" If You Want To Make God Laugh, Tell Him Your Plans"

[PhuturePriest]

Am I the only one who gets annoyed by this saying? I understand the principle: God may have something else in mind for you than you think He does. But it is possible to know what God wants you to do and plan to do it. But that phrase is used so absolutely, and people use it so absolutely, that it's as if it implies no matter what you plan to do, it's wrong. When people get engaged, they obviously plan to marry each other. Is God laughing at that? What if God really wants them to get married, and they somehow eluded the dubious phrase by figuring out what God actually wanted them to do? What if a man plans to enter seminary, does, and ends up being a priest? It just strikes me in a way to where it implies you literally can't know what God wants you to do, and it is therefore folly to plan to do anything with your life because God will laugh and tell you you're wrong.

 

It just seems like a very off-putting phrase to me. What if a person is actually on the right track and is pursuing what God wants him to pursue, and someone makes him doubt by saying this overdone phrase? They will have unintentionally brought doubt and possibly lead the man away from what God actually wanted him to do all in the name of sounding wise and all-knowing.

 

This thread was inspired by some other threads made recently that take a jab at common Christian sayings such as "Hate the sin, love the sinner."

Edited January 22, 2014 by FuturePriest387

[NotreDame]

Am I the only one who gets annoyed by this saying?

 

That's cuz you are 16 17.  As someone 20 years your senior, trust me, it's both accurate and - after some distance - amusing.  
 

[PhuturePriest]

That's cuz you are 16 17.  As someone 20 years your senior, trust me, it's both accurate and - after some distance - amusing.  
 

 

So if two people plan to marry each other, and do, God finds it laughable, even if he actually wants them to get married?

[PhuturePriest]

That's cuz you are 16 17.  As someone 20 years your senior, trust me, it's both accurate and - after some distance - amusing.  
 

 

What about people who plan to marry someone, or plan to be a priest or sister or whatever, from a very young age, and end up doing that thing? Their plans weren't laughable, they were actually in accord with what God wanted. My issue with the phrase is that it's too absolute, and it discourages people from pursuing anything.

[KnightofChrist]

Am I the only one who gets annoyed by this saying? I understand the principle: God may have something else in mind for you than you think He does. But it is possible to know what God wants you to do and plan to do it. But that phrase is used so absolutely, and people use it so absolutely, that it's as if it implies no matter what you plan to do, it's wrong. When people get engaged, they obviously plan to marry each other. Is God laughing at that? What if God really wants them to get married, and they somehow eluded the dubious phrase by figuring out what God actually wanted them to do? What if a man plans to enter seminary, does, and ends up being a priest? It just strikes me in a way to where it implies you literally can't know what God wants you to do, and it is therefore folly to plan to do anything with your life because God will laugh and tell you you're wrong.

 

It just seems like a very off-putting phrase to me. What if a person is actually on the right track and is pursuing what God wants him to pursue, and someone makes him doubt by saying this overdone phrase? They will have unintentionally brought doubt and possibly lead the man away from what God actually wanted him to do all in the name of sounding wise and all-knowing.

 

This thread was inspired by some other threads made recently that take a jab at common Christian sayings such as "Hate the sin, love the sinner."

 

You're over analyzing the saying, just a tick, like some over analyzed the 'Hate the sin, love the sinner' saying. Both can be used in a good way and in a bad way, there's times it can be used and times it shouldn't, just as with any formation of words. I'm personally tired of hearing the saying "it is what it is", but then again it doesn't really matter.

[PhuturePriest]

You're over analyzing the saying, just a tick, like some over analyzed the 'Hate the sin, love the sinner' saying. Both can be used in a good way and in a bad way, there's times it can be used and times it shouldn't, just as with any formation of words. I'm personally tired of hearing the saying "it is what it is", but then again it doesn't really matter.

 

Well, it does matter, actually. If people discourage people from their vocations because God allegedly finds their plans laughable, that's a big problem. If people use the term "Hate the sin, love the sinner" in a wrong way and it turns people away from the faith, that's a big problem. Imagine how badly it could have went if people told a young Saint Therese that God found her plans to become a Carmelite laughable because she was young and dared to have plans. The issue with the phrase is that people use it so much and so absolutely that it bars anyone from doing anything in their lives, and it discourages people from pursuing vocations and dreams.

[Tab'le De'Bah-Rye]

 I'm 36 miles and i cringe at not the saying but the callous use of it in a kind of mocking and/or sarcastic sense. I think originally it must have been a let go and let god kind of catch phrase, but it's good humour has some how been lost on me or twisted by sarcasm and mockery, but than i don't know the intent of peoples minds and as to there understanding of the phrase and how and why they use it, i just think it can be used as a pie in the face which i don't think is the intention of the phrase, and i think the phrase may actually be from the O.T..

Edited January 22, 2014 by Tab'le De'Bah-Rye

[beatitude]

I think it's just a badly worded way of saying that life can go in unexpected directions, which is true, but I don't like it much. It sounds dismissive. God gave us an imagination, so I doubt he laughs when we have ideas with it. There's nothing wrong with that. The problem only comes when we get too attached to our own plans to have room for Christ in us.

 

That said, I've only ever heard people using this phrase in a self-deprecating way, when their own plans have gone spectacularly awry and they're laughing about it.

Edited January 22, 2014 by beatitude

[Tab'le De'Bah-Rye]

<edit> I think the phrase may meant to be a rib tickler in the sense of a poke in the ribs of a " c'mon brother let it go it is in Gods hands." and some kind of pride deflater but not a pride smasher because where not into smashing others right?

[Tab'le De'Bah-Rye]

I think it's just a badly worded way of saying that life can go in unexpected directions, which is true, but I don't like it much. It sounds dismissive. God gave us an imagination, so I doubt he laughs when we have ideas with it. There's nothing wrong with that. The problem only comes when we get too attached to our own plans to have room for Christ in us.

 

That said, I've only ever heard people using this phrase in a self-deprecating way, when their own plans have gone spectacularly awry and they're laughing about it.

 

 

Holy scripture does say God desires all good things for us, but what we desire isn't always good for us, though we may be certain it is or would be. :)

[KnightofChrist]

Well, it does matter, actually. If people discourage people from their vocations because God allegedly finds their plans laughable, that's a big problem. If people use the term "Hate the sin, love the sinner" in a wrong way and it turns people away from the faith, that's a big problem. Imagine how badly it could have went if people told a young Saint Therese that God found her plans to become a Carmelite laughable because she was young and dared to have plans. The issue with the phrase is that people use it so much and so absolutely that it bars anyone from doing anything in their lives, and it discourages people from pursuing vocations and dreams.

 

What I meant by "it doesn't matter" is my personal problem with "it is what it is". Most any string of words put together in a sentence, paragraph, or whatever can be used for good or bad, or can be misunderstood as good or bad. The thing to do is to try to be clear as possible so not to be misunderstood and not use them in a bad or insulting way. Like I said I don't like the phrase "it is what it is", and there are others, but it's really a personal problem, and I don't think it would be right of me to try and stop others from using them, or encourage a prohibition such phrases.

 

I agree, if someone uses the phrase in response to your what if's that would be bad, but that doesn't mean the phrase is always bad, just that it would be bad to use it in those examples.

Edited January 22, 2014 by KnightofChrist

[PhuturePriest]

I think it's just a badly worded way of saying that life can go in unexpected directions, which is true, but I don't like it much. It sounds dismissive. God gave us an imagination, so I doubt he laughs when we have ideas with it. There's nothing wrong with that. The problem only comes when we get too attached to our own plans to have room for Christ in us.

 

That said, I've only ever heard people using this phrase in a self-deprecating way, when their own plans have gone spectacularly awry and they're laughing about it.

 

Exactly. I think the issue with it is how absolute and dismissive it is. It hinders imagination, dreams, and creativity. I've never heard it used in a sense of self-deprecation, but rather used in a "Haha, you and your friends are all so young, and yet you have dreams to be this or that? God's laughing at the very notion of you having goals and dreams." sort of way.

[KnightofChrist]

Exactly. I think the issue with it is how absolute and dismissive it is. It hinders imagination, dreams, and creativity. I've never heard it used in a sense of self-deprecation, but rather used in a "Haha, you and your friends are all so young, and yet you have dreams to be this or that? God's laughing at the very notion of you having goals and dreams." sort of way.

 

Context is king, and perspective is as well. God's laughing when we tell Him our plans doesn't not need to mean He is laughing at us. I'm not a father but I am a uncle of 12, and there have been many times those kids have told me their plans, some of them realistic some completely unrealistic. I have been guilty of laughing when they told me their plans, be it realistic or otherwise. Not because I was looking down on them, or laughing at them, but just because I love them and find them adorable and so young to have plans. I think it is funny to hear my nephews and nieces talk about getting married when none thus far are about the age of 10, I also think it funny one of them says they want to go to the moon and travel with the Doctor in his Tardie box. It's because it brings me joy rather than me laughing at them or their dreams. I think God, if He does laugh when we 'tell Him our plans' may laugh in some similar way.

Edited January 22, 2014 by KnightofChrist

[beatitude]

Exactly. I think the issue with it is how absolute and dismissive it is. It hinders imagination, dreams, and creativity. I've never heard it used in a sense of self-deprecation, but rather used in a "Haha, you and your friends are all so young, and yet you have dreams to be this or that? God's laughing at the very notion of you having goals and dreams." sort of way.

 

1 Timothy 4:12. "Let no one despise you on account of your youth..." ;)

 

Your plans probably will change as you get older. So did theirs, and I expect they didn't like being mocked (however gently) any more than you do now. Make it your plan never to dismiss a young person when you're finally of an age to say such things.

 

Don't take yourself too seriously, it's true. Nobody should do that. You need to be flexible and able to recognise that you will change. But this is not necessarily to do with age - some young people can do it, and some older ones can't yet.

[PhuturePriest]

Context is king, and perspective is as well. God's laughing when we tell Him our plans doesn't not need to mean He is laughing at us. I'm not a father but I am a uncle of 12, and there have been many times those kids have told me their plans, some of them realistic some completely unrealistic. I have been guilty of laughing when they told me their plans, be it realistic or otherwise. Not because I was looking down on them, or laughing at them, but just because I love them and find them adorable and so young to have plans. I think it is funny to hear my nephews and nieces talk about getting married when none thus far are about the age of 10, I also think it funny one of them says they want to go to the moon and travel with the Doctor in his Tardie box. It's because it brings me joy rather than me laughing at them or their dreams. I think God, if He does laugh when we 'tell Him our plans' may laugh in some similar way.

 

Well, as we've established in the other thread, God is incapable of laughter, because laughter stems from a pattern the brain doesn't recognize or expect, and since God knows everything, this means there is no pattern he doesn't recognize.

 

That being said, don't you think it's kind of demeaning to say God thinks it's funny and adorable when we have plans, even if we are mature adults who have discerned our plans?

[NotreDame]

Somebody told me recently that "God's ways are not our ways."  This is just another way of saying the same thing.  You might have your own idea in your head of how you expect life to turn out, but quite often God has other plans.   At some point, when you can laugh at all the unexpected twists and turns you've been on, then you'll enjoy this phrase.  

 

Personally, I can't think of any saint whose life turned out like they had planned it.  Therese wanted to be a missionary, not die from TB.  You think John the baptist thought he'd waste away in a jail cell?   They could be upset that things didn't go their way, or they could enjoy how God has used them for His greater glory.

 

If an individual was truly open to divine providence, maybe they would never make any plans and therefore have nothing to laugh at, but for sure they wouldn't be able to anticipate the twists and turns they'd go on during their journey.

[Oremoose]

Exactly. I think the issue with it is how absolute and dismissive it is. It hinders imagination, dreams, and creativity. I've never heard it used in a sense of self-deprecation, but rather used in a "Haha, you and your friends are all so young, and yet you have dreams to be this or that? God's laughing at the very notion of you having goals and dreams." sort of way.

 

I have personally rarely heard it used in that way. In my personal experience I have mostly heard it when Someone was trying to micromanage and fit all in one box, which I would say Hinders Dreams and Creativity. When I have heard it used in a way that is demeaning it was always done in a way to forewarn the person receiving the quote to not be 100% set on one goal. To know that God might throw curve balls, If not Yea! you get married or what ever but if God's plan makes you change your plans not be stiff necked, take it in good humor and carry on following God's plan.

[PhuturePriest]

I have personally rarely heard it used in that way. In my personal experience I have mostly heard it when Someone was trying to micromanage and fit all in one box, which I would say Hinders Dreams and Creativity. When I have heard it used in a way that is demeaning it was always done in a way to forewarn the person receiving the quote to not be 100% set on one goal. To know that God might throw curve balls, If not Yea! you get married or what ever but if God's plan makes you change your plans not be stiff necked, take it in good humor and carry on following God's plan.

 

Of course. You should always be open to other things, and not being open is quite obviously bad. But the phrase is so closed-minded and absolute that I think it fails what it's trying to convey and it is very easily used to do more damage than good.

[Oremoose]

Of course. You should always be open to other things, and not being open is quite obviously bad. But the phrase is so closed-minded and absolute that I think it fails what it's trying to convey and it is very easily used to do more damage than good.

 

I wouldn't say the statement is Closed minded it just needs to be taken with a sense of humor. It should be said in a light hearted manner and taken as such.

[KnightofChrist]

Well, as we've established in the other thread, God is incapable of laughter, because laughter stems from a pattern the brain doesn't recognize or expect, and since God knows everything, this means there is no pattern he doesn't recognize.

 

We've established no such thing, lol, I took a different position in that discussion. See here, here and here about the Divine Humor.

 

That being said, don't you think it's kind of demeaning to say God thinks it's funny and adorable when we have plans, even if we are mature adults who have discerned our plans?

 

No, because to Him we are still children, His children, children who at times think we know everything but in comparison we know nothing. And we must be as children if we wish to enter into Heaven. I would think that there may be a danger of pride should someone find it demeaning that God would or could find humor in our plans.