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i think my favorite is the last. while in no way do i want to minimize the intentions of someone attempting to offer insight and relevant scriptural evidence to a question, one of my biggest peeves is when people respond, minus commentary with (usually lengthy) scripture, leaving me pondering the relevance of said "scripture bomb".
7) [A long, non-sequitur string of scripture references without commentary that generally involve some kind of prophetic "warning" of apocalyptic destruction that has nothing to do with the topic at hand.]
This might not be a Jesus juke so much as a manifestation of mental illness. But maybe there are people who think that throwing non-sequitur scripture bombs at other people is a legitimate form of spiritual conversation. Here's the rule: if you can't explain in your words why you're using God's words, then you're abusing God's words and they certainly aren't your words to own.
7) [A long, non-sequitur string of scripture references without commentary that generally involve some kind of prophetic "warning" of apocalyptic destruction that has nothing to do with the topic at hand.]
This might not be a Jesus juke so much as a manifestation of mental illness. But maybe there are people who think that throwing non-sequitur scripture bombs at other people is a legitimate form of spiritual conversation. Here's the rule: if you can't explain in your words why you're using God's words, then you're abusing God's words and they certainly aren't your words to own.
I think this comes in two ways. I will use myself as an example.
When something bad happens to me, I often hide how I am feeling/how I am really doing. Part of this is because I am wary of people's reactions, or I'm expecting to get Jesus-juked. So, I don't let on how I am, so then people don't really know what to say when I do say something, so they resort to Christianese. I once texted my sister after an ordeal in 2012, and said, "I don't think people really get how hurt I was by _______." She said, "That's because you don't let them know how hurt you are." Touche. I can't hold people to a standard of advice if I leave giant patches out of the story. The thing is, it's hard to trust and know which people are safe to tell those patches to.
However, sometimes no matter how well you explain, you still have those who don't truly listen and so go to "God has His reasons; Trust God more; Move on, Christ has better things for you in store" and it goes on. Are those things true? Probably (though I don't think that there are always better things ahead and I also am not a big believer in "everything happens for a reason"). Is it helpful? Not really. It makes me want to say, "Oh! Thanks to you, I can now suddenly trust God more, and all my problems are solved and my emotions are in line! Woohoo, who knew it was that easy to 'Just trust God more!'"
Reminds me of this:
Life and circumstances and working through them takes time, process, and help, not a magic phrase or "just do this" fix.
When something bad happens to me, I often hide how I am feeling/how I am really doing. Part of this is because I am wary of people's reactions, or I'm expecting to get Jesus-juked. So, I don't let on how I am, so then people don't really know what to say when I do say something, so they resort to Christianese. I once texted my sister after an ordeal in 2012, and said, "I don't think people really get how hurt I was by _______." She said, "That's because you don't let them know how hurt you are." Touche. I can't hold people to a standard of advice if I leave giant patches out of the story. The thing is, it's hard to trust and know which people are safe to tell those patches to.
However, sometimes no matter how well you explain, you still have those who don't truly listen and so go to "God has His reasons; Trust God more; Move on, Christ has better things for you in store" and it goes on. Are those things true? Probably (though I don't think that there are always better things ahead and I also am not a big believer in "everything happens for a reason"). Is it helpful? Not really. It makes me want to say, "Oh! Thanks to you, I can now suddenly trust God more, and all my problems are solved and my emotions are in line! Woohoo, who knew it was that easy to 'Just trust God more!'"
Reminds me of this:
Life and circumstances and working through them takes time, process, and help, not a magic phrase or "just do this" fix.
A
I remember just before I got saved, I opened up to one person and one person only about my suicidal tendencies at that point in time. I typed him up one massive suicide letter and kind of dumped the ball in his court. He typed a response back, saying how wonderful and unique I am and how much I am needed and loved in this world. You know what? I was furious with him. I was so angry because I felt like he wasn't listening nor understanding what I was actually saying. But it was true, he couldn't understand. It wasn't just an emotional rant, or an expression of my pain, I was asking this young man to save me, and I was so utterly disappointed when he didn't.
People try and love people the only way they know how. You say their responses are of good intention... but at the root of that good intention is love. It is love expressed in the only way that a person knows how to express it at that point. It is love that is seeking to reach you, impatient as it is.
My expectations for people are now set reasonably low, even for the ones who promise to stay close to me for the rest of my life. I think it is unfair to expect people to help me carry my burdens, some things on my heart are too heavy even for two people. Everything comes back to Jesus one way or another. People can offer temporary comfort, but we all have been built with that aching loneliness that people can't fill.
There are some funny (but entirely lovable) individuals in Streams of Consciousness. You know the ones. The ones that jump at every post that even so hints that that person is having a hard time, and they've pumped their responses with scripture steroids and one way road signs, all signalling to Jesus. Honestly, I've had a couple of them jump me after my complaints, and me being me, my first response was 'YEAH, DUH' or, 'SETTLE DOWN, I JUST WANT TO COMPLAIN FOR LIKE, 2 MINUTES, DUDE'. But, at the end of the day, they were wondering about me, they were thinking about me, they were concerned about me. They didn't have to be, but they were. Knowing that in itself gives me some comfort, like a reassuring hand on the shoulder.
And admittedly, sometimes I need a hard scripture whack. Some days, I just want to soak in my mopey non-goodness. But we are called in to this life of battle, we are called to wield the sword of the spirit and to put on the full armour of God. Sometimes I need a slap of scripture to remind me I'm dozing off and I need to take up my sword again.
We miscommunicate all the time, we misunderstand on a regular basis, this is just the daily life of human beings... but I don't know, personally I want to be thankful for even the little things, I am thankful for little bits of love that come out all messy. Love is precious. Sometimes loving someone means being honest and pointing people to the One who can save them since we in ourselves cannot play Saviour.
( Sorry if I took this thread the entire wrong way, I usually end very long responses by reminding people I do tangents real good)
People try and love people the only way they know how. You say their responses are of good intention... but at the root of that good intention is love. It is love expressed in the only way that a person knows how to express it at that point. It is love that is seeking to reach you, impatient as it is.
My expectations for people are now set reasonably low, even for the ones who promise to stay close to me for the rest of my life. I think it is unfair to expect people to help me carry my burdens, some things on my heart are too heavy even for two people. Everything comes back to Jesus one way or another. People can offer temporary comfort, but we all have been built with that aching loneliness that people can't fill.
There are some funny (but entirely lovable) individuals in Streams of Consciousness. You know the ones. The ones that jump at every post that even so hints that that person is having a hard time, and they've pumped their responses with scripture steroids and one way road signs, all signalling to Jesus. Honestly, I've had a couple of them jump me after my complaints, and me being me, my first response was 'YEAH, DUH' or, 'SETTLE DOWN, I JUST WANT TO COMPLAIN FOR LIKE, 2 MINUTES, DUDE'. But, at the end of the day, they were wondering about me, they were thinking about me, they were concerned about me. They didn't have to be, but they were. Knowing that in itself gives me some comfort, like a reassuring hand on the shoulder.
And admittedly, sometimes I need a hard scripture whack. Some days, I just want to soak in my mopey non-goodness. But we are called in to this life of battle, we are called to wield the sword of the spirit and to put on the full armour of God. Sometimes I need a slap of scripture to remind me I'm dozing off and I need to take up my sword again.
We miscommunicate all the time, we misunderstand on a regular basis, this is just the daily life of human beings... but I don't know, personally I want to be thankful for even the little things, I am thankful for little bits of love that come out all messy. Love is precious. Sometimes loving someone means being honest and pointing people to the One who can save them since we in ourselves cannot play Saviour.
( Sorry if I took this thread the entire wrong way, I usually end very long responses by reminding people I do tangents real good)
When people come to me for advice (which kind of happens a lot... odd since I don't talk much, but also not odd because people seem to know what I'm about, regardless), I take what they're saying very seriously. I pray that God would show me what to tell them. Sometimes my response will look a little like Christianese to some people, sometimes it won't. Sometimes it's really long and detailed, sometimes (okay, usually 
) it's more concise.
I don't think it's typically very helpful to tell someone something like "trust God more" without telling them how they might go about it, or pointing out something that might be a hangup for them, or telling them what that's looked like for you in the past. After all, how can anyone make themselves trust anyone, even God? They probably need more info here.
But the fact that people are different, and situations are different, means that my responses to people will be different, too. God knows what people need to hear, and how they need things worded. Maybe they need to be told that yes, they CAN stop looking at porn, and they only make it harder for themselves every time they tell themselves they can't. Maybe they need an anecdote about what I did when I was in college. Maybe they need a "your mom" joke. (Heresy! How did that get in there?)
I do empathize with Zao's frustration, but also hope that everybody who is ministering in any capacity is staying attuned to God's leading and not feeling bound by hard-and-fast rules about how to respond to people.
) it's more concise. I don't think it's typically very helpful to tell someone something like "trust God more" without telling them how they might go about it, or pointing out something that might be a hangup for them, or telling them what that's looked like for you in the past. After all, how can anyone make themselves trust anyone, even God? They probably need more info here.
But the fact that people are different, and situations are different, means that my responses to people will be different, too. God knows what people need to hear, and how they need things worded. Maybe they need to be told that yes, they CAN stop looking at porn, and they only make it harder for themselves every time they tell themselves they can't. Maybe they need an anecdote about what I did when I was in college. Maybe they need a "your mom" joke. (Heresy! How did that get in there?)
I do empathize with Zao's frustration, but also hope that everybody who is ministering in any capacity is staying attuned to God's leading and not feeling bound by hard-and-fast rules about how to respond to people.
Yeah, there's a reason I don't talk about many personal things online.
And I have to say it is really sad that so many christians are so ineffective when it comes to the basics of listening to and connecting with people. It's even worse when you find people that you are trying to help learn to minister better and they refuse to listen to correction and insist that they are being loving by being dogmatic. And don't get me started on the people who when they find out someone is not a christian all they want to do is convert the person, not find out what drove a non-Christian person to Christian chat in the first place. Or those who can't speak intelligently about their faith and can only spout off unintelligible christian jargon.
It was worse on the previous christian chat site I frequented and I do like those of you I know in the singles forum (at least for the most part) so don't take this personally. But I think I can honestly say, the past year of getting back into christian chat sites has done more to help me understand why people have such negative opinions of Christians than I think anything else could. And I should probably add in a thanks to all the mods here on CC who work tirelessly to try to keep this a good and supportive environment for us all because I think they do a pretty good job around here.
And I have to say it is really sad that so many christians are so ineffective when it comes to the basics of listening to and connecting with people. It's even worse when you find people that you are trying to help learn to minister better and they refuse to listen to correction and insist that they are being loving by being dogmatic. And don't get me started on the people who when they find out someone is not a christian all they want to do is convert the person, not find out what drove a non-Christian person to Christian chat in the first place. Or those who can't speak intelligently about their faith and can only spout off unintelligible christian jargon.
It was worse on the previous christian chat site I frequented and I do like those of you I know in the singles forum (at least for the most part) so don't take this personally. But I think I can honestly say, the past year of getting back into christian chat sites has done more to help me understand why people have such negative opinions of Christians than I think anything else could. And I should probably add in a thanks to all the mods here on CC who work tirelessly to try to keep this a good and supportive environment for us all because I think they do a pretty good job around here.