Harsh

My last post may have sounded kind of harsh when I was talking about the prosperity gospel. I do try my hardest to "judge not" but as I said in that post, I believe these kinds of pastors and churches are dangerous. When I was growing up, most people had some level of belief in God and an understanding of Jesus. It's definitely not that way anymore. I know and have connected with hundreds of people who are wavering in their faith, have left their faith, or have never been introduced to Jesus to begin with. Those who have left the faith are very often those who have been hurt by someone in the church, or they believe they've been hurt by God himself.

The problem is people's skewed view of who God is or who they think He is supposed to be. A harsh, punishing, judgmental God. A detached and uncaring God. A God who lets little children suffer in poverty-stricken and war-torn countries. I would agree that those are significant problems and many people demand answers from the God they think is responsible for the planet's suffering. But who is really responsible? Satan. Adam and Eve. For lack of a better term, they broke the world! One of my favorite lines from The Good Place is when Chidi tells Eleanor, "You broke the world!" I think of this a lot when I think about the broken, fallen, sinful, corrupt, terrifying state of the world. It is broken! The sin of our first parents caused God to banish all people from the paradise He prepared for us. Of course, free will also accounts for a significant portion of suffering, the sin of people against others. But what about diseases and natural disasters? They aren't the fault of any human, but they are still the product of a broken and messed up world. This isn't the Garden of Eden. This world doesn't function as God originally intended it.

Well that sucks. It's like getting a new toy at Christmas and and the first time you use it, it breaks in half. Thanks a lot, Santa.

I'm sure God's disappointment was much, much greater than that of a little kid on Christmas morning, when the people he created out of love, turned against him. It broke his heart.

People need to know that GOD IS LOVE. What does that mean? God does everything out of love. He cannot act outside of love because He is Love. If he acted out of malice, he would become something else, but not love. God's love led him to send his own son, a part of himself - his divine self - to come and show us how to get through the brokenness of this world and back to the paradise he restored for us. God's love led him to devise a plan to bring his people back to him, to send his very own son, part of his own being, to earth to tell us the good news. "Hey you guys, God has a plan for you and he wants to forgive what Adam & Eve did so we can all get to heaven!" But it involved Jesus dying a horrific death that he did not deserve, in place of the punishment that was meant for humanity as a result of that first sin that Adam and Eve committed.

When Jesus died, he took our punishment. For whatever sinful thing we do on this earth, for whatever mistake we make. We only have to trust him, repent and follow him. Sadly, since this isn't the end of time, it isn't the paradise God prepared and we still live in a broken, disease-ridden, falling-apart-at-the seams world. But we have a promise of eternal life that far outweighs this life, an ecstasy we can't even imagine, being united in love forever with the One who is love.

Does this make any logical sense? Not really. God is much bigger than all of this and He is beyond our understanding. But even as we wade through the muddy pit of hardship or swim through wind-tossed waves, He is with us, holding us, encouraging, helping us not to drown. He is reassuring us again and again that He loves us and this painful existence is only temporary. When we reach the end of this life, we will see. We will be reunited with our loved ones, we will see Him face to face, and time will cease to matter. Our time here on earth will be a tiny droplet in an ocean of joy forever.

But how can people trust God in their suffering if these churches are trying to convince them that God intended their lives here on earth to be comfortable and wealthy and fulfilled and happy? God doesn't care about our temporary happiness nearly as much as our ETERNAL JOY. He doesn't care about our plans for this life as much as for our eternal destiny. Joy and hope are much deeper than what we think of them. (Note: I didn't say God doesn't care at all about us and our desires. He does care, intimately about our needs. But he cares much, much more about the things in this life that will impact our eternal lives.)

I'm not a theologian, but this, to me, is heresy. I've always understood heresy to be a half-truth, so if my definition is wrong, please correct me. A half truth may sound okay - hey, if it's half true, it's not so bad. But in actuality, a half-truth is false. There is no halfway with God. There is no lukewarm.

One particular "prosperity gospel" message I recently listened to was titled, "Don't Waste Your Pain." I assumed that would be one I could relate to. One of the first things that pastor says is, "We all go through disappointments and pain. Don't just go through your pain, grow through your pain."

Okay, so that makes sense. I know this is based on truth because I know the deep, intimate love of God, and I know that he has a way for me to grow in the midst of pain and suffering. Not everyone knows the love of God to this extent, to be able to trust Him when things go horribly wrong. But the pastor's advice makes it sound like it's all up to US to not waste our pain, to make sure we grow through it. It's only up to us insofar as we are able to surrender to God's will, to accept His unconditional love even though we're suffering through excruciating pain. IMHO (In my humble opinion), there is not nearly enough talk in these kinds of teachings about the expansive, all-encompassing, limitless, profound love that God has for each and every one of us. Plainly said, we aren't going to grow unless we recognize that we ourselves are not solely responsible for our growth. We need more and more of God.

Later in the sermon, he says, "God gives Satan permission to put us through the fire (True.) But God controls the temperature. If it's going to harm you, he will turn down the heat. (False.)" We are harmed, hurting, beaten down, and suffering in our lives, at least from time to time. GOD DOESN'T GIVE US MORE THAN WE CAN HANDLE is absolute nonsense! God does give us more than we can handle so we can learn to rely on Him.

"To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.10 That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

Sometimes God gives us strength to endure difficulty, but sometimes, He simply wants us to rely on Him to be our strength.

Another snippet from this sermon: "Have the right perspective. You are not weak, you are well able and well-armed for this battle." Again, he makes it sound like victory depends on US and OUR attitude. Of course, we have to be of the attitude that God loves us and will fight for us, and that His purposes are greater than we can understand but we don't muster up our own courage without leaning in to the Lord.

He also uses watered down language that I personally cannot relate to: "When you're uncomfortable...." I'm not just "uncomfortable", I'm dying inside, bleeding out from the massive wound of my daughter being ripped away from me, a wound that will never fully heal until heaven.

"The reason the fire is so hot is that he's getting you ready for the next level." What the actual hell? If someone had said this to me right after my daughter died, I would have had to use great physical restraint to not smack them! So what he's saying is that when I'm done grieving for my child, I will be ready to take on newer and better things? I won't ever be done grieving. I am growing, only by the grace of God, and I do feel called to minister to others who are suffering. I believe God can use me in spite of my suffering, but I would never put it so blithely as this pastor does.

My apologies for coming on too strong. I do my very best not to judge. But it concerns me when people are being led astray. This is why people lose their faith, because they believe that if they follow God, they will be rewarded in this life. (We will be rewarded with eternal life, yes, but on this earth, we'll be "rewarded" with persecution, mocking, exclusion, and judgment.) The problem with this line of thinking is that if we believe that God will reward us for our good behavior or our strong faith, then we have to believe the opposite, which is that we are punished for our lack of good deeds and faith. This is completely false as Jesus took the punishment for us once and for all. The

I know this post sounds preachy but I only want to share how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Eph 3)

We need Jesus first and Jesus alone. We shouldn't be placing all our hope in a better career, a beautiful spouse, a nicer home. God will provide those things if they are His will. But even without that job, without a perfect family or a house in the suburbs, God still provides and gives us everything we need. He can still give us peace, joy, hope, strength and courage.

Let me be clear: I do believe with absolute faith, that God can heal and restore, he can provide money and the material things we need. I have experienced the blessing of miraculous money showing up exactly when we needed it. But if our hearts are only fixed on the things of this world, the things the prosperity gospel preachers talk about, then we're not truly preparing ourselves for an eternity with the One who is love.

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