No Name #5
Puritan Board Freshman
I am feeling like an island in a sea of crazy.
My mom & I just finished a dispute over essentially moral relativism vs. moral absolutism, except it isn't as it sounds. We both are Christians & therefore side with moral absolutism, naturally; we were merely in the process of witnessing with an unbeliever on the subject, & I felt as though she wanted us to make statements that made us appear "ignorant". So I got frustrated and told her that I believed she was too "ignorant" on the topic to have a lucid debate about it, and she chewed me out for being "disrespectful". I asked how I was being "disrespectful", and she told me that she was my mother, and as such, fundamentally has authority over me to arbitrarily decide what is "disrespectful" & what isn't.
I disagreed. I felt like she was abusing a tenet of Scripture & turning it into a tyrannical dictation. I told her that I wasn't being disrespectful, I was only telling her a fact. I said if I discovered that she was ignorant on a fact about King Henry VIII, I would inform her & maybe provide some information that would enlighten her. There's nothing inherently insensitive - or more importantly, "disrespectful" - about it. Nothing. If I called her an "idiot", on the other hand, I would probably agree that I was being disrespectful - because the word has an intrinsically negative connotation. I may even be willing to give her side an ear if I called her "stupid" - same thing. But ignorance isn't necessarily disrespectful at all, & I sincerely wasn't intending on disrespecting anyone.
That um, should, in theory, resolve everything. But no.
My mom calls for my dad & he enters the room, because he's supposed to "escort me out". I was outraged, because I didn't do anything wrong. We even got into this petty dispute because my mom & I were witnessing to a friend of mine online together. I started sobbing because I was just that that affronted that my mom would abuse a tenet of Scripture (parental (dis)respect) just because she got emotional & overreacted to the fact that she is, indeed, ignorant. I couldn't believe my parents would do something like this. I usually like to believe my parents are rational people. My dad, without even knowing anything, said yes, that I was being disrespectful, "you don't talk to your parents that way, you should 'repent'", etc. etc. Since even my dad seemed to support this, I became even more emotional and just walked myself to my room. At one point, I apparently asked my mom if "she was on drugs" since she seemed to behaving so unreasonably, and she...actually took me seriously. Yes. "I will not tolerate being accused of drug use!!!"
???????????
It's. An. Idiom. Are you kidding me? It's not to be taken literally. Are we in medieval times? Am I going to be challenged to a duel at the crack of dawn? Am I going to be beheaded?
Seriously - Was I being disrespectful? I actually am open to hearing opposing sides, as long as that side has reasons, which my mom quite evidently doesn't.
I like reasons. Reasons are nice.
My mom & I just finished a dispute over essentially moral relativism vs. moral absolutism, except it isn't as it sounds. We both are Christians & therefore side with moral absolutism, naturally; we were merely in the process of witnessing with an unbeliever on the subject, & I felt as though she wanted us to make statements that made us appear "ignorant". So I got frustrated and told her that I believed she was too "ignorant" on the topic to have a lucid debate about it, and she chewed me out for being "disrespectful". I asked how I was being "disrespectful", and she told me that she was my mother, and as such, fundamentally has authority over me to arbitrarily decide what is "disrespectful" & what isn't.
I disagreed. I felt like she was abusing a tenet of Scripture & turning it into a tyrannical dictation. I told her that I wasn't being disrespectful, I was only telling her a fact. I said if I discovered that she was ignorant on a fact about King Henry VIII, I would inform her & maybe provide some information that would enlighten her. There's nothing inherently insensitive - or more importantly, "disrespectful" - about it. Nothing. If I called her an "idiot", on the other hand, I would probably agree that I was being disrespectful - because the word has an intrinsically negative connotation. I may even be willing to give her side an ear if I called her "stupid" - same thing. But ignorance isn't necessarily disrespectful at all, & I sincerely wasn't intending on disrespecting anyone.
That um, should, in theory, resolve everything. But no.
My mom calls for my dad & he enters the room, because he's supposed to "escort me out". I was outraged, because I didn't do anything wrong. We even got into this petty dispute because my mom & I were witnessing to a friend of mine online together. I started sobbing because I was just that that affronted that my mom would abuse a tenet of Scripture (parental (dis)respect) just because she got emotional & overreacted to the fact that she is, indeed, ignorant. I couldn't believe my parents would do something like this. I usually like to believe my parents are rational people. My dad, without even knowing anything, said yes, that I was being disrespectful, "you don't talk to your parents that way, you should 'repent'", etc. etc. Since even my dad seemed to support this, I became even more emotional and just walked myself to my room. At one point, I apparently asked my mom if "she was on drugs" since she seemed to behaving so unreasonably, and she...actually took me seriously. Yes. "I will not tolerate being accused of drug use!!!"
???????????
It's. An. Idiom. Are you kidding me? It's not to be taken literally. Are we in medieval times? Am I going to be challenged to a duel at the crack of dawn? Am I going to be beheaded?
Seriously - Was I being disrespectful? I actually am open to hearing opposing sides, as long as that side has reasons, which my mom quite evidently doesn't.
I like reasons. Reasons are nice.