How would you feel if

[ThyKingdomCome]

Question 1 & 2, I don’t like, because I feel like it is asking a question a person might not be ready to answer yet - if I WERE pregnant, but not telling, I’d have to either lie, tell before I wanted, or come up with an “I’m not telling” response, which would make me uncomfortable.

Question 3 & 4 - call me crazy, but I don’t mind these questions at all, as long as they’re not followed by statements like, “you SHOULD…” I have gotten #4 more than others, and it has always been in the form of pleasant conversation and honest curiosity. And it is an excellent opportunity for evangelization. That’s the thing about being a witness - you spark curiosity. It’s good an all to be a sign to the world by your life, but the reality is that a lot of people don’t understand your witness, and so they ask - yes, questions that are breaking the rules of etiquette - but that’s because they are fascinated by what makes a religious person tick. That fascination is there because the desire to follow God’s Will is imprinted on their heart, and people who ask, consciously or subconsciously, are trying to make sense of that. We should WANT them to ask, and WANT to tell them - how else will they know? The first half of witnessing is being a sign. The second half of witnessing is being able to answer the questions “why do you do that?” If all we ever do is get offended and huffy when people ask personal questions, it’s like we are snuffing out that flame of curiosity in them, and we may be stopping the only chance they had to be given a witness to the Truth.

Can you tell I feel strongly about this? Even if the questions are clumsily asked, and rules of decorum are broken, we should remember that these are coming from a yearning to know the truth. The person questioning may not understand this yearning, but it is there. Meet people where they are - isn’t that one of the more recent themes about evangelization? That means being able to witness to people who weren’t given the rule book about all the right ways to not offend religious folks.

 

[Ejperchenough]

I agree with underacloud…depends who is asking and how they are asking…

I also wonder how to answer the first question …are you pregnant again… When it is asked by an elderly cafeteria catholic relative. How can one answer with charity, I mean in a way where one doesn’t appear to judge them?

 

[Contra_Mundum_1]

I usually start it out like My muscles were bulging that night, as the moonlight glistened off my shirtless body as I rode a horse up to the ranch…

I guarantee after you finish that story people will not ask such personal questions anymore.

Hilarious

So many people don’t regard sex and procreation as something private. It is discussed like some technical thing akin to how often you take your car to the mechanic, or what kind of food you like for lunch.

My 2 kids are a year and a half apart and I have been asked many times if I planned it that way. People are genuinely curious and think that having children so close in age is brave (or stupid). I think the question is absolutely rude and I hate being asked that, but I always tell them the truth: the 2nd one was not planned. I think the way I say it (with a big smile) makes it obvious that I am very happy about it. I sometimes say I don’t think my daughter was an accident even though she wasn’t planned.

I think this is a good way to witness to people that being surprised with children is not the end of the world, on the contrary - it can be the best thing ever. One friend once pursued this and asked if my contraception failed, to which I replied that I don’t use that. She was shocked, speechless. But she changed the topic after that and never made any comments of such private nature again.

 

[aloe]

Depends on who asks me.