Breathing Room

Christian Fluff Debate

Her: these poems/prayers/sayings are nice, but the cliche'd nature of them really waters down the point...
makes things sound all rosy and easy, when in fact- if God is really 'cleaning a person's house', it's not easy or rosy at all..it's really a struggle.. a wrestling match. against spirits, against flesh. everyday.
poems like these are just a bit too cute, and they are misleading as to how God actually deals with a person he is trying to develop, and what the growth(or cleaning) process is really like.

Me: I agree, although its nice for people to have uplifting thoughts and thinking about God at all these days; every person's spiritual level and growth is different and for those taking the first steps or reconnecting with their spiritual roots or even more further along as you may be it never really hurts to read poems like these and have these type of thoughts on your mind.
After all, a poem like this may just act as a reminder for where we are in each of our personal growth levels and clearly it's not easy and suffering is continually involved, but so is joy and blessings and these type of reminders are great in reminding us of the rewards of continual faith and ultimate trust in God.
You never know what will touch someone or give them the added boost to take a positive step they were already considering...God recognizes the true nature of a person's heart and while I don't think the poem is misleading I also don't think it was meant to promote that its easy to decide to walk the straight and narrow...what's rosy in your opinion may have been a reminder to someone else that they shouldn't put off Bible class this week which is still necessary and important in many people's spiritual growth and struggle. It's also nice to see positive Godly messages like this floating around the internet then some of these other forwards that people so eagerly pass along especially in times where there is so much pressure to take God out of everything.

Her: definitely- people have different levels of spirituality, but what keeps alot of christians at the same level, is the misleading idea that it's "nice to think about God", if at all, since so many people aren't. as though God is willing to take whatever he can get from us. as though if the holy spirit is truly within us, then we shouldn't need a cute poem to remind us to think about God
sure, this poem may be nice for a new christian, but i guarantee you most of the people reading it have been professing to be christians for years and are still at this level. i'm not too far off myself-last year i probably would have been the one forwarding this to you. However he has revealed alot of things to me in the past year, and called me to go deeper with him than i ever had before, and it's been a huge struggle since then and a huge blessing. and one of the things he revealed to me is that you can't truly get the blessing without the struggle and without the pain.
i'm not necessarily talking about just 'walking the straight and narrow', i'm talking about an intimate relationship, and just how deep does that relationship get, and how much are we willing to go through to get that relationship with him, knowing that it's not easy, knowing that it's not just a matter of up and deciding to one day dust a couple of nagging items off the shelf like worry and fear and hate and bad memories. or a matter of attending bible study every week. this poem is definitely misleading, in that stacking faith and trust up on the shelf is as easy as spring cleaning. this poem is misleading because it infers that in order to achieve these crucial things, you don't have to go through anything. and that sounds good to us, cuz we don't want to have to go through anything. me included. and i'm not just talking about health problems, or poverty, or just life issues that everyone deals with, i'm talking about- what was this person in the poem willing to do in order to gain trust, faith, friendship with God, and a new philosopy? seems like all he had to do was go and get it.
a person has to learn how to trust (and trust with their heart), be tested in his faith, struggle with himself, and seek the lord with his whole heart, and his whole mind and his whole soul. you don't just pick up trust and faith like lucky pennies you find off the ground, that is not what the word says. that's not truth. and it's very easy to be mislead by cute sayings and cliche's and miss the urgency and the seriousness of things. it's like a grownup suckling a bottle, when he should be eating tough meat.
What I've started to do is really search my spirit on things, and ask God what He thinks about everything. I mean, EVERYTHING. Ask him what he thinks about this poem.
"Who shall the Lord teach knowledge? And who shall he make to understand doctrine? He that is weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts." Isaiah 28: 9.

Me: I agree to the extent that I already know and believe that its tough and definitely not easy and it takes a lot of work...that I do know from my own personal quest and spiritual growth but I don't think the poem was meant to suggest what you say it does as well as it wasn't meant to be taken extremely literally...that being said I agree to disagree with you on some of your points....honestly I think you come across a bit judgmental, although I do believe many people are stuck and their growth isn't where it should be that's not really for me to speak about or judge them...I can't speak for God and what he thinks of others, in spite of that I don't think he would find the poem ridiculous...I concentrate on focusing on trusting Him and following the path meant for me which I cannot do without His help...what I can do is continue to work hard spiritually which is a daily struggle but one that I am committed to and ultimately I believe God knows everyone's heart and judges them accordingly but only He does the judging...


I got the last word....