the D word etc

[Kathrin]

Sometimes when somebody used the phrase, “I’ll be d##ed” or something along those lines I feel like I need to make them “take it back” so it won’t “come true”. I believe though that that’s not the way God works… and stuff like that is just superstition… it still makes me feel anxious sometimes though.

Recently somebody said to me, just as a figure of speech, “I’ll be d#$#ed if I don’t take you out to dinner before you leave again”. Is there ANY reason I should feel obligated now because he used that word, so he will not be “d…d”???

OK, my rational brain tells me: Of course not!!! Otherwise people could manipulate each other this way, and really thinking like this is superstitious and I should dismiss thoughts like that immediately and pray for guidance.

But is there anybody here who can relate to this?

Kathrin

 

[lizaanne]

I don’t wish to offend you, but just to be clear, are you talking about the word damned?

~Liza

 

[repo_man]

no, it’s just an off-the-cuff expression. had he said, “if i do not take you out to dinner i swear i hope that YHWH himself will damn my wretched soul to the deepest, darkest level of hell.” then maybe he’d be a little more serious (although i do not know who could seriously say that, lol). it’s just a figure of speech though, don’t sweat it. it’s just habitual. i doubt he sincerely wanted to damn himself to hell.

 

[chevalier]

It’s definitely not a matter to joke about and it’s playing with forces outside our control. While singular instances will most likely not be sinful, or venial if somewhat more culpable, I believe there is some room for mortal sin in the more extreme form of it - using God’s name in a magical sense, as if we could control God, or as if we would believe He would do evil and condemn an innocent soul, those things can be mortal - sufficient knowledge and consent would make them, the matter of attributing evil to God is grave, of attempting to control God is also, and while a mortal sin cannot be committed accidentally, I believe this kind of thing is playing with fire and should be avoided as best one can.

 

[deb1]

Sometimes when somebody used the phrase, “I’ll be d##ed” or something along those lines I feel like I need to make them “take it back” so it won’t “come true”. I believe though that that’s not the way God works… and stuff like that is just superstition… it still makes me feel anxious sometimes though.

Recently somebody said to me, just as a figure of speech, “I’ll be d#$#ed if I don’t take you out to dinner before you leave again”. Is there ANY reason I should feel obligated now because he used that word, so he will not be “d…d”???

OK, my rational brain tells me: Of course not!!! Otherwise people could manipulate each other this way, and really thinking like this is superstitious and I should dismiss thoughts like that immediately and pray for guidance.

But is there anybody here who can relate to this?

Kathrin

Even if a individual had the power to damn themselves by a simple phrase, you as the listener have no control over their actions. You can explain why the phrase bothers you but beyond that you are not responsible for that person’s words.

 

[Kathrin]

I did explain it to him.

He did say it was just a figure of speech.

But when I asked him to take it back he said no, probably meaning that he meant it in the figurative sense: That he really DI want to take me out.

I know in my heart that God Who is Love does not work in that migical way. It is this obsessive/scrupulous side of me that still makes me feel anxious. I remember how in the past somebody even teased me about it, saying things like “ou are going to hell if you do this or that” and it made me almost go crazy with anxiety. But not like I really believed it.

(And God please forgive everybody who has ever teased somebody in this way, because they know not what they do!!!)

I even think it might be a little bit sinful to be anxious, because it is kind of superstitious, right?

Kathrin