[jigneshg]

Hi Steven,

Sorry to hear your horrible experience loosing good friend and after reading your reply, i feel that the person like him did not deserve such death :(

Sometime it is very difficult for human to understand GOD and his punishment !

[weland]

> Sometime it is very difficult for human to understand GOD and his punishment !

OP isn't stupid. He has no problem comprehending the wrath of your imaginary friend, nor the imaginary nature of the aforementioned wrath. He lost a dear friend and mentor. The one who has trouble understanding reality is you.

[jlgaddis]

A few months ago, I was on the losing end of a head-on motorcycle versus Jeep Cherokee crash and spent several days in the hospital. I had some pretty severe injuries but somehow managed to not smash my head in -- I don't wear a helmet and, although I had several broken bones, I somehow escaped with only had a few cuts and scrapes to my head.

Several of the doctors and nurses said (words to the effect of) "someone upstairs must have been looking out for you". I'm an athiest and I get really annoyed when people say such things but, at the time, the best way I could think of to respond was to simply keep my mouth shut and not respond at all, so I said nothing.

It was about the fourth or fifth person who made such a remark when I finally went off. "Oh!? Well why the fk wasn't he looking out for me a few seconds earlier? He could have stopped that Jeep from turning in front of me -- but he didn't, did he? Get out of here with your religious bullsh*t!"

I really hate to be like that or respond to people that way but I just couldn't take it anymore. Apparently, however, "the word spread" as not one more person said anything even remotely similar to me the rest of the time I was there.

(Similar/related: all the "praying for you" comments posted to my Facebook page. I responded to those with something along the lines of "I don't believe in God so don't waste your time praying but, if you must, pray for the doctors who are operating on me instead.")

[ansimionescu]

Bashing someone for their religious beliefs. Really enlightened behaviour, right there.

[heed]

> Sometime it is very difficult for human to understand GOD and his punishment !

What a rude, and offensive thing to say.

[PavlovsCat]

"God and his punishments" == "bad things that happen, life being unfair" etc.?

I read this as someone trying to give their condolences the best way they know how, according to their beliefs, in a language that is not their native tongue.

[johnx123-up]

FWIW, I have few Indian friends... This is typical "polite" Indian English

[jigneshg]

I am not rude against GOD and i am not complaining. Here i was trying to express my views as i seen many-time that good people are suffering and bad people are enjoying !

[mseebach]

The word "punishment" does not mean what I think (hope) you want to say. Punishment implies a crime, ie. something you knew to be wrong, could have chosen not to do, but since you did do it, you're being punished. That sentiment, of course, is offensive.

That said, I think the bulk of the vitriol fueling the down votes is the mention of God - that's also what the comments are all about. It's sad how the inclusiveness and tolerance of the modern rationalist ends abruptly at religion.

[na85]

>Sometime it is very difficult for human to understand GOD and his punishment !

How does it feel to be a terrible fucking person?

[seanccox]

A quick scan of jigneshg's past comments reveals that they are definitely not a native English speaker, and as was pointed out above, in Indian culture, this is a perfectly polite way to empathize with another's suffering. The irony that this apparent cultural misunderstanding has caused jigneshg's karma to plummet gives me no end of mirth, but the clearly anglophile Western (and perhaps white male) reaction to jigneshg's statement is no more accurate for it. There's plenty of self-righteous indignation to go around this holiday season, so maybe a little forgiveness is in order, after examining the situation?

[aaronem]

Why ask a question whose answer you already know?