Misusing Overstatements

Sometimes, a person will overstate what a terrible person they are to mislead you into a sympathetic response.

Christians, don’t allow people to make you think that what someone did really wasn’t that bad if they use an overstatement in a case like that either.

Christians,

Imagine a young man punches his younger brother in the stomach because his younger brother jokingly said he was twice as tough as him.  Their father is dismayed by what just happened.  The eldest son notices the look of dismay on his father’s face as his father helps his younger brother to the couch.  “I guess this means I’m a terrible person,” the older brother says. This overstatement speaks to different types of things people may say when they are accused or thought of as having done something terrible when they feel they really didn’t do anything that bad—using an overstatement like this is often used to correct a misunderstanding and to seek compassion.  However, this type of overstatement is also often misused, as it is in this case.

Punching your brother in the stomach when he was making a somewhat innocent joke is a terrible thing to do.  This doesn’t mean the person who did it is pure evil or that they shouldn’t be loved anymore, but what they did wasn’t okay either.  However, when someone uses an overstatement like that, it can often elicit a sympathetic response.  The other person suddenly thinks of scenarios where an authority figure is being too harsh or dehumanizing someone in some way.

The father shouldn’t allow himself to be tricked by this response into saying, “No, it’s okay.”  Christians, don’t allow people to make you think that what someone did really wasn’t that bad if they use an overstatement in a case like that either.  It not only allows people to get away with doing harmful things to others but also makes them feel that they can get away with doing it again in the future.