Positive Thoughts
The Prosperity Gospel, The Secret, the Prayer of Jabez, What the Bleep?… like many people who desire to orient my life around the love of God rather than my desires, I find many of the pop-culture “think positive and get what you want” movements to be troubling. I think they are primrose paths that distract people into a tar-baby-like relationship with their appetites, encouraging a focus on the stuff of ambition rather than cultivating a deep faith shaped by gratitude for blessings and patient trust to see through trials.
Having said this, I also think that those of us who intuitively reject the Pied Piper song of the Prosperity Gospel and its many Christian and New Age cousins need to be aware of the temptation to fall into opposite errors. This was brought home to me just last night when I was talking to a good friend. (more…)
