Christianity’s dumbest cliché

“Everything happens for a reason.” This is what far too many Christians like to say when something bad happens to them. It’s their coping mechanism to tell themselves that what just happened to them is all part of God’s plan…and it’s nonsense like this that compelled people like Karl Marx to refer to religion as “the opiate of the masses.” Religion isn’t supposed to be some irrational coping mechanism, people.

Look…if you want to throw another common line at me like, “Through God, all things are possible”…I’ll nod in agreement. That one is true. God can help us turn about just any bad situation around, to find some silver lining in it and go forward with something positive. I very much believe that.

But we have free will. And let’s not mince words: we’re all morons. As such, we go around screwing everything up. I thought that pastor Grant Fishbook made a good analogy when he likened God to a GPS system that sees us repeatedly going off course, then just patiently keeps saying “recalculating” and giving us a new good course to take. The GPS will never give up, it’ll just keep giving you the right route until you finally decide to stay on course. There’s always a chance for recovery from a wrong turn; there’s always a chance for salvation. Heck, God is so good at being able to seamlessly redirect crappy situations into being good ones that he’s got a bunch of people running around saying “everything happens for a reason.” No, no, no. “Those things never should’ve happened…but since they did, let’s make the best of it.” That’s the proper reaction.

For the record, nothing negative happened to me to inspire this subject, I just heard that saying one too many times and had thought for a few days now that I should blog about it. So…there it is. At some point I’ll get around to writing up a rant against another stupid cliché that I hate, “Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” Complete and utter nonsense, but that’s a rant for another time.

Great quote.

I long have considered it a personal flaw that I’ve got very little knowledge of classic literature, a flaw I’m finally coming around to fixing lately. So, I recently read Jane Austen’s Emma. I enjoyed it, it’s a good book, but I was flogged heavily for reading such a feminine book.

So, I decided to restore my masculinity a bit by shifting next to Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe’s classic novel about a man shipwrecked alone on a deserted island (See? No real possibility for romance. Now leave me alone). So far, I don’t think it’s amazing or anything, I’ve been bored at times and have had a bit of difficulty sticking with it…but it’s got just enough high points to keep me from putting it down completely. I’m a little less than halfway through it.

This quote jumped off the page to me as the best of the book so far:

And I add this part here, to hint to whoever shall read it, that whenever they come to a true sense of things, they will find deliverance from sin a much greater blessing than deliverance from affliction.

Words of wisdom, I would say. Deliverance from sin, being less tangible than deliverance from affliction, is a lot easier to take for granted…for me at least. Now it’s just a matter of coming to a true sense of things, as Defoe puts it; easier said than done, I’m sure.

I love running across quotes like this.

Turn the other cheek?

One part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount has always been baffling to me. Matthew 5:38-42…

You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

Seriously, Jesus? I mean, I know it’s right. Everything Christ said is right, and we should all heed and follow His word to the best of our ability every single day. But as far as the New Testament is concerned, I don’t know of a more counterintuitive idea that was taught to us.

When we give in to greed, lust, pride, or any other part of our sinful nature, it feels wrong. Either while we’re doing it, or looking back on it later, it feels wrong. Does revenge feel wrong? Heck, not to me. Not at all.