[Bruce Paine]

lighthouse25,

I feel it is a friendly guesture to Christians to repeat back to them what they have said to me.

If they say "God Bless You!", I might say "God Bless You!" back.

If they say good bye or adios, or "I love you", I might say the same thing in return.

It's a thing of courteousness, respect, and wishing them well.

I don't usually think that when someone says "God Bless You" to me that they are trying to covert me or offend me by using expressions that are not usually part of my belief system, but instead in their way trying to make a meaningful connection while wishing me well.

What do you think the expression "God Bless You!" means and is it always the same, with the same belief and intention behind it?

Years ago, when I was searching for what I believed in, I got defensive when people said "God Bless You!" because I felt like they were trying to push their beliefs on me, but now I just see it as an expression of caring and kindness.

So what would you rather that non-Christians do?

Would you rather that they return the "God Bless You!" to you, would you rather they say something else, would you rather they say nothing, or what?

I was raised with a Bible (from ages 7 to 18) in my room, a grandmother sending me glossy Christian holiday magazines every Christmas, a non-believing father who required me to go to the churches of my friends (I almost commited to Lutheranism at age 13), and at age 9 I had to stay in my room until I wrote the entire 10 Commandments 1,000 times by that same non-believing father, so you don't need to worry if I've had enough exposure to Scripture.

One thing that I'm starting to ask Christians to do now-a-days is to either explain fully what each sentence of Scripture that they quote to me means to them personally, or to not quote the Scripture to me, at all.

Do you think that's fair?

Thank you, very much.

Bruce Paine