A root cause of the ability to feel offense and to be offended begins within the negative tendencies of the heart — the ability to define the situations in a narrow definition of appropriateness.

Again, one of the eight negative tendencies of the heart is the ability to define a narrow range of appropriateness, as well as hatred, shame, fear, grief, condemnation, pride of pedigree, racial prejudice. The last one is a narrow definition of appropriateness.

But to be offended, you have to have a standard that you have set that is outside 180-degree vision. Whatever you’re offended by is what your definition has defined it to be. And, consequently, you have shame that manifests out of that.