Religious Speech Tips from a Listener

Whenever I listen to any preach whether by religious people or my parents, I am often left irritated. I mean, really, it's quite a torture.

Imagine having to listen to this:
Do you know why Tsunami happens? *Insert a phrase from al-Quran* God has told us that it's because our own sins. What is our sins? Yes, you guest it... adultery, drinking, does not cover your aurat and so on. That is why you should do *put whatever in here*. The end.

*face palm*

Do they think they're talking to a 5 years old kid?! I may not be a good speaker but I do know that most people including me are more likely to listen to advice or warning that makes sense!

First of all, I don't understand what is the connection between our sins and sudden earthquake, Tsunami and other natural disaster. I mean, how does adultery caused sudden earthquake? How does not praying 5 times a day like you're supposed to caused Tsunami? There is no logical explanation.

It might be okay if you're giving these reasoning to another Muslims or kids. At least they'll be able to accept the advice at face value. However, giving this kind of advice to a crowd with mixed religions or rebellious teens, I doubt they'll listen at all. I know I don't.

At least.... do this so it doesn't sound like you're talking to kids.

For starter, instead of connecting natural disaster directly to our sin and God's wrath, why not try to explain first how is it possible that the disaster is God's display of Its Almighty power?

Example:

Remember what happens to Japan recently? The earthquake and Tsunami disasters which then bring us yet to another disaster which is the ticking bomb of the nuclear plants. You see, the decision to build a nuclear plant is a big and dangerous decision by itself. There are lot of natural disasters like earthquake and such in Japan. Therefore a lot of planning and safety measures had surely been done before the nuclear plants were built. And yet, all of those planning, safety measures and advanced technology still cannot control or win over natural disaster directed by God.

Try to do this too to make it more interesting.
If you're trying to guilt me into doing something, either digs deeper into the possible connection between the acts that leads to natural disaster to what actually causes the disaster. I can't be bothered to research much about Tsunami at the moment but Zakat and landslides are some of the common problems in Malaysia as well so I'll use these as example instead.

Example:
What causes landslide in Malaysia? Most often, it's because of deforestation due to uncontrolled development of the hillside area. But how is it our sin that the landslide actually happens? After all, it's quite obvious that we are not the one who deforest the area.

If you think about it, it's quite simple. The only people who can do it (the physical works) must be selfish, greedy and do not care about the importance of taking care of our nature. All they can think of is collecting more and more money. So, how did these people become like that?

Maybe, they are desperate for money. Very poor people don't care what they do. They don't care if it's illegal, or dangerous. As long they have something to eat, something to where, and somewhere to sleep, they'll do it because they have to do it or die.

If this is the reason, it is obvious that it is our sin for not paying Zakat because if those poor people are qualified to accept Zakat, we could have prevent this from happening in the first place!


See the differences? 
If you don't, it's okay. I'm not a speaker or anything like that so my explanation might be a little bit.. hard to understand. But the main point is please explains HOW you get the conclusion. In Mathematics exam, you don't get high mark for...

2x + 8 = 6
x = -1

Yeah, the answer is right but you have to show HOW you calculate it as well in order to get a full mark.

2x + 8 = 6
2x = 6-8
2x = -2
x = -2/2
x= -1