Re^4: Jokes, ad-hominem attacks, and sensitivity

[husker]

Some points:

- Christians identify with Christ. They aspire to be more Christ-like. Christ is the ideal which they strive to attain. Therefore, to most of that faith, insulting Christ is insulting them, since they are wishing to be, in every way, just like the person being insulted.

- To Christians, Christ is not a public figure. He is God with whom we have a personal relationship. He is family. Your example of mother is well-taken. In my case, jokes about my mother would hurt to the same degree whether or not she was a public figure, because the family relationship trumps that for me.

- your statement about " (groups of) real people" led me to believe that offending a group held some distinction from insulting an individual. I apologize if I misread your intent.

I'm not asking you to change your own opinions about the sanctity of any particular religious figure .. just trying to explain to you how others might feel about it.

[jdporter]

I understand your viewpoint, but it is entirely misguided. Christians consider it a blessing to be insulted, mocked, even killed for the sake of their Lord. Being Christ-like is being humble even to the point of death. Taking umbrage at any insult is decidedly un-Christian. God can take care of Himself. It's not the Christian's business to defend His honor. Unfortunately, that tendency is exactly the source of so much violence in the world.

[husker]

The tendency to be insulted is indeed a human one, not a Christ-like one. I agree that anyone "fighting" for Christ is indeed missing the point entirely. However, nobody who follows Christ, however sincerely or earnestly, is free from these temptations.

Christians SHOULD consider any persecution on Christ's behalf to be a blessing, but that is a very difficult thing to acheive. Not all of us are perfect in that regard, however much we wish to be :)

Anyway, I was not trying to say anybody SHOULD be insulted, just that a person should expect that at least SOME Christians would be insulted. Hopefully those people would remember their call to be Christ-like and not attack or insult in return.