Saturday, September 27, 2008
Why Believers Can Sound Obnoxious to Non-Believers
Say you're at a good point in life where everything is going well. What do you say to your friend, who is not as fortunate?
A) I'm happy because I worked hard and made all the right decisions. I deserve it.
B) I'm happy even though I don't deserve it, I've been blessed.
Both answers can be obnoxious to the friend, because it sounds like in A: You are not deserving of happiness and B: You are not blessed by God.
What about C?
C) I'm happy due to a combination of my decisions and dumb luck.
Note that C is a variant of A couched in more diplomatic terms. But to an unhappy person even C can be obnoxious, simply because to a certain type of unhappy person any evidence of happiness in others is an affront (read psychic injury).
Just keep in mind that when a believer annoys you with a B-type comment that the alternative is no better.
I'll write something about Divine Providence in another post.
A) I'm happy because I worked hard and made all the right decisions. I deserve it.
B) I'm happy even though I don't deserve it, I've been blessed.
Both answers can be obnoxious to the friend, because it sounds like in A: You are not deserving of happiness and B: You are not blessed by God.
What about C?
C) I'm happy due to a combination of my decisions and dumb luck.
Note that C is a variant of A couched in more diplomatic terms. But to an unhappy person even C can be obnoxious, simply because to a certain type of unhappy person any evidence of happiness in others is an affront (read psychic injury).
Just keep in mind that when a believer annoys you with a B-type comment that the alternative is no better.
I'll write something about Divine Providence in another post.
Labels: Thoughts
# posted by Mahsheed : 6:58 AM
