Should we always assume the best?

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Miguelita

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Just a quick question; is it a Christian perspective to assume the best of someone? As in, to always assume they’re telling the truth, living the way they say they are, etc, unless we have serious reason to believe otherwise? For example, if you’re concerned that something that something in their lives may be a temptation of sin for them, but they assure you it isn’t, should we drop it? or if a person has a history of a habitual sin, and claims they’ve beaten it, should we stop asking about how they’re doing with it?

I know it’s an odd question, but I was just wondering today, about wether we should always expect the best, or if it’s better to err on the side of caution.
 
When it comes to others we should not err on the side of caution. That can be quite intrusive and tempt us toward judgement of that person. I assume the person is telling me the truth until I can see evidence to believe otherwise, or if they tell me so. It doesn’t hurt to ask how things are going generally to show we care, but without being too nosy about it.
 
A good example is much more powerful than verbal correction. I’m not sure anyone’s time is best spent trying to discern the interior moral life of others. That’s God’s problem, not ours. When faced with apparent sin, it may very well fall to us to point out the perceived problem, but we can’t take more responsibility for the actions of others than that.
 
Miguelita said:
Just a quick question; is it a Christian perspective to assume the best of someone? As in, to always assume they’re telling the truth, living the way they say they are, etc, unless we have serious reason to believe otherwise? For example, if you’re concerned that something that something in their lives may be a temptation of sin for them, but they assure you it isn’t, should we drop it? or if a person has a history of a habitual sin, and claims they’ve beaten it, should we stop asking about how they’re doing with it?

I know it’s an odd question, but I was just wondering today, about wether we should always expect the best, or if it’s better to err on the side of caution.
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Ironically, it is more safe to err on the side of expecting the best. For we do no damage to our intellect and we do no damage to our neighbors or ourselves.

But of course, if someone has some good evidence to the contrary, then one does not have to always think the best of that person.

Info. on this is supplied in the Summa Theologica under “Judgment”.
 
Thank you for the replies, they were VERY helpful! You see, a friend of mine has a few lifestyle choices that I don’t agree with, and was concerned something I was doing was a contributing factor to it by proxy. She laughed and told me it had nothing to do with it when I asked her. Since I’m an obsessive worrier, I was worried about wether it was right to believe her. I have no reason not to, but I’m a very very obsessive person. Thank you again
 
Miguelita said:
Thank you for the replies, they were VERY helpful! You see, a friend of mine has a few lifestyle choices that I don’t agree with, and was concerned something I was doing was a contributing factor to it by proxy. She laughed and told me it had nothing to do with it when I asked her. Since I’m an obsessive worrier, I was worried about wether it was right to believe her. I have no reason not to, but I’m a very very obsessive person. Thank you again
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You are not responsible for her behavior in either event.

I have a nephew who is, shall I say ‘truth challenged’. If he is going to 7-11 to get a Pepsi, he will tell you he is going to Circle K to get a Coke.

Sometimes he tells the truth so when I talk to him, I neither believe or disbelieve what he says. Unless there is some real reason to know what the truth is, I simply take what he says with a grain of salt.
 
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