So a friend of mine is going through some serious shit right now in her life, and she posted a little about it on Facebook, without going into specifics. One of her FB frends commented:
Not sure what's happening, but will pray.
Okay, he means well, but I just want to point out something extra dumb about this: If you aren't sure what's happening, how can you pray about it? How will you know what to ask god to do? Oh, god just knows, is that it? Well then why do you need to pray in the first place? Shouldn't just saying, "Yeah, god, that stuff you're supposed to do, get right on it," shouldn't that be plenty specific enough? Why pray specifically for my friend if you don't even know what you are praying for? And if god is just guessing it for you, why pray specifically for my friend?
Good intentions, yes, I know. Good, incredibly stupid intentions.
"Yeah, god, that stuff you're supposed to do, get right on it," shouldn't that be plenty specific enough?
ReplyDeleteThat was pretty much what I would do, back in the day. Felt pretty foolish.
But see, if you *ask* what you can do to help, the person might ask you to do something. It could be an unpleasant something, a depressing something, or just something that takes up some of your free time.
ReplyDeleteIf, on the other hand, you say "I'm praying for you", well, you get the satisfaction of knowing you've "done something" without any potential for it interfering with your own life!
[/sarcasm]
"Not sure what's happening, but I'll burn something non-descript in effigy."
ReplyDeleteI think it's just the equivalent of I'm thinking about you. Not religious at all, but I think it is the perfect vague response to a vague "serious shit, but not gonna elaborate" post on facebook. No offense, but both posts cancel each other out.
ReplyDeleteHeh, okay, you've got a point. Reminds me of ContextBot: http://xkcd.com/1085/
ReplyDelete