Obeying God (The Fundy Way)

[pastor's wife]

@Paul, thanks for the invite! I wish I could meet up with some of my SFL friends in real life (since nearly everyone from the last ten years of my life has dumped us!)

[pastor's wife]

(06-14-2011 01:44 PM)Jenni Wrote:  

(06-14-2011 11:51 AM)boymom Wrote:  "Serving the Lord is FUN and rewarding."

I hate that phrase, especially when, as a Fundy Christian school teacher, I was expected to be super-excited about school activities to prove that it's fun to be a Christian. They told us to "fake happy" so the kids would know that being saved means being happy all the time. Puh-lease.

Ooooo! Jenni, that just turns my stomach!

1. The idea that serving God is "fun" is so unbiblical. It's not fun, not like spending a day at Cedar Point. It's rewarding and it can bring deep, abiding joy, but fun???

2. Asking you to fake happiness about school activities is ridiculous. You can be professional and cheerful, but it's silly to ask you to be a hyper cheerleader over field day. And personally I always hate how we were often expected to fit a pre-conceived mold: why was I as pastor's wife supposed to love playing volleyball with the teens? Frankly, I hate sports. Asking me to love volleyball is like asking others to enjoy a poetry reading circle.

3. Portraying to teens that the Christian life is fun, fun, fun is misleading and dangerous. When a teen finds his life filled with struggles and trials will he grow discouraged and quit because he'd been led to believe that it's supposed to be "fun"? Also, too many church or Christian school activiites aren't particularly meaningful. The older kids get, the less "fun" these manufactured and artificial activities are. If they were involved in a ministry like building a house for Habitat for Humanity or spending a day in a soup kitchen, they might find enjoyment as a BY-PRODUCT, but it's hard to find happiness by running after it directly.

[greg]

Fake it til you make it!

[Annie Moose]

I can attest to the "rewarding, not necessarily fun" thing. I've been involved with a lot of outreach missions/activities, including dropping off Bible texts door-to-door (thankfully we didn't have to knock on doors... I'm terribly shy about talking to people!), and I can say that no, it's not fun to be walking in a neighborhood with no shade when your water bottle's running low and it's over ninety degrees outside. No, it's not fun to have to get over my fear of talking to people and instead smile nicely at them and offer them a text, should they be outside when I come along. No, it's not fun for me to try to explain who I am and what we're doing when people ask, but doing things for God is still rewarding.

[hac84]

The rest are just pretending, even if they "prayed a prayer" "walked an aisle" or "ate some magic beans"

What's wrong with "magic beans?" Aren't we supposed to make "a joyful noise unto the Lord."

[Ricardo]

For cases like these, I'm reminded of the Prodigal Father: He did not wait until his son repented, apologized, or gave an account of every shekkel he mis-spent. Instead, he was already preparing the banquet, long before the son apologized.

No digs, no shame.

[Innocent Lamb]

My pastor grandpa has always had an issue with the whole "get saved and you'll be so happy!" kind of theology. He hates stuff like hymns with lines like "and now I am happy all the day!" because that is so misleading. It treats Christianity as a magic pill you can take to straighten out your life and make everything smooth sailing.

To me, there is a huge difference between happiness and joy. Happiness is situational. Although I'm a Christian, I have endured a LOT of tragedy over the past several years, and I have experienced tremendous unhappiness. However, regardless of my current circumstances, I have still had the joy and peace of Christ in my heart.

I'm thankful that I did not grow up with the idea that if I have God, I'll be happy and have a smooth life, because if that were the case then I would have probably lost my faith entirely recently. Instead, I was able to lean on Christ when it became clear that he was all that I had. I imagine the "get Jesus and be happy" theology leads to lots of disillusioned people when real life happens to them...

[pastor's wife]

"And now I am happy all the day" is very shallow. "It is well with my soul" is so much more meaningful. No matter what trial or pain I am in, still my soul is secure in Christ. THAT is true. But pretending life will be rosy if you're just good enough is seriously wrong.