The difficulties of cross cultural communication.

[cbayer]

65. When you are not part of a group that speaks a certain language,

you are at high risk of misinterpreting what they are saying or drawing conclusion based on parts that you do not understand.

The boy who had come as close to being killed as one can possibly get was saved because he had a book bag with big books in it on his back.

He is a religious believer.

Now you or I might say, "i can't believe my luck". We might say, "This is unbelievable". Some might even say, "The star must have been aligned" or "What amazing karma" or "Today must not have been the day I was meant to go".

We might think about the decisions we made that led up to having things turn out just this way.

At any rate, I would bet that we are going to be numb, overwhelmed and extremely grateful to be alive.

But grateful to what? If one is a believer, they may be grateful to their god. They may or may not believe in direct intervention, but they may feel spared.

In this case of the boy who was almost killed, what do you think he meant by "do all things", "impossible", "surrounded by grace"?

It is you that assumes to know what that means and who extrapolates from that something very negative. And you got lots of pats on the back for it, so it's reinforced, but anyone should be able to see how horribly ugly that thread is.

There are times when I think invoking god should be challenged, particularly when it is used to condemn or attack people just because they are gay or female or muslim.

But to condemn or attack someone who invokes god because he feels his god had a role in his not being killed is just petty. It's easy points, but it is petty.