Here is a recipe for a communication disaster — four ingredients:
1. Excessive Negative Talk
“Some people constantly complain and find fault. They seldom affirm or talk about positive virtues of other people. They rarely acknowledge the good things happening in the world or in the church or in their family. They are experts at excessive negative talk. The gloom and doom that pours from the mouths of these people fosters a depressing atmosphere in the family.”
2. Excessive Heavyweight Speech
“Some people …want to turn every conversation into a discussion of deep … problems, weighty subjects, and ultimate concerns.”
3. Lethal Exaggeration
“Exaggeration is a more subtle, but equally lethal form of lying. It occurs when we blow things out of proportion. Sometimes we exaggerate about a person’s behavior…Sometimes we exaggerate concerning our own conduct….Exaggeration encourages people to become defensive or suspicious of the speaker. Although intended to get the listener’s attention, exaggeration usually fosters disbelief or disregard for what is said….The listener begins to feel abused and mistreated, having lost confidence in the speaker and his words….”
4. Misrepresentation
“Misrepresentation, a close cousin to exaggeration, is part of the falsehood family. Perhaps there is no more common form of lying than when the facts about a person and his behavior are rearranged. The truth is so twisted and distorted by additions or omissions or slanting of facts that the result bears little resemblance to reality.
Mix well and wait for the explosion.
Taken from Your Family God’s Way by Wayne A. Mack.
Thank you I needed to hear these things today. We have been having a hard time financially and I have been a gloom and doom because I have not been able to purchase all the Curriculum i “want” but God has provided what we have needed. I need to focus on that instead of the negative.. Thank you for the wise words.
Psalm 141 v 3
Mr. Mack’s “Communication Time-bomb” is exactly that. His four points are also:
1. Excessively negative
2. Excessively heavyweight
3. Lethaly exaggerating
4. Misrepresenting
1. Mr. Mack is complaining and finding fault. How does Mr. Mack define a “good” church Scripturally? Is Mr. Mack excessively positive?
2. How does Mr. Mack know that he is not being excessively “weighty” in his criticism of other people? Perhaps, Mr. Mack does not have enough “ultimate concerns.”
3. Does Mr. Mack know the “truth” in order to know when it is being “blown out of proportion”?
4. What does Mr. Mack have to say about the person of Christ as the Head of the Body? “Perhaps there is no more common form of lying than when the facts about a person and his behavior are rearranged.”
Perhaps Paul the apostle would say to mix his teachings well and wait for the “shout”.
Wow, Bob! no one made you come and read what Mr. Mack has to say! some people want to improve themselves, so they appreciate things that make them think. you sound incredibly negative. 🙂
Dear Lori Lett,
Thank you for the response to my reply.
Elect people have a desire to be improved in epignosis (Str. # 1922) as related to Paul’s gospel (Romans through Philemon).
Most of the quote from Mr. Mack is the drivel of Psychology 101. Does Mr. Mack care about the sins of “churches,” soi dissant, practicing and promoting holidays, water baptisms, wafer and sip communions, religious symbols, and other erroneous doctrines? Would the aforementioned things make people think? The distinctives of The Body of Christ are things about which to be very positive.
Also, Lori Lett etal.,
Please, read about Mr. Thomas Brooks in “God will not remove the temptation, till we remove the occasion.”