American Christianity’s Magic Word: “Just”
June 24, 2008 3 Comments
Added a new link to the Humor section, Stuff Christians Like, the site is a spoof of Stuff White People Like which blew up here on WordPress earlier in the year.
The fact that the site is a spoof itself of a “secular” idea does not escape the author’s notice per the inaugural post,
#1. Putting a God Spin on Popular Secular Ideas
Entry #96 Using God’s favorite word (“Just”) took me back to a post over on Purgatorio titled, Just the Lord’s Prayer, in which the clever people over there interject “just” into the Lord’s Prayer.
Even the relatively short time (5 years) I’ve spent immersed in American church culture, I’m still puzzled at the prevalence of this word.
Does the profligate use of “just” in public prayers reveal something more significant than the existence of Christianese?
Now that i think about it, after all my life in the Christian culture, that word is all over most prayers. What exactly are we trying to say to God? You could at least do this? or, You haven’t done much lately, so pony up. Maybe it makes the person praying sound more spiritual or makes the prayers sound more thoughtful and serious. Then again, maybe it is just filler.
Who knows?
If only we could just figure it out…
I think it started with the song “Let’s Just Praise the Lord” which was the forebear of “can’t we all just get along.”
It has nothing to do with justice, and probably is used as a filler like “uh” or “you know” but when properly used means “simply and without extra motive.”
I don’t think I want God to “just” bless me. I want all the extras, above anything I could ask or think.