Baloney Quotes and Ideas

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Adversity is the diamond dust that heaven polishes its jewels with.

Oh, brother.  This quote is like the one by Nietzsche that every repeats, "That which does not kill us makes us stronger."  Why do people quote that?  Lots of things do not kill us but do not make us stronger.  That is pure Nazi nihilism.

I heard Jonah Goldberg being interviewed about his new book on cliches the other day on NPR.  He said he often has students say to him in forums, "I disagree with you but I defend to the death your right to say it."  He says that is nonsense, because 1.  the student is not going to take a bullet for him, and 2.  it shuts down debate.  It basically says, I am not going to debate the merits or demerits of your ideas, I'll just ignore them with a cliche. 

There are lots of religious cliches that drive me nuts, that have no biblical foundation, and that are only squelched by good theology.  One is that Jesus came to die. Then why didn't he die as a baby?  Jesus came to live on this planet, and we totally miss what he was doing when he walked the earth all those years.  I am just beginning to understand that.  Yes, it was the eternal plan that he would die on the cross, but to say that he only came to die negates a lot of the Bible.

 Add to the discussion!  What religious cliches drive you crazy?

One other that is annoying is "back in the day," especially when a young person says it.

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