Poor Worms or Giant Slayers?

We had our discussion evening last Wednesday on The Secret by Rhonda Byrn. It is a book about positive thinking and suggests that this is the way to achieving anything you really want. It is not a Christian book and we discussed to what extent it encompasses the Christian gospel.

It reminded me of the prosperity gospel and the teaching of the Korean Pastor Yonggi Cho. The faith, vision and optimism can be a real encouragement when stuck in “I am a poor worm and can do nothing“ type of Christianity and it is time for a bit of being a “David with the faith to slay giants” type of faith.

On the other hand the book does not seem to address the reality of failure and painand the way this can be overcome which I would consider also part of Jesus teaching. It could easily get us into a 'catch twenty –two’ way of thinking which says that “you just have not got enough faith or positive thinking, so it is all you fault”. It is all about that old thing of balance yet again.

There are days when a good dose of positive thinking and praying is the way forward and we need to reach for whatever does this for us. Whether it is The Secret, or Jesus teaching on asking and receiving or David slaying the giant Goliath or somethng else. Other days we just need to know and have the faith that sometimes things happen to us that are difficult, painful, and mysterious and we just don’t seem to have an answer.

Our discussion evenings always make me think and because we take turns to choose a book I read things that I would otherwise not have read. Out next book is 'Outliers: the Story of Success' by Malcolm Gladwell. We would welcome anyone to come along (Ashley 8 pm on 21 May) who wants an exploring and stimulating evening based around the chosen book.

If you can’t come along we welcome comments on the book here or by email and/or suggestions of interesting books we might consider reading/discussing in the future.