Thursday, December 13, 2012

Ugly Babies

Disclaimer: I'm not talking about any babies in particular.

So, what do you do if someone has an ugly baby? Do you tell that person? Do you ignore the obvious? What if they ask you how cute little "Junior" or "Princess" is? Change the subject? It's a very difficult situation. Maybe you just ignore the question and hope it doesn't come up again. What if they don't ask you? Do you offer them the unsolicited truth that their baby is ugly? Maybe what they're saying isn't really what they're asking and so your reply could be an answer to what they really mean, not the actual words they said. Maybe when they asked you if you thought little "Precious" was cute what they really meant was do you think I'll be a good parent? You could honestly reply in the affirmative without hurting anyone's feelings, and you would have answered the question they were really asking in the first place. Unless of course they meant what they said and now you're a liar. Or you could do the obsfucation method and reply in a way that makes the asker think you've answered the question while really avoiding the question all together. "You must think you have the most beautiful baby in the world," you reply. Now everyone is happy but the truth remains hidden.

This entry is not really about ugly babies but unsolicited (and sometimes unwanted) truth. In Ephesians 4:15 Paul off-handedly refers to speaking the truth in love. I think it is a valuable lesson. Sometimes the truth is unsolicited and can be hurtful if it isn't shared in a caring way. Sometimes it is hurtful even when it is shared in a caring way. Does that mean it's best not to share the truth, sugar coat the truth, twist the truth, or just "Give 'em what they want," even if it's a lie? Maybe you could obsfucate and leave everyone happy but ignorant?

It's the Ugly Baby Dilemma. I think I just coined that phrase.

I'll stop going down this thought tunnel right now but it is something I've been thinking about for a while. There's a lot of unsolicited thoughts in my head that I think are probably true, but not necessarily popular.

I came across a saying a long time ago. All truth belongs to God. I am not 100% sure who said it but I like it. I'm not afraid to search for any truth because whatever is true is simply a fact about creation which was created by our Creator.

Every once in a while I think a series of blog posts will go in one direction or another. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. I'm not sure what the next series of posts will be about, but I do think it will be interesting.


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