By Eddie Pipkin
Image by Marc Pascual from Pixabay
I’ve noticed this thing lately. It doesn’t matter if it’s a pop culture reference, a personal lifestyle option, or a theological difference, it’s not enough for some people to state a preference; they feel a strong desire to express outright disdain for any choice that is different from their own. Let’s say you’re talking about the exciting basketball game you just watched; it’s not enough for them to note they missed it; they feel compelled to dramatically declare, “I hate basketball. Soooooo boring. What a stupid waste of time.” Such impassioned reactions even make their way into ministry settings, and in ministry settings they can unfortunately do real damage. We should be careful about going hardcore on our expressions of distaste.
This issue comes up as a course of natural conversation, but it can also come up in a couple of other nefarious ways, which are the ones we’ll explore first.
- We can exhibit demonstrative disdain in what appears to be an “off