For those of you who have left the institutional church you will probably relate to what I am saying.
After being out of organized religion for nearly three years now, some of the traditional and normal terms of the christianese language really bother me. I guess it should not do so because I certainly understand why people say them and I used to say them myself at one time or another. Even after being away from the traditional church for three years some of the terms of speech are still hard to quit saying.
Now days my wife and I see things a little differently. This is my viewpoint and I certainly do not mean to say it is wrong to use certain terms or that I am right and everyone else is wrong. It is just one of those things that make me cringe when I hear certain terms.
Such as ‘this is the Lord’s day’ when people talk about Sunday. Many Christians use the term the Lord’s Day when talking about the Sabbath or the day of rest. To them it is the day we go to church and worship God. Personally, I believe every day is the Lord’s Day as the Bible says in Psalms 118:24 this is the day the Lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it. It does not mention a particular day.
Or the term ‘we are on our way to the house of God’, like God lives in a house. People are talking about going to church but God does not live in buildings or houses, He lives in us. Do you not know that you are the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you? (I Corinthians 6:19)
We will hear people talk about ‘the Word of God’ and know they are talking about the Bible. I think the Word of God is a person, not a book. The Bible talks about God and it leads us to Jesus but the Bible is a book written by men who were inspired by God but not controlled by God. The Word of God who is living, all powerful, inerrant and perfect, sharper than any two-edged sword is Jesus. As the Bible states in John 1:1 in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.
We mention God as a male Father, yet God really is not male or female. God is spirit and I believe has both male and female attributes. I certainly do not think there is anything wrong with saying Father or Him or Her, but it is a mindset we have that God is a man with all the attributes of a male. We picture God as a huge blank-faced man sitting up in heaven looking down on us, but God is spirit, God is everywhere and the Kingdom of God is within us.
Pastors will talk about special services by telling the people to be sure and come tonight because ‘God is going to show up and the Spirit is going to fall on those who are here’. That one gets me because God lives within us and is everywhere so how is He going to show up up now and then at special times and places? And didn’t the Spirit come upon humans on the day of Pentecost? Why would he fall upon us again when he is already living within us?
I realize a lot of the time we use these terms out of habit even when our beliefs and interpretations have changed. We seem to be so indoctrinated by the teaching of the institutional church and the denominations we grew up in that these terms just come out. I know this is probably a minor thing and whether we use such terms or not we are talking about the same God and we all love God. Yet I wonder if by using these terms are we reacting to a mindset of old covenant thinking rather than the new covenant day of grace.
My wife and I are certainly finding out that when leaving the institutional church and the many traditions, doctrines, interpretations and terms of speech we were taught over the years, it is much harder to break free from the institutional way of thinking than it is physically leaving the building.
Done with Religion 
You are right, one person deems this day special another person does not or deems another event special. We could say each day we get up ‘this is the Lords’ day’ because every day is the Lord’s day. We each do what we feel is right as we follow our Father and each of us see things differently and won’t all follow in the same way, yet we all are following after God. The point I was trying to make was the mind-set of people. To many of us have the old covenant mind-set and saying this is the Lord’s day goes back to trying to keep the sabbath, which in turn is trying to keep the law. Only thing is Jesus fulfilled the law and we live under the new covenant of grace. Good comment. Thanks for posting.
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i do believe there is justification for use of “the Lords Day”.I also agree that every day is given us by the Lord,but the reference in psalms 118 speaks of a particular day,resurrection day.Verse 22 and 23 are prophetic speaking of Christ being the cornerstone.Peter writes of this in Acts 4:10-11. I believe it was common for the early believers to gather and refer to the 1st day of the week as “the Lords Day”.John wrote that he was in the Spirit on the Lords Day..Rev. 1:10. Having said that,nowhere are we commanded or obligated to the 1st day of the week,or anything like it being a day to be kept instead of the Sabbath or any such thing.Under grace,one man esteems one day as more important,and one man considers each alike…let every man be convinced in his own mind…Romans 14:5 It is the more law-minded in my opinion,who are so devoted to the keeping of the day and there is nothing wrong at all about there doing so as to the Lord. when,however they sit in judgment of those who do not share their preference,conviction, they are wrong and if i understand Romans 14 correctly,they are showing themselves to be the “weaker” christian rather than the “stronger”. While WHEN it was written,Paul wrote to accept one another,now,that we have all the scripture it is clear that to be one of the “strong” more mature should be the goal,and to choose to remain as one of the “weak” seems stupid,a refusal to grow in grace. Sadly, it seems to me many have flip-flopped this,and leadership is dominated by the “weak”and that has been promoted as the ideal,and ironically they view themselves as the strong. Enjoyed the post and hope more will comment.
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