Thursday, November 30, 2006

Pollyanna Christianity

I like Milton Stanley's term Pollyanna Christianity. It's all in the context of a mildly rancorous discussion (here, here, and here) of a movie called Facing the Giants, which I have not seen. You can follow Milton's link to read more about this, but anyway the general notion is that American-style Christianity has become something like a Claritin-D commercial without the mandatory warning about possible side-effects. You know, beautiful healthy happy people joyously running and spinning through a field of daisies with not a care (or a sneeze) in the world.

My attitude: I know that God answers prayers, that miracles happen, and that there is abundant joy in the Lord. And yet I also know that the New Testament is chock-full of calls for patient endurance and cross-carrying. Any depiction of the faith that features one side of this coin to the exclusion of the other is significantly misrepresenting the faith and therefore leading people astray.

1 comment:

Milton Stanley said...

Thanks for continuing the discussion.