God Bless You

Bless your heart...

Not quite, you're missing the point. It can be used as an insult, but not always.

We can agree to disagree :-)

I am not a believer.

From childhood onward I've been amazed at the variety of people who feel they can give "God" To Do Lists and inventories of people to bless.

A lot of public praying strikes me this way. Clergy or layfolk when people start giving God a long list of marching orders, I feel either amused or repelled by the arrogance.

Individual Wrote:



It was not meant as an insult of any kind. It was meant as a lighthearted retort to your telling me I needed to be on Prozac. If ya can dish it out honey, ya better be willing to get it back, don't ya think?

If I mean it as an insult, trust me, you'll know it. I throw them little smileys in there so you can tell I'm not being serious.

Don't worry about apologizing, Individual. I didn't take it as an insult. I really didn't. I thought it was just a harmless lighthearted barb.

Momma Angel,
I think you may have missed the point on this. I also felt that you made the Bless You remark, in that instance, as a rebuttal... not in a Godly way. Therefore, it came across as using it in a negative way. You may not have intended for it to be taken this way, but it was. Just looking at it from all angles.

Maybe if Dog didn't eat so many ramen noodles He wouldn't feel the need to pee on everyone....

Just a thought.... (hehehe)

Individual,

I promise you, I did not mean that God Bless You in any way at all to offend you. I do apologize to you and anyone else that felt that is what I did.

I can understand someone being offended if they were to use God Bless You as an insult, as I know some people do this. It's not right for anyone to do that.

I'll figure I don't use the Lord's name in vain - So if I'm saying "God Bless" if's for real.

If I say "Bless your heart" it's either a confirmation of something nice or empathy. And if I "SAY" it in a smarty arse manner you better examine your motives and actions.

I think we need to slow down with these replies.

Momma, I can see how this would be hard for you to understand (and even harder if you really didn't want to accept it), so let me try to re-explain my whole point to you.

I don't like it when people use "God bless you" as an insult. That's not to say that people are trying to insult you by saying it when you sneeze or are in the hospital, but sometimes they don't realize that there is a difference between asking that god bless someone who is truly in need and asking that he bless someone just because they think they are in need.

Look back to my first post and see those extreme examples? If anything, they prove that "God bless you" can be used as an insult. Yes, it is absolutely possible that those people really hoped that God would bless me and that they thought that was a good thing -- however, actions are always perceived differently depending on which side of the fence you stand.

So we know that it can be used as an insult whether intentional or not. Now let me explain why.

I'm sure you wouldn't appreciate it if someone told you that you needed an education, or that you needed Prozac, or that they hoped that you could lose a few pounds because you're looking a little chubby. Whatever the case, these are all assuming that you have some flaw that needs to be fixed -- be it a lack of intelligence, depression, or a healthy body -- under any circumstance, that really hurts.

So what about the people who assume that I need their God -- What are their motives? If I tell someone that I'm Jewish and they respond by telling me that I need their God --wether or not they add in the part about me going to hell -- that hurts. If they say it as a flippant remark after looking in my hair for the horns they thought they'd find, that hurts. And if they say they hope that God blesses me after I tell them about my opinions, I'm going to assume that they disagree and look down upon me for that, and that hurts.

In all cases, they are saying "God bless you" because they believe that I am lacking something that they believe is better than everything else. I could care less if they thought that they were better than me -- but saying it to my face in such an arrogant way is ignorant and insulting. Forget whether or not they meant well -- that's a serious breach of social etiquette in my book.

Ghaa...why didn't you say that before I typed that last post up.

Anyway, I'm glad you understand now. I have no problem if you feel like telling me "God bless you" when I'm down, but using it as an inult is, as you well know, just plain wrong (not to mention a bit hypocritical).

And I hope you'll watch out from now on for the times when you might say it, but not realize that it isn't really the right time.

I understand what you are saying. I really do. It's just hard because I can't imagine using God Bless You to insult or inflict emotional pain. I have a hard time comprehending that.

In other words, Husker, you feel blasphemy is a legitimate way to get your point across. Your "blessing" is really a threat?

Your brand of Christianity is very confusing.