A Glossary of Religious terms in layman words:
Faith – to entrust things of value to another for safe keeping. The quality of faith is measured by the significance of the items that have been transferred to the other party (things of value such as career, finances, home, even friendships and community). One’s faith in God is measured by the degree to which things of value have been transferred from one’s own control to God’s control.
Hope – the willingness to wait. For one whose faith is in God, the wait is for the revelation of God’s Creativity and Love in our current circumstance. We hope not for a specific outcome, but for God’s character (His/Her creativity and love) to be expressed in our lives. It is God’s Compassion that sustains us in our time of waiting.
Love – One of at least two needs that God is compelled to express about him/herself. A particular aspect of love, Compassion, (which means to Suffer With) is the one type of love God could not demonstrate in the perfection of Heaven before the creation of our world. It is therefore no coincidence that the first description God gives of Him/Herself in the Bible is that S/He is Compassionate (and Gracious). S/He is the God who is With-Us in our suffering so that we don’t have to endure it alone. If we are to become like God, then, our first quality would naturally be to be compassionate to those around us and choose to suffer alongside with them.
Happiness – the feelings of goodness and cheer that we extract from our circumstance. Happiness comes from outside of us, and we are dependent upon our circumstance to be happy. Happiness is primarily self centered experience. The world pursues happiness for itself, but God places a higher priority on joy.
Joy – the feelings of goodness and cheer that we inject into our situation and environment and is made complete in the sharing of that positive experience with others. Joy comes from within us and spills out and is relational in nature. It is not fulfilled until it is shared, and when it is shared, the positivity is multiplied. Joy is focused outwards toward others. The Bible speaks much more of Joy than of Happiness.
Blessing – the purposeful acts that cause another to be happy. When one blesses another, one creates the circumstances in another person’s experience that help others to feel happy. God’s charge and promise to His/Her chosen people is that they would be a blessing to the world. While the world craves to receive happiness as an end goal, God and those who follow Him/Her find the greatest purpose and joy in creating happiness (being a blessing) for others.
Grace – the proactive accommodation for one’s needs even before those needs are expressed. Grace anticipates another person’s needs and moves to fulfill those needs even before the recipient has a chance to articulate them and ask for help.
Mercy – the reactive accommodation of one’s needs after those needs have been expressed. Gracious and Merciful are the subsequent descriptors that God gives about Herself/Himself in the Bible/Torah next to being Compassionate.
Forgiveness – choosing to accept and embrace the consequences of the scars of an injury or injustice done against us. The scars can even reach beyond ourselves to affect our loved ones, and may have a lasting and initially hidden effect on us and our loved ones. Forgiveness is only possible if we shift our attention from the one who injured us to the One in heaven who exercises Her/His Creativity, constantly finding ways to turn tragedy into something beautiful. That is where Hope and the willingness to wait comes in….
Sin – a preposition that describes one’s proximity toward God as one of independence (moving away from God).
Salvation – a preposition that describes one’s proximity toward God as one of complete dependence upon God (leaning toward to the point of touching God).
Hell – The comprehension of being completely and utterly alone. The logical ultimate consequence of continued independence from God.
Heaven – The comprehension of the fullness of God’s presence. The logical ultimate consequence of complete dependence on God.
Earth (our present existence in this world) – A limited slice of of an ultimate reality that is constrained by unidirectional time whose primary participants (people – mankind) have varying ability to “see” the presence of God. Life in this world is like living in a foggy environment where sometimes the fog is thicker, obscuring one’s view (of God’s presence) and sometimes the fog is thinner (allowing one to comprehend God’s presence more clearly.) The promise of heaven is that some day, those who entrust themselves to God and lean into/onto Her/Him will wind up in “heaven” – not a place, but a condition where God’s presence is utterly clearly observable without any distraction or obscuration.