Copyright\u00a0 by Shea Oakley<\/p>\n
All rights reserved<\/p>\n
There are some in the Church who hold to what might be called \u201cNegative Confession Theology\u201d. This is the idea that if we talk about our problems or doubts we only open the door to the\u00a0Enemy of our souls\u00a0and his intentions for our lives. Such individuals maintain that any verbal expression of\u00a0 struggles will insure that those struggles will continue. For instance they may counsel that we never confess to having an illness, either physical or emotional, because it is that very confession that keeps us ill.<\/p>\n
No doubt there is some truth to the idea that we are as we think and speak. Even the non-believing world recognizes this dynamic has validity and responds today by promoting \u201cthe power of positive thinking\u201d as a secular religion in and of itself. People who constantly think and speak worst case scenarios in regards to their lives often do find that such scenarios become self-fulfilling prophecies. Assume the worst and the worst may indeed follow.<\/p>\n
There is, however, a problem with always telling those who are suffering from various troubles in this life to not talk about those troubles except to deny them. The problem is that such across the board denial is not reflected in the lives of some of the greatest saints of Scripture. Instead, in both the Old and New Testaments, we encounter men like Job, Jeremiah, David and Paul who pour out their complaints to God, speak freely of their distress and sometimes even voice doubts that relief is coming anytime soon. Many of the greatest heroes of the faith were anything but \u201cpositively confessing\u201d Pollyanna\u2019s. Instead they honestly and passionately gave voice to their deepest fears and pain. Moreover they often did so directly to their Lord.<\/p>\n
Again, it is true that such outbursts of negativity by these individuals usually were followed by a re-affirmation of faith in God\u2019s ultimate<\/em> deliverance. But the fact remains that, in their humanity, they were sometimes unable to keep their pain in perspective when that pain became too great. Can we expect that we will do any better than they as we make our own way through this world?<\/p>\n The question must also be asked whether the trials we all endure on this side of Heaven are simply meant to be whisked away. Are we always to refuse to acknowledge they exist, or try to \u201cbelieve\u201d our way out of them, or does God perhaps sometimes actually use our distress to teach us a deeper kind of faith, the kind that trusts Him even in the darkness? Isn\u2019t this the nature of our Savior\u2019s faith in the Garden of Gethsemane? Jesus did not pretend He was not in great agony. It is true that He asked for His seemingly unbearable cup to pass from Him if that were possible, but ultimately He accepted that cup. Maybe we should expect our own crosses to include some of the very things the \u201cPositive Confession\u201d movement tells us we should simply deny and thus cast off.<\/p>\n It is true that negative thinking for negative thinking\u2019s sake is not Biblical and we are certainly allowed to pray for the healing of our bodies and minds. But we dare not assume that all we need to do in every struggle is super-spiritually shoo these things out of our lives. To do so may be to resist God\u2019s greater will for our earthly walk in the name of our own desire for a painless existence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Copyright\u00a0 by Shea Oakley All rights reserved There are some in the Church who hold to what might be called \u201cNegative Confession Theology\u201d. This is the idea that if we talk about our problems or doubts we only open the door to the\u00a0Enemy of our souls\u00a0and his intentions for our lives. Such individuals maintain that… <\/p>\n