Abstract
Tiscareno's concern (PSCF 51 [September 1999]: 208) is clearly heartfelt. But is it warranted? It seems to me that he primarily wants Christians, especially in the ASA, to be nice. I have not found this to be part of the description of a believer. I know that it is a vital part of the culture of some religious groups. My folks had dealings with a member of one of them. Mom said that she had often wished that Christians could be as nice as they. But the nice was purely surface. When things did not go exactly as the member wanted, she became very nasty on the spot. Mom never again wished that the believers could be that "nice." One must also ask if Paul was nice when he chewed Peter out for compromising with the legalists, or when he called Ananias "a whited wall." Is Matthew 23 nice? Is the cleansing of the Temple nice?