In Part 1, I covered the concepts of how The Secret, the Law of Attraction and the philosophy of the so-called law of positive thinking in general sets up a person for failure because in the end you wind up blaming the victim. It’s sort of like the eastern thinking on karma, in which bad things happen because you somehow “deserve” them. It sometimes goes to the extremes, and even rape victims have been blamed for bringing it upon themselves somehow. In Part 2, I began by discussing how it is a perversion of faith. Faith is placing your trust and confidence in someone or something else, while positive thinking places it all upon your own abilities and the emphasis always is for your own “good” (as you perceive good, at least). In the end, it really is little more than what the serpent whispered to Eve about being able to choose what is good and evil and becoming “like gods”.
God’s way promotes selflessness while positive thinking gurus promote covetousness. God’s way promotes holding others in high esteem. The Golden Rule is about treating others with the same level of respect that you want others to have for you. God’s way promotes empathy, which I pointed out is the ability to put yourself in another’s shoes and truly understand .
The Bible is quite clear. When it comes to ourselves, we are commanded to examine ourselves. We are to remove the planks from our own eyes first. Yet, when it comes to others, we are to give them their due and perhaps even more than what they deserve. When David was already anointed as king, he would have had every legal right to defend himself against Saul. His life was in danger, and thus he legally could have killed Saul and called it self-defense. David’s own men urged him to kill Saul on more than one occasion. Yet, he did not.
Why?
4And the men of David said unto him, Behold the day of which the LORD said unto thee, Behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand, that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good unto thee. Then David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul’s robe privily.
5And it came to pass afterward, that David’s heart smote him, because he had cut off Saul’s skirt.
6And he said unto his men, The LORD forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the LORD’s anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the LORD.
~ 1Sa 24:4-6
David gave Saul respect, but not because Saul deserved it. No, he gave Saul respect because Saul was once anointed by God. Indirectly, by sparing Saul David was giving God honor. By acknowledging this, he was directly giving God honor.
Notice, though, that he was not necessarily being empathetic with King Saul. Perhaps more than anyone else in history other than Jesus Christ, David was empathetic with God!
1My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
…
8He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.
~ Ps 22:1, 8
43He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.
…
46And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
~ Mt 27:43, 46
The question is: Are we learning to be empathetic with God as well?
Remember what I said empathy was? It is not simple sympathy. It is learning how the other things and feels.
5Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
~ Php 2:5
The concurrent series I am doing on whether or not God keeps the Law (esp. the Ten Commandments) should drive it home that we learn His mind by keeping His commands. The Law is the expression of His values and His character. By keeping them and keeping them in the spirit of the Law rather than just the letter, we are stepping into the mind of God and learning to become like Him!
Let’s stick to Philippians, though. There’s some good stuff in this book that is relevant to the topic.
7But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
8And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Jesus, the One who created the world, the stars, the planets and all that exists, became a mere mortal. He came in “the form of a servant”, and He humbled Himself. He came selflessly!
Go back to v 5! If we are to let His mind be in us, then we must become selfless as well!
The philosophy of positive thinking teaches you to get. The “law of attraction” teaches you that you do good in order to receive good, another form of get. The Bible teaches us to give! I hope that this much is clear by now.
Paul goes on in Philippians 3 to warn them of “dogs” and “evil workers” (v 2). Paul tells them how he himself is circumcised and a “Pharisee”. However, he counts all these as a “loss for Christ” (v 7). He goes on to state how he “suffered the loss of all things” (v 8). However, these are small things in comparison to Christ. The high prize is the resurrection, and his goal is ongoing perfection until then. Finally, even our bodies will be perfected as spirit beings (v 21).
“Therefore”, which means all that comes before is important, Paul wants them to “stand fast in the Lord”. Not only that, but he pleads with Eudias and Syntyche to “be of the same mind in the Lord”. There it is again! Empathy with Christ! He asks “you” – Who? “All the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi” (1:1) – to help them get along!
How?
- First and foremost by rejoicing (v 4).
- Second, be gracious (HCSB, v 5) to everyone.
- Don’t be anxious, but be thankful giving prayers always (v 6).
All of these things are outward moving. These are not inwardly directed like the positive thinking gurus encourage you to be!
And so “finally”, finally what? All of a sudden be selfish? All of a sudden be inwardly motivated? All of a sudden focus on your own ability to attract good to yourself? No! Rather, think on:
- Those things that are true. Truth comes from outside of ourselves. Look upon others in truth and in love.
- Things which are honest about others. See them as they really are, but look for those opportunities to catch them being honest in their dealings.
- Things that are just. Don’t accuse others falsely. Tell them their faults in love, but edify them when they are doing well.
- Things that are pure. Is this how we should be viewing ourselves or what we should be looking for in others?
- Things that are lovely. Our own righteousness is like filthy rags. When we esteem others more than ourselves, we are looking for their positive traits.
- Thing that are of good report. Does that mean we are to brag? Or, does it mean we should compliment others about how they are doing?
- Virtuous things. Again, does the Bible support raising our own virtues up? Isn’t that self-righteousness? Or, does this verse mean how we should be looking for virtues in others?
- Praise. Again, does this mean bragging about how good we are? I think not.
Notice how we should meditate on “these things”. What things? How good and upright we are? Will God not strike down the proud? Or, are we to meditate on the good qualities of others?
To put it another way, does a person really need to be encouraged to view themselves favorably? In the end, isn’t that the problem with the philosophy of positive thinking? It encourages one to view one’s self in a positive light and overlook the bad qualities and the bad things that just plain happen to people daily.
Paul isn’t just saying put on a happy face, either, which is the pop version of positive thinking (which is oversimplified, I should add). He isn’t saying to not buy insurance, save for retirement, save for unforeseen problems, have an emergency blanket in your car or any other precaution that can help in a sudden calamity.
However, in the same manner we should think these things about other brethren, we should be thinking this way about God! After all, He is our Father! Who else fits better the test of being true? Honest? Just? Etc.?
Have you ever considered having empathy towards God? Can you love someone and not have empathy for them? That would be quite difficult, would it not?
37Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38This is the first and great commandment.
39And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
~ Mt 22:37-39
