Quote:
Originally Posted by Archaea
Today in HP Group, the lesson pertained to sufferings and trials, which inevitably boiled down to "choose to be happy despite the circumstances."
But the class examples struck me as odd and perhaps out of place.
First brother spoke of how he lost his infant son, but that he wasn't sad but almost glad for the spiritual enlightenment.
Second brother spoke of his teenage daughter overdosing on his heart medicine, with the same glib observations. It almost seems Mormons try to outdo each other as how spiritual they wish to appear, suffering horrible things only to say, "I felt so comforted." Is this why we're not moved by the sufferings of Afghani or Iraqi children, do we just pass it off, as "Oh they're in a better place now?"
Now I'm certain I didn't witness these people grieving, but it almost seemed inhuman. Isn't it okay to grieve and to feel sadness over bad events? Are some people just constantly pumped up on prozac that they feeling nothing? Are they alive?
I hope I never get to point past feeling, where bad things don't impact me, and happy things don't move me. An odd moment for me.
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There can be a lot of pressure to manifest the joy of the Spirit, or the peace that surpasses understanding, or to prove that one is accepting of the will of God. That kind of pressure lends itself to believers trying to one-up each other with stories of just how "at peace" they are with the most awful experiences.
I don't think anything good can come from such discussions. They serve only to boost the self-righteousness of the naturally sanguine among us, reinforce the notion that one should be able to weather every storm in a buoyant little-orphan-Annie fashion, and undermine the faith of those who struggle to make sense of and come to terms with life's difficulties.
There is a need to teach the peace of Christ and the power to overcome. But to turn such lessons into these kinds of bragging-fests is a spiritual and psychological disservice to pretty much everyone present.