FSSL said:
Interesting... but an absurd workaround.
I don't know about you, but my LORD will still be my LORD in heaven. My happiness will be constant!
I have heard this tripe before. It just strips people of the ability to be happy. It is just pure legalism that ends up creating congregants that mope around in their so-called "joy." Why? Because some preacher says "Don't be happy... that is just temporal." It is just IFBXr psycho-babble that ignores Scripture and posits a false definition (not supported by dictionaries).
You can't tell people 'Don't be happy'. They will, by default, when things go well.
You have never heard me say anything remotely close to ' avoid pleasure', or 'you should be suffering'. My name is Michael, not Siddhartha.
I am simply trying to delineate eternal joy, from temporal happiness. I have not damned happiness. I haven't cast dispersions on it. It has a definition, it is reactionary, and temporary. Any one who is born again should experience happiness quite often.
But they will conversely experience sadness,...the death of a damned loved one being one of the most offensive sources of happiness theft.
During college, I worked with a girl for 4 years, and was able to discuss the gospel at great length with her. She had been sent to a RCC girl's school, and the misrepresentation of God, by those nuns and such had hardened her to God's love. I shewed her plainly in the scriptures, and we had many discussions, but she had sealed her heart with bitterness, and would not 'accept a god who could have followers like these'.
She was a slightly overweight girl, with 2 sisters that were slender, and though all three were beautiful, the elder, weightier one suffered from depression due to her self image, and the bitterness against God.
A drug came along, 'Phen-Phen'? Anyway, she began to take it and to lose weight. It made her very cranky, and I was never able to have a pleasant discussion with her, after she began the drug. I asked her if she believed that I was her friend, and she said 'yes', but she would get angry at everyone.
In 1996, my friend, who I had pleaded with to ignore the abuse of men, and accept God's love, suffered a fatal heart attack, brought on by this dangerous drug, and went out into eternity forever lost.
This event causes me much disruption to my happiness, to this day. As I post this , my hands tremble, tears fill my eyes, a deep sadness that physically hurts in my physical heart, like the heart attack I had, comes on, and will be here for hours. Eventually something will happen to remind me of positive things, and happiness will return.
On the other hand, I have joy, comfort, the presence of eternal God with me, so that I am lifted up, even as I feel I begin to sink.
Anishinaabe
