top of my head are:
Deliverance (I think this means removing something from one's life)

Freedom from something they feel the devil is causing in their life or a bad habit.

Divine Healing (I know what healing means, but is this the same thing?)

all healing from God is divine healing

Seed (related to Harvest, I think)

depends on context -- sometimes it is sharing the gospel other times they are talking about giving donations to a Christian ministry and expecting a great financial blessing in return from God.

Anointing
Holy Spirit/Ghost (I do understand that's a part of the holy trinity that many Christians believe, but when someone asks for something from that specifically, is that important versus just saying "God"/"Jesus"/"Lord")
[/quot]

Anointing is an act of the Holy Spirit setting someone aside for a specific purpose and gifting that person with a talent or skill in doing that work/mission/purpose.

Speaking of "the enemy/enemies"/taking back everything that the "enemy" has taken

A reference to the devil, demons or humans cooperating with them

Salvation/Saved/Come to the Lord/etc. (I know what these mean in general, but is there a distinct difference between each one, or can I substitute one for the other?)
Generational Curses

born again, new creation, salvation, saved, come to the Lord ... all the same thing

 

[Pavel Mosko]

Others off the top of my head are:
Deliverance (I think this means removing something from one's life)
Divine Healing (I know what healing means, but is this the same thing?)
Seed (related to Harvest, I think)
Anointing
Holy Spirit/Ghost (I do understand that's a part of the holy trinity that many Christians believe, but when someone asks for something from that specifically, is that important versus just saying "God"/"Jesus"/"Lord")
Speaking of "the enemy/enemies"/taking back everything that the "enemy" has taken
Salvation/Saved/Come to the Lord/etc. (I know what these mean in general, but is there a distinct difference between each one, or can I substitute one for the other?)
Generational Curses

Wow each one of these could probably make a pretty good thread. Well here is the lingo but just because I describe or render a definition does not mean I necessarily believe in or endorse this stuff.

Deliverance is the Evangelical name for demonic exorcism.

Divine Healing is basically "Faith Healing" like from a TV Evangelist, but with some potential fudging that in some cases it isn't always an instantaneous thing but anytime the person also recovered unusually swiftly from prayer as well.

Holy Spirit/ Holy Ghost - I think you are referring to the universal Christian belief that Christians that come to Faith, are baptized etc. have the Holy Spirit presence with them, inside them as a comfort, counselor, advocate etc.


Enemy talk - in general in Christianity as a whole there is an assumption that world is basically ruled by evil spirits, basically fallen angels, of which Satan / the Devil is the leader. They are the forces behind the scenes, pulling the strings of evil world leaders, and sometimes other people like maybe a bad boss at work etc.


As far as Salvation talk it kind of all means more or less the same thing. I guess the only difference is the peculiar theology of some groups. Some Pentecostals and Born Again Christians I've known sometimes insist that a person needs to have a vivid memory of the exact time they accepted Christ or they probably aren't saved etc. Definitely disagree with a lot of these kind of new unofficial theologies from various groups. They can equate a lot of things like emotional catharsis with salvation and while those can go together I believe peoples experience, personalities greatly differ on stuff like this. Not to mention, church history gives us lots of examples of believers that don't fit this mold.


Generational Curses. This is the one I most disagree with, as a former graduate student in counseling psychology. I think it conflates, equates, spiritualizes and reifies a lot of stuff, and in most cases is more problematic than helpful. This is more of a Charismatic buzzword that has gone mainstream in recent years.

 

[Sketcher]

I (non-religious, non-theistic) recently took up a position in an office that sometimes works with Evangelical/Televangelical ministries. Now despite my hard moral rejection of these ministries, it's a very good job for me for various reasons. I need this job right now and for the foreseeable future.

The most prominent ones don't represent the faith well. I can't think of any that do. Anyway . . .

Deliverance - Getting rid of anything that might oppress a person, be it a demon, a sin habit, an abusive work or domestic situation, or a chronic disease.

Divine Healing - Supernatural healing from God. There's what the immune system does (regular healing) and then there's actual miracles that God performs to heal someone, like when Jesus and the Apostles healed people (divine healing).

Seed - In televangelist circles, this means money, like an investment. You pay them $1000 and God will eventually, someday bless you with multiple thousands (the harvest) if you do everything else they tell you. I personally hate this manipulation tactic. In churches that are not consumed with greed, when we talk about planting seeds we mean sharing our faith in a productive way. The harvest (conversion) comes later at some point. One may use this analogy when describing giving, but it's not used as often, since getting is not the point of giving.

Anointing - The spiritual authority to do miracles, prophecy, and teach. I consider claiming to have this yourself loudly and often as a red flag since that's not humble at all, and is even used as a bullying tactic. The Holy Spirit is not about bullying or coercing followers of Christ.

Holy Spirit/Ghost - one of the three Persons of the Trinity. Is responsible for converting souls and working miracles, and we partner with him in the transformation of our lives.

Speaking of "the enemy/enemies"/taking back everything that the "enemy" has taken
Salvation/Saved/Come to the Lord/etc. - Christianity believes there's the dominion of the enemy (Satan) and the kingdom of God (Heaven, and the church). These kingdoms are at war. When Adam and Eve colossally messed up, they basically allowed the enemy to take everything on Earth over. Jesus led the invasion to take it all back, so to speak. That has been in progress ever since his ministry on Earth. When someone converts, that person has escaped into God's kingdom, and God's kingdom therefore expands. When there's disease, oppression, crime, cultural evil, that's still territory that the enemy still "occupies". What taking this back practically looks like is something that not all Christians agree on. Theocrats have one way of approaching it, other Christians see that as six of one, half dozen of the other because of how Satan's side can influence theocratic structures (i.e. the Spanish Inquisition).

Generational Curses - it's possible for a person to be cursed with something, his son with it, and his grandson with it, etc. The Pentecostal/televangelist tradition really amps this up. And when there's a curse like that, you need God to break it, and they're all about being the people to facilitating that. Making this more frequent than it needs to be fits in with their business models nicely. I do not deny that they exist, but people of that tradition are very quick to claim that it's there. For instance, they might see alcoholism as a generational curse, and if someone converts at a revival and doesn't drink anymore, that's breaking it. Or perhaps someone comes from a family of occultists, and they need deliverance.

 

[Vap841]

However, know that I am not here to debate. In fact, it is the very reason I eventually left these forums after deconverting. I'm happy to discuss these matters, but not on a Christian forum, as that is me coming to your space and starting arguments.

You wouldn’t be the first, and you wouldn’t be the last lol

I wish you the best in your job, and I know we all need employment to feed our families, but I dare say that if you're an atheist, you've ended up in a very challenging place to work due to the ideological disparities that exist there between you and the rest of those folks. Good luck with all of that!

 

[Gregory Thompson]

The Pentecostal/televangelist tradition really amps this up.

yes, I'd agree, and quite often psychological issues are defined as demonic since some groups lack the discernment to separate psychological, paranormal and spiritual.

 

[d taylor]

Get this book and do your homework.
https://www.amazon.com/Evangelical-Dictionary-Theology-Daniel-Treier/dp/0801039460

 

[Occams Barber]

I (non-religious, non-theistic) recently took up a position in an office that sometimes works with Evangelical/Televangelical ministries. Now despite my hard moral rejection of these ministries, it's a very good job for me for various reasons. I need this job right now and for the foreseeable future.

One of the tasks we do is recording/summarizing prayers and I'm sometimes at a loss as to what people are actually praying for. Some things are clear like healing, financial breakthroughs,etc. However, there are other things they pray for that are much more cryptic. I was raised a Christian, but a very light form of Christianity that didn't talk about these things.

Typically I can summarize by just recording what they said, but sometimes I have to creatively summarize and that can be difficult without understanding the concepts.

One of these that I think I'm finally at least understanding is "harvest". The first time I saw it I thought the individual was a farmer wanting a good harvest in their crops. Lol. Even still, why I now understand it is a different concept from that I still don't understand it.

Others off the top of my head are:
Deliverance (I think this means removing something from one's life)
Divine Healing (I know what healing means, but is this the same thing?)
Seed (related to Harvest, I think)
Anointing
Holy Spirit/Ghost (I do understand that's a part of the holy trinity that many Christians believe, but when someone asks for something from that specifically, is that important versus just saying "God"/"Jesus"/"Lord")
Speaking of "the enemy/enemies"/taking back everything that the "enemy" has taken
Salvation/Saved/Come to the Lord/etc. (I know what these mean in general, but is there a distinct difference between each one, or can I substitute one for the other?)
Generational Curses

I have more. I just can't remember them right now! D: I will make a specific note of some when I'm back in my work week and come back and list more.

PS, this is a straight question, not an invitation for proselytizing. Keep that in mind, thank you.

Good luck.

I've been on CF for 10 years with no prior experience of Christianity. After 10 years on CF I still don't understand most Christian jargon. I call it 'Christianese' or 'Theobabblish'. When posting a new thread I sometimes ask if Christian contributors could please respond using plain English so I can understand their posts. This request is rarely successful.

Christianese seems to consist of a range of vague stock phrases and metaphors which literally constitute a jargon or ingroup dialect. I'm not sure that there is always agreement between denominations (or individuals) on the specific meaning of many words and phrases. I even suspect that sometimes individual Christians are not clear on the meaning of some terminology. My feeling is that they often use Christianese to signal their 'Christianness' rather than communicate a particular meaning.

When interpreting Christian jargon the best approach I can suggest is:

a) keep it vague
and
b) throw in a metaphor or two (or three)
​

Christians will probably accept your interpretation rather than admit they don't understand what you're talking about.

OB

 

[disciple Clint]

I (non-religious, non-theistic) recently took up a position in an office that sometimes works with Evangelical/Televangelical ministries. Now despite my hard moral rejection of these ministries, it's a very good job for me for various reasons. I need this job right now and for the foreseeable future.

One of the tasks we do is recording/summarizing prayers and I'm sometimes at a loss as to what people are actually praying for. Some things are clear like healing, financial breakthroughs,etc. However, there are other things they pray for that are much more cryptic. I was raised a Christian, but a very light form of Christianity that didn't talk about these things.

Typically I can summarize by just recording what they said, but sometimes I have to creatively summarize and that can be difficult without understanding the concepts.

One of these that I think I'm finally at least understanding is "harvest". The first time I saw it I thought the individual was a farmer wanting a good harvest in their crops. Lol. Even still, why I now understand it is a different concept from that I still don't understand it.

Others off the top of my head are:
Deliverance (I think this means removing something from one's life)
Divine Healing (I know what healing means, but is this the same thing?)
Seed (related to Harvest, I think)
Anointing
Holy Spirit/Ghost (I do understand that's a part of the holy trinity that many Christians believe, but when someone asks for something from that specifically, is that important versus just saying "God"/"Jesus"/"Lord")
Speaking of "the enemy/enemies"/taking back everything that the "enemy" has taken
Salvation/Saved/Come to the Lord/etc. (I know what these mean in general, but is there a distinct difference between each one, or can I substitute one for the other?)
Generational Curses

I have more. I just can't remember them right now! D: I will make a specific note of some when I'm back in my work week and come back and list more.

PS, this is a straight question, not an invitation for proselytizing. Keep that in mind, thank you.

simple Google it just like you would any other term you are not familiar with.

 

[Envy2]

I wish you the best in your job, and I know we all need employment to feed our families, but I dare say that if you're an atheist, you've ended up in a very challenging place to work due to the ideological disparities that exist there between you and the rest of those folks. Good luck with all of that!

Thanks. Beforehand when I heard the news of a gay person getting fired from a conservative Catholic school I never understood why they worked there to begin with (don't get me wrong, the lack of understanding of how they got into that situation did not keep me from being sympathetic to how they were wronged). Now I better understand how circumstances can lead to this happening.

You wouldn’t be the first, and you wouldn’t be the last lol

Oh I'm sure. In fact, I was pretty blunt in that period of time right before I left, I'm sure. But that's in the past.

Ah, come now. It's not that dire of a situation. The biggest challenge is actually me keeping myself from jumping out of a window after reading some of the material, me keeping my mouth shut, and me accepting that I'm working for people who support terrible things. That is - it's more of an inner struggle than anything effecting my value as an employee.

These are the cards I was dealt. Aside from the material, the job is perfect for me and I need it. I will bear it.

And fear not, for I know how to keep my mouth shut. I was closeted for decades, and am still closeted in my non-belief.

Seed - In televangelist circles, this means money, like an investment. You pay them $1000 and God will eventually, someday bless you with multiple thousands (the harvest) if you do everything else they tell you. I personally hate this manipulation tactic. In churches that are not consumed with greed ...

This right here explains what "seed" means in this context perfectly for me. Thanks. It's so depraved, greedy. I wanted to think better, but... it appears even I gave these ministries too much credit.

Anyway, I want to think everyone for their answers. Even if I didn't respond to you, I did read everything.

 

[Sketcher]

This right here explains what "seed" means in this context perfectly for me. Thanks. It's so depraved, greedy. I wanted to think better, but... it appears even I gave these ministries too much credit.

It is very sad and unfortunate. They took a Biblical analogy and twisted it into something so depraved and ugly, that other Christians hesitate to use it. Paul, who wrote it at first (2 Corinthians 9) was not rich, and did not seek to enrich himself through his ministry, or to bilk his congregations or treat it as a "holy" way to eventually get rich. Another church was in genuine need, and this is how he asked to help provide for it. He would not have approved of the "preachers" with expensive watches in expensive suits, driven around in Mercedes Benz, with their private jets. The twisting of it into an investment scheme, let alone where it's the giver's fault if it doesn't pay off, is sacrilege.

What the churches use more often is when he used seeds and harvests as a completely separate analogy (1 Corinthians 3:1-9).

He also wrote 1 Timothy 6:3-10, which includes direct criticisms of believing or teaching that godliness is a means to financial gain, and "the love of money is the root of all kinds of evils" quote.

 

[James_Lai]

I’m mot fluent in Christianese, but I’ll try to give my definitions.

Harvest - unbelievers to be proselytized

Deliverance - freed from any evil present in one’s life, like sin, bad habit, addiction or even demon possession

Divine Healing - yes same thing, miraculous healing by God usually through a prayer or laying of hands etc. “Divine” just emphasizes the supernatural nature of the healing

Seed - either Jesus (the Seed of the woman), or the gospel being spread among unbelievers

Anointing - God’s calling into ministry, or God providing with supernatural spiritual gifts such as healing or tongue speaking or prophecy etc, or literal oil smearing. Depends on context and church practices.

Holy Spirit/Ghost (I do understand that's a part of the holy trinity that many Christians believe, but when someone asks for something from that specifically, is that important versus just saying "God"/"Jesus"/"Lord") - basically, same thing. When Holy Spirit is addressed specifically, an action among believers is sought such as understanding, wisdom, unity, love, spiritual gifts, success in ministry among the unbelievers etc as the Holy Ghost is seen as the active supernatural force in the church and in the world in general. Jesus is the Redeemer (more personal, like a best friend) and Father is the overarching boss in Heaven. The three Persons of the Trinity in no way are three equal and same mirror images of each other. Each Person has their own characteristics and tasks.

Speaking of "the enemy/enemies"/taking back everything that the "enemy" has taken
Salvation/Saved/Come to the Lord/etc. (I know what these mean in general, but is there a distinct difference between each one, or can I substitute one for the other?) - same thing more or less

Generational Curses - same as generational problems in psychology. Like, addiction, crime, low self-esteem, sexual immorality, poverty etc… Sin, asocial behaviour or misfortune that keeps repeating generation after generation in a family, people group, locality