Anonymous wrote:Guys, the word has multiple definitions...and definitions change with usage. More often than not, what these people are saying is that they are fortunate and grateful. Is that somehow wrong?

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/blessed

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP you have no understanding of what being Blessed means.

Can you explain it to me? As a parent whose child died after a long and painful illness, when someone tells me they are “blessed” with healthy children, I feel like they think God decides to give their kids the privilege of good health and decided differently for my kid.

As the wife of an Afghanistan veteran who is currently worrying about interpreter friends he left behind who are in fear of their lives, when people say they are blessed to be Americans do they mean God chose those different paths?

I am asking this as a Christian who hates the phrase.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Redlining. Food deserts. Segregation.

Educate yourself.

Haven’t existed in most of our life times; WIC, SNAP, school lunches, food pantries; people choosing to live in affordable housing in an expensive area or as part of an immigrant community with shared language or with long-standing community (see gentrification arguments).

None of these things are determinative of your life. Ask the millions of people now living who have moved up the SES ladder. If you want to improve social mobility, vote for and insist on functional government that provides law and order and schools with real expectations and discipline. Include vocational education. Eliminating objective measures of educational achievement and lowering overall behavioral expectations for kids, while also eliminating the negatives of poverty will leave the people you say you care about in a terrible way that has nothing to do with racism.

Even the poorest US citizens are “blessed.”

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP you have no understanding of what being Blessed means.

Can you explain it to me? As a parent whose child died after a long and painful illness, when someone tells me they are “blessed” with healthy children, I feel like they think God decides to give their kids the privilege of good health and decided differently for my kid.

As the wife of an Afghanistan veteran who is currently worrying about interpreter friends he left behind who are in fear of their lives, when people say they are blessed to be Americans do they mean God chose those different paths?

I am asking this as a Christian who hates the phrase.

DP.. I'm so sorry for what you went through, and also for your DH for the worry he is going through now.

I posted above about Job vs Joseph.

Why does God "bless" some people but not others? Why does he let good people and babies/children suffer, while seemingly evil people reap rewards?

That's an age old question. I have no answer. No one really does. There are no good answers. There are stories throughout the Bible of this kind of thing, where some people were blessed while others were not. It makes no sense to me, either.

But when I say that I am "blessed", I am saying that everything I have is from God. I guess just acknowledging the things that God has provided for me.

When I have gone through troubled times, yea, I didn't feel blessed. I don't know.. someone once said that in order to understand compassion and appreciate the good, you have to go through hardship and know what the bad is. I guess it makes sense, but when you are in the midst of the hardship, this is a hard thing to swallow.

Anonymous wrote:OP you have no understanding of what being Blessed means.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just stop. Here in the U.S. we are privileged and blessed. Try going over to Afghanistan and see how long you’d last. Between the Taliban and ISIS, you’d be lucky to survive a week.

I hate to indulge this incredibly random divergence...but there are many people who live long and healthy lives in Afghanistan, and take pride in their heritage. Yes, absolutely there are some awful conditions there, particularly right now.....but you know there are awful conditions in this country as well, right?

Which is why people are clinging to airplanes or risking being trampled or blown up to get out. Yeah, you’re right, the people here are just the same.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP you have no understanding of what being Blessed means.

Can you explain it to me? As a parent whose child died after a long and painful illness, when someone tells me they are “blessed” with healthy children, I feel like they think God decides to give their kids the privilege of good health and decided differently for my kid.

As the wife of an Afghanistan veteran who is currently worrying about interpreter friends he left behind who are in fear of their lives, when people say they are blessed to be Americans do they mean God chose those different paths?

I am asking this as a Christian who hates the phrase.

Pp whom you are questioning. I am deeply sorry for your loss. God did not take your child, please understand that. He says in His Word that all good things come from him. But we do live in the natural world and have challenges, loss, disappointments. I too have had deep loss, but my faith tells me and shows me that God is always with me, guiding me, loving me, teaching me and protecting me. When it comes to death I honestly believe that is ultimately between God and that person, their purpose, their journey is specific to them. Yes, even in challenge and loss I feel Blessed and feel the love of the Lord. Despite your unimaginable pain and loss I hope you are able to feel the ways that you are Blessed, your ability to love, the love you had and hold for your child that has passed, your faith, your husband, your heart and your mind. I will pray for your peace.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP you have no understanding of what being Blessed means.

Can you explain it to me? As a parent whose child died after a long and painful illness, when someone tells me they are “blessed” with healthy children, I feel like they think God decides to give their kids the privilege of good health and decided differently for my kid.

As the wife of an Afghanistan veteran who is currently worrying about interpreter friends he left behind who are in fear of their lives, when people say they are blessed to be Americans do they mean God chose those different paths?

I am asking this as a Christian who hates the phrase.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok. Let’s cancel overuse of “privileged” next.

This.

If you work for it, you aren’t privileged.

And, privilege shouldn’t become a scarlet letter.

It’s not a scarlet letter. So why not admit you have it?

It is in today's world. Calling someone privileged is a slam against them. It's saying they have something they don't deserve to have. It couldn't have been earned, it had to have been because of their "privilege".

You can earn things and still be cognizant that there are fewer barriers to clear. Privilege is a clearer, or at least less obstacle laden path. For example, we grew up poor but we could still afford the sugar for brand name Kool-Aid. We shopped at bulk food stores because my parents could afford the membership, and had a car to bring everything across the highway safely. We are also white so my parents had fewer obstacles to obtain a loan towards their townhome. We bought second hand everything and wore hand me downs, but the clerk didn’t keep an eye out for me stealing in the thrift store just because.

Your explanation doesn't change that it is a negative to be viewed as "priviliged".

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find “blessed” language annoying because a blessing is a gift from God. Do you really think God gave you a nice house and loving partner and good teeth, but decided NOT to give those nice things to the rest of us? No. You probably think some of it is dumb luck (the teeth) and the rest of it is a combination of your own hard work and smarts. But saying you are “blessed” seems to make people feel better about saying “I have nice things! I’m happy and grateful!” Like they aren’t bragging. But God doesn’t withhold nice houses from undeserving folk and give them to the deserving, so I don’t see your nice house as a blessing. I see it as a result of our socio-economic system that rewards some kinds of labor and doesn’t compensate others as well. I don’t think God is a capitalist.

Please explain why God blessed Joseph but not Job?

But ITA, God is not a capitalist. God is a SJW Socialist.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP you have no understanding of what being Blessed means.

Can you explain it to me? As a parent whose child died after a long and painful illness, when someone tells me they are “blessed” with healthy children, I feel like they think God decides to give their kids the privilege of good health and decided differently for my kid.

As the wife of an Afghanistan veteran who is currently worrying about interpreter friends he left behind who are in fear of their lives, when people say they are blessed to be Americans do they mean God chose those different paths?

I am asking this as a Christian who hates the phrase.

DP.. I'm so sorry for what you went through, and also for your DH for the worry he is going through now.

I posted above about Job vs Joseph.

Why does God "bless" some people but not others? Why does he let good people and babies/children suffer, while seemingly evil people reap rewards?

That's an age old question. I have no answer. No one really does. There are no good answers. There are stories throughout the Bible of this kind of thing, where some people were blessed while others were not. It makes no sense to me, either.

But when I say that I am "blessed", I am saying that everything I have is from God. I guess just acknowledging the things that God has provided for me.

When I have gone through troubled times, yea, I didn't feel blessed. I don't know.. someone once said that in order to understand compassion and appreciate the good, you have to go through hardship and know what the bad is. I guess it makes sense, but when you are in the midst of the hardship, this is a hard thing to swallow.