Sometimes people say crazy things.

“We should allow cats to vote in national elections!”

Depending on what’s been said, it may be important to challenge the statement.

“That’s not a good idea because cats are anarchists.”

Notice the response contains an explanation.

This enables the first person to continue the conversation.

“Not true! Millions of cats are registered Democrats!”

I’ve noticed a disturbing trend in public discussions.

The following statement frequently serves as the sole response to comments:

“I can’t…”

The response comes in several versions:

• “I just can’t…”
• “I can’t even…”
• “I just can’t even…”
  

These are all sentence fragments.

They’re not thoughts.

They are not stupid ideas.

They’re much worse.

A stupid idea is at least completed.

That’s how I know it’s stupid.

When you say, “I can’t…” – there is no sensible response.

“Well, you can if you just…”

Christians shouldn’t use sentence fragments to express their faith.

“Christians are brain-washed, aren’t they?”

“Oh, well…I just can’t even…”

That’s the response I would expect from someone who’s brain-washed.

And Christians shouldn’t use sentence fragments with each other.

So, when I say something like:

“Christians are better than other people.”

Don’t respond with:

“I can’t even with this guy.”

It would be better to say nothing.

Do you know what would be even better?

Gather your thoughts into complete sentences.

Then say those sentences to me.

That’s called, “edification”.

Specify your objections and I’m happy to discuss things with you.

Otherwise I can’t even…