Christianese

*Please read the following post with tongue firmly lodged in cheek.

Here's one 'Christianese' saying I've heard LOTS over the years:

I covet your prayers.

Covet.

That's a sin, right?

I did a keyword search in the New Testament and not one reference to the word "covet" was positive.

So why use one of the sins condemned in the 10 Commandments to tell people how much we want them to pray for us? Won't they take us seriously otherwise?

I guess the simple carefree days of "please pray for me" are over. They're long gone. People need something more dramatic, some sign to prove how serious we are. Now-a-days we need to sin just to get on someone's supplication list.

It's like saying,

I need your prayers so badly I want to steal them.

I idolize your prayers about me.

I'll shun my parents just to show how much I need your prayers.

I'd kill to have you pray for me.

Or better yet...

I will bear false witness against my parents, steal their stuff, kill their parakeet and build an altar to you -- and I'll do it all on the Sabbath -- if only you'll pray for me.

You get the picture.