I’ve always been bothered by people who think this Christianity thing is a cake walk and when bad things happen try to paint them is ‘good in disguise’.
John illustrates a great point here:
There is so much in this world that flat out sucks. Let’s not pretend it doesn’t.
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I saw something SORT of along these lines on Charlie Rose the other day from an athiest (although she commented on how awesome the book of Mathew was).
She was talking about how people are so obsessed with the ‘feel good’ method that they neglect people’s real feelings and write them off. When people have cancer and are ailing others can tell them to not concentrate on the negative and only on the positive or “think positive” when they are entitled to feeling yucky.
Im pulled with this view because I know of people who constantly dwell on the negative and are consistantly pessimistic, and on the other hand I know people who are blindly positive, also. Thanks for sharing!
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You’re right Jyn. Getting caught up in how I am supposed to feel will cause you to miss the whole point.
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I love his succinct perspective (which is all through the Scriptures!). Bad things really are BAD, hurtful and evil- and we need to be allowed to hurt and grieve and struggle through them. The hopeful side is that God can bring good out of anything. But we must give people the time to get from one side of pain to the other and love them in that process. I remember when my brother died (at age 46) that a well-intended friend brought me a pamphlet on “Why Grieving is Wrong.” It wasn’t exactly helpful, but God showed me she meant well.
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