At a dinner party, you would never hear me talk this way, ever. There is a time for politeness and less crassness. Same with Sunday morning at church, at work, at pretty much every public gathering. Manners and etiquiette are super important. Brown nosing the boss, small talk, smiling at someone when they tell you about their recent divorce party, chuckling along when you hear about how drunk so and so got, all of that is part of being decent and polite.
Brent:
At the risk of being ignored and putting my foot in my mouth again, I would like to venture some words.
I don't think that the last two instances you shared are manners and etiquette, necessarily......
Perhaps cowardice and duplicity....
Matt Sciaini
If you mean to say that condoning such activity is wrong, I coudn't agree more.
The spirit of my post was that there are times when a person needs to speak up, even if it's not "polite," or "decent."
Nevertheless, I don't laugh or smile at a person who glories in their sin. I also stand by in silence 99% of the time when I am in a social setting and this sort of thing takes place. It's polite to do so, and to do otherwise is rude.
If someone tells me about their divorce party (which has happened) I respond by saying, "I'm sorry that your marriage didn't work out, or remain silent." If it's a christian (has never happened) I'd say something different.
Hopefully people understand what I am trying to say. Politeness only goes so far. It is always impolite, and rarely well received to tell somone they are going to hell...yet Jesus did it, and He is the Love of God personified.
On the other hand, if we walk around spouting god-talk all the time, that's just rude. We assembly people were always incredibly dense when it came to social grace.
BAT
