One of the worst teachings I ever received was by a speaker at a church when I was around 13 years old. For some reason we weren't at our regular church in St Leonards and were at a service held in a hall somewhere with plastic seats. I mention that because I just can't take church seriously if they only provide plastic seats. It feels like I'm supposed to be amazed by the Great And All Powerful Oz while I'm sitting on the man behind the curtain. Anyway, to further shatter any illusions I may have had that I was about to be hearing the Word of God, instead of the priest delivering the homily, we got Random Dude. I don't know where he came from or if he was even invited, but without any form of ministerial decoration whatsoever (I think he was wearing a knitted jumper in fact), decided that he would take to the podium and spout what I would like to refer to as the Grandaddy of All Lies™. It went something like this:
"You know I was listening to a song on the radio the other day. It was saying "Don't Worry, Be Happy". Well you can't do that. You can't just "don't worry, be happy". People have problems. We all have problems. Life is hard."
I can't remember what his actual point was. All I could remember thinking was "this guy is lying to this whole crowd" and I was just hoping no-one bought into this rubbish. Yet even being consciously aware that what he was saying was false, the belief got into my head. I bought the lie, and if you buy the lie you surely pay for it. So now I'm in the process of digging my way out, which means I have no right to be unhappy, ever.
1 comment:
Hmmm. How do I delete posts?
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