We’ve Hit a Gusher with “Is There Any Bad News with God”

Well, the rip-roaring dialogue continues on "Is there any bad news with God?" as per our many commenters (check it out two posts back). 

I remain sold that we're talking past each other as I read through our conversation there.  The point that's seemed important to me—and several of our commenters—to make is "Jesus is nothing but good.  There's zero bad news for anybody under any circumstances in following Jesus."  (Maybe speaking exclusively of Jesus here will be helpful—though to me the thought holds whether we say "God" or "Jesus.")  The point being made here is not that all circumstances in our life or in the world are always pleasing if we follow Jesus—that clearly would be nonsensical; I seem to recall Jesus himself having a hard day or two, not to mention the life circumstances of his apostles.  The point I'm shooting to make also isn't that the Bible always presents a pleasing picture of God—the conquest of Canaan does indeed present many challenging things to think about.

If, as some point out, we follow Jesus only, say, to be martyred for our faith, does that mean that, for us, it wasn't good news to follow Jesus, that we clearly would have been better off steering clear of him at all costs if we'd only known what was in our future?  I don't know of any martyrs who'd agree with that.  Is the point then, well, okay, the martyrs themselves wouldn't sign off on that, but if we're trying to present Jesus to our atheist friend and he brings that example up, it's going to be a pretty hard sell to him that Jesus is only good. And, if that's the concern, sure, I'd expect a rocky go with our atheist friend if that's the conversation we find ourselves in.

But if the suggestion is that it's "fuzzy thinking" or "not rigorous" to contend that there's only upside to following Jesus, I'm not on board with that.  This actually strikes me as right at the heart of the faith we're discussing on this blog, which is why I'm so glad this point has drawn such conversation.  The gusher is well-focused.  This really is a big, big deal.  (As it's been for folks like Luther, Edwards, Augustine and more.)

To me, this is at the heart of a faith that's experienced rather than believed-in, and that distinction seems to me to be perhaps the central one in our conversation.  Stage 4 faith is a journey with Jesus and whether we're poor Canaanites unaware that we're about to be wiped-out by marauding Israelites or on the verge of martyrdom or just dealing with average American problems, it seems to me we'd be well-advised that we'll have no regrets at all about going through those circumstances with Jesus.  Jesus is, in actual life, only good.