Food for thought

Today, I found this article:  Jesus wants you to judge

I agreed with the overall sentiment that we should not shy away from judgments for the sake of keeping the peace. If we witness a murder, we wouldn't simply shrug it off and say, "Hey, I don't want to judge you, man. You do what you gotta do." in order to remain on friendly terms with the murderer. Sometimes, we have to put our neck on the line to right a wrong, or else we will become silent onlookers (ever seen the show What Would You Do?).

However, I'm also a fan of this quote by George Albert Smith in relation to the smaller sins (as in, not murder): “I would not seek to force people to live up to my ideals but rather love them into doing the thing that is right.”

So anyway, I posted the article on Facebook with the comment "Food for thought." I posted it with the sole intention of providing my 'friends' with something interesting to read and digest. After all, engaging with new ideas is what I live for.

In no less than five minutes, an old friend from high school responded to my post with the following comment:

Food for thought:
-Bible was written by men
-Bible was written thousands of years ago in a different geographical, cultural, and temporal location
-Bible has been translated and retranslated many times, as well as interpreted by those translators and early church officials

Yeah.

I blinked a couple times to make sure my eyes hadn't crusted over from staring at a bright computer screen for the past four hours (it's finals week, give me a break), but sure enough, I had read the comment correctly.

I didn't delete the comment, though I was tempted to. Instead, I replied with three simple words: "You are correct." Because he was, after all.

But here's what bothered me.

1. I posted the article so that people could read it. Engage with it. Maybe even think in new ways. But as soon as this person saw that it had anything to do with the Bible, he completely disregarded the article I had posted to inform me that the Bible is a very old, very translated document.
2. Speaking of which, did he think I didn't already know this?
3. And also, he made no attempt to attach any analysis to his comment, no "therefore...", no "in conclusion..." Nothing.
4. His assumption was that I would automatically agree with him that because a) the Bible was written by men, b) the Bible is very old, and c) the Bible has been translated probably hundreds of times, it was therefore a faulty document and any reading into it could be considered false or inconsequential.
5. Which puts a HUGE damper on pretty much all of history, considering the Bible has influenced not only society and culture and morality but even things like literature and art.
6. And finally, it gave me absolutely nothing to interact with (something to vent about, maybe, but nothing to genuinely engage with). I provided him with something thoughtful and stimulating and was given... what exactly in return? I'm still not quite sure. Certainly not "food for thought."

So yes, I was offended. But did I say so? No. I'm perfectly content with my beliefs, thank you very much.