Is it a condition for some people, in fact, quite a lot of people, to see truth and meaning in clichés?

Question

I know clichés are fun; I even make up some of my own and often enjoy injecting them into a conversation and watching the expression on the faces of people as the words rattle around in their puny brains and they try to work out if they’re being mocked or complimented. Christians love clichés! I read one the other day, the writer of which seemed immensely proud; “The Old Testament is New Testament concealed. The New Testament is the Old Testament revealed,”

To me this highlights an apparent growing trend of people who call themselves Christians and yet acknowledge that much of the bible should not be taken literally. They prefer to focus on the NT and Christ’s message of love, forgiveness and morality. Yet they instinctively know that to leave the OT completely unacknowledged is to weaken the core of their beliefs. Their solution; to make up these stupid clichés that make their fellows nod their heads like idiots and go, “Hmmmm.”

Answer 1

well by your own question we can see its not a condition. its a defense mechanism.

"out with the old, in with the new"

the old (testaments) makes them look bad, the new (testments) make them look good. if they admit to taking the old testaments literally then they feel that their religion (andtheir beleif/faith in them) will also suffer.

lets put it another way. a christian is the parent. christianity is the child i once got into an argument with a chick at a toys r us (dont ask). we had it out for a few minutes and i ended with "well at least i dont have anything that sh*ts its pants" reffering to her kid (she was younger than i am and i was about 23 at the time)

she insisted her baby did not sh*t its pants. i insisted it did (i use it cause i dont know if the baby was a girl or boy) obviously all babies poo their pants. theres no getting around it. you can call it fudging or filling or whatever but in the end its fecal matter. its sh*t.

so as we can see people will deny certain things that make their precious ________ look bad. wether its a baby or a religion. theyll do anything to make it look good in their eyes and the eyes of anyone around.

hope that odd stroy helps!

Answer 2

Cliche's and maxims are notes and observations from our loving ancestors. However, "guns do not kill people, people kill people". A cliche' should be used to start our exploration and help us discover things, but sometimes when we are lazy we allow cliches to be our conclusions - whether or not they really apply to the circumstances.

In one of my books, I have an appendix of 500 famous cliche's- "who would have thunk it?"-

Here is my maxim which took me 63 years and the reading of the Bible in three languages; 5 times English, OT in Hebrew, and NT in Greek. --

Harmony is harmony; disharmony is the only sin against God.

If any verse in the Bible encourages disharmony or ignores the value of harmony, I am very suspicious of the translation or the attempted corruption by interpretation.

"Moderation in all things" originally meant kindness in all things. -- Yes, in 1611 moderation meant kindness. Now, certain groups isolate themselves from the world and base their religion on "moderation" meaning "neither hot or cold, neither exited or relaxed, (middle of the road)

Answer 3

Clichés are a grain of truth covered in a pearl of stupid.

Man, I should write for a fortune cookie company or something.

Answer 4

"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you. If you really make them think, they'll hate you."

Another favorite is the smugness of "There are no atheists in foxholes." Cuz their deeply held beliefs are just a result of their stupidity in not realizing they're one day going to die, i guess. So arrogant.

But this problem extends far beyond religion, athletes spout nonsense all the time about giving 110%, not listening to the haters etc.

Answer 5

Is this a lesson in English or religion?

Answer 6

is this a comment or question? sorry if i sound cliche