let me get this straight
let me get this straight if I get blessings because I was living right that’s god’s favor if I get shit because I was bad that’s god’s obligation if I get shit but I was living right, that’s god’s testing so no matter what god can’t lose and has it made in the shade
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I wrote quite a few poems in jaded about God getting aaaallll the credit for everything and none of the blame for anything and how I’m done with that nonsense.
This week my friend D. L. wrote one of the most powerful things I’ve ever read: When God doesn’t show up. She shared a deeply personal story of a time where she almost died and, unlike what she’d been promised, she absolutely did not feel Jesus with her. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
Speaking of things we used to believe, my friend Cara Meredith and I are hosting a writing workshop on February 16th called Upcycling Old Words That No Longer Fit. We’re going to get all creative and cathartic and repurpose some old words/beliefs into some new art. Join us!
What’s a belief about God you used to hold and don’t anymore?
Ahhh this. This is spot on. The idea of crediting God for everything good that happens to us, but saying it's also God testing us or punishing is when bad things happen, is just absurd. So is he good or evil? It can't be both! I'm more of the view that none of the things that happen to us in our lives are actually God's doing at all. My pastor just preached about God testing us this week and I was squirming in the pew the whole time. Phew.
A belief about God I don't have anymore? SO MANY. One shift I thought of (last night, after someone left a really thoughtful comment on one of my posts) was the shift from theistic personal God to deistic, hopefully-you-exist-but-I-don't-know-if-we-talk-ever. D.L.'s post was sooo moving, and the underlying feeling of sort of... emotional abandonment? feels true.