[remram]

What you're describing is better captured by the word "lucky". "Blessed" is lucky plus an acknowledgement that this luck was granted to you on purpose by a higher power, so you deserved it in a karmic way (though not operational way). It really irks me too.

[simplify]

"Blessed" does not necessarily imply karmic nor deserving. Many Christians will say they've been blessed and recognize they don't deserve it.

[withinboredom]

Someone/something divine must do the blessing. This is in the definition of bless, so how do you conclude it doesn't? To gain the favor of a god/goddess means the divine creature believes you deserve it, even if you don't think it to be so.

[scott_w]

Christianity explicitly states pride is a sin. They’re not supposed to pray for God’s favour in this life but to be given the strength to be good so they can be allowed salvation in the next life.

[withinboredom]

I never said anything about Christianity or prayer.

[scott_w]

I never said you did, I just used it as a counter to what you said: that blessing is about getting favour in this world from a divine being. It helps that it's also the world's largest religion.

In fact, Christianity explicitly glorifies suffering and martyrdom so the Christian God is hardly giving good things to good people...

[withinboredom]

A blessing isn't necessarily given to a good person or by a Christian god, nor does the person even need to know they have a blessing.

[simplify]

Grace literally means to bless without deserving. I think you're being too rigid in your thought process.

[withinboredom]

We are literally talking about the internationally accepted definition of a word. Your own personal definition is not portable.

[simplify]

Christianity is an international religion thousands of years old. It's not a personal definition.

[withinboredom]

And none of it was originally written in English. The English words were chosen because of their definitions, so that it made sense. I’m not sure what you mean by this.

In other news, I come from a family of Christian pastors and I’m quite informed on what words mean in the Bible and which ones actually matter. You are mixing several ones into a single word that has a singular definition that is well defined.

[Chris2048]

> "Blessed" is lucky plus an acknowledgement that this luck was granted to you on purpose by a higher power, so you deserved it in a karmic way

The karmic component would make it a reward. So much as you are blessed with resources, you are then able to make sacrifices that aren't necessarily enviable.