Well, I was watching television earlier this evening, when I happened to view a certain advertisement for a Christian program on a local network. The title of the program was "The Gospel Truth," I believe. At any rate, the advert featured a man telling me something to the effect of the following: "God loves you and wants you to be well. Believe in him, and he will bless you with good health!" Of course, that is a loose paraphrase, but you get the idea. I, of course, have some issues with this. First of all, Christianity is not a promise of good health and well-being. In fact, some Christians are among the most afflicted people on earth. If you really wish me to delve into the Bible for an example, I would undoubtedly surface with the testimony of Job, who, though a faithful follower of Yahweh, was beset upon all sides by a myriad of worldly ills. Certainly this man, a steadfast believer was loved by God. Following Christ is not a call to become a sort holy happy lemming, sauntering through life unhindered by the effects of the Curse. On the contrary, Christians are called to die. It is certainly not the most comfortable group that one could join.
I also take issue with people like Pat Robertson of "The 700 Club." On this television program, Robertson and his colleagues will pray for members of their audience who have sent in prayer requests, and these requests will almost invariably include illness. Mr. Robertson will begin to pray for a diseased or injured individual and say something like this: "Lord, we ask you to just heal this man. *insert name here*, you will now feel the power of God inside you, the warmth of the Holy Spirit, healing you, taking away your injury..." Something like that, I think. Anyways, Robertson has the gall to declare that God is healing someone simply because he said that God would heal them. I find this incredibly presumptuous of him, to make things up like that. Unless Robertson is privy to God's healing roster, it's rather inappropriate of him to make that sort of statement. And it's not just Robertson, this is certainly not an unheard of thing. Many evangelical preachers, Joel Osteen, for example, like to use Christianity as sort of a self-help clinic. But the thing we must remember is that God's definition of happiness and what is good for our lives is very different from our own. Christianity isn't a quick 5-step solution for more money, a perfect marriage and a clean bill of health, though that's how some like to look at it. Yes, God loves us and wants what is best for us, but more often than not, that will involve a lot of pain, something which doesn't often fit into the Evanjellyfish way of doing things.
As I finish writing this, I wonder if my eagerness to point out the "pain and suffering" bits of Christianity is a bad thing. Perhaps. Ah, well.
Well, I can't say whether or not making these points are a bad thing, but it certainly makes one think. I have to agree that it's very presumptuous of people to claim that kind of authority from God. I guess that's where spirit testing comes in. BTW, I love your new word 'Evanjellyfish'! It describes that stereotype perfectly.
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