Positive Thinking, Negative Thinking vs God-Mindedness
I am by nature a very negative thinking person. When something happens, I will always (almost) begin to think about the bad or negative side of it. I believe that has got to do with the many bitter experiences that I encountered with my life, the people I worked with, both in the secular and christian circles. I perceived everything is bad, and has a tendency to be worse.
It is not that I cannot trust God can be good to me. The very fact that I am still alive, and able to serve Him despite of my iniquities and other limitations, shows that God is good. But I have problem to look at things in life and always be positive. These are just a few backgrounds behind my bitterness:
- born in a country where your race is oppressed, even murdered. Where your culture is being obliterated, your school results was being manipulated.
- worked in a company owned by christian boss, who lied, cheated, in order to gain max profit and insulted you for a bottle of mineral water ordered from a hotel.
- served in a church where God's justice is considered as secondary, and the wounded are left behind.
Yes, Life is a choice, some book says. So, choose to be positive. Even many Christian leaders are persuading people to be positive and refused to look at the bleak side of the reality of life.
My question is, is positive thinking the 'right' thinking, the correct thinking? Although negative thinking, or be a negative thinker is not so good for the long run, but is positive thinking entirely right?
I believe that people who insists on positive thinking, even when they quote the examples from the Bible, are wrong. Why? They only looked at the examples that suit their purposes. In the bibles there are a lot of examples where by being positive will not solve your problem!
1. When the nation of Israel is about to be attacked by Assyria, how does it help by being positive?
2. When the Jewish people are about to be wiped out in the book of Esther, can they just be positive and pretend nothing is going to happen?
3. The book of Ecclesiastes is full of negative thinking from a most wealthy, wise person.
The solution to the problems of the world, is not being positive thinking. It is having a godly thinking. It can be positive, it can be negative, but it looks in the Bible, it looks to God to find the solution, and NOT by just being positive.
A casino is bad, no matter how positive you think it is. Yes, it is good for the economy, but it is bad for the society. Positive thinkers will always think of a round-about justification to help them be positive when something wrong happens. By being positive and think that it is necessary to provide 'food' for the country is a wrong way to justify the existence of the casino.
Hezekiah repented in dust and the nation of Judah was spared for 100 years. He was not a positive thinker. He is a person with God in His mind. God granted his prayer request.
When Paul asked the church to be like-minded, I serious doubt that he asked all of them to be like minded in positive thinking. There are always optimists and pessimists among us, and all can contribute in their shares for a godly purpose. A negative minded person can help you see the dark side behind a decision. A positive minded person can help you see how far you can go. Both can be godly persons and work together towards a godly goal. And that, is what I call to be like-minded.
Therefore, though I know that being overly bitter or negative is not good for health (mental, physical, spiritual, emotional), and I need to change to try to look at the brighter side of life, I refuse to admit that there is only bright side to life.
Are you a Positive Thinker or a God-Minded person?
It is not that I cannot trust God can be good to me. The very fact that I am still alive, and able to serve Him despite of my iniquities and other limitations, shows that God is good. But I have problem to look at things in life and always be positive. These are just a few backgrounds behind my bitterness:
- born in a country where your race is oppressed, even murdered. Where your culture is being obliterated, your school results was being manipulated.
- worked in a company owned by christian boss, who lied, cheated, in order to gain max profit and insulted you for a bottle of mineral water ordered from a hotel.
- served in a church where God's justice is considered as secondary, and the wounded are left behind.
Yes, Life is a choice, some book says. So, choose to be positive. Even many Christian leaders are persuading people to be positive and refused to look at the bleak side of the reality of life.
My question is, is positive thinking the 'right' thinking, the correct thinking? Although negative thinking, or be a negative thinker is not so good for the long run, but is positive thinking entirely right?
I believe that people who insists on positive thinking, even when they quote the examples from the Bible, are wrong. Why? They only looked at the examples that suit their purposes. In the bibles there are a lot of examples where by being positive will not solve your problem!
1. When the nation of Israel is about to be attacked by Assyria, how does it help by being positive?
2. When the Jewish people are about to be wiped out in the book of Esther, can they just be positive and pretend nothing is going to happen?
3. The book of Ecclesiastes is full of negative thinking from a most wealthy, wise person.
The solution to the problems of the world, is not being positive thinking. It is having a godly thinking. It can be positive, it can be negative, but it looks in the Bible, it looks to God to find the solution, and NOT by just being positive.
A casino is bad, no matter how positive you think it is. Yes, it is good for the economy, but it is bad for the society. Positive thinkers will always think of a round-about justification to help them be positive when something wrong happens. By being positive and think that it is necessary to provide 'food' for the country is a wrong way to justify the existence of the casino.
Hezekiah repented in dust and the nation of Judah was spared for 100 years. He was not a positive thinker. He is a person with God in His mind. God granted his prayer request.
When Paul asked the church to be like-minded, I serious doubt that he asked all of them to be like minded in positive thinking. There are always optimists and pessimists among us, and all can contribute in their shares for a godly purpose. A negative minded person can help you see the dark side behind a decision. A positive minded person can help you see how far you can go. Both can be godly persons and work together towards a godly goal. And that, is what I call to be like-minded.
Therefore, though I know that being overly bitter or negative is not good for health (mental, physical, spiritual, emotional), and I need to change to try to look at the brighter side of life, I refuse to admit that there is only bright side to life.
Are you a Positive Thinker or a God-Minded person?
posted by Suhandy Yao Wei Xuan @ 11:46 am
2 Comments:
At 11:29 pm ,
Yayah Farida said...
Great, Suh! You've shared a very true opinion of being Godly minded is much more important than being positive person only.
God bless.
At 3:01 pm ,
Unknown said...
Hi,
You have an incredibly good blog. To turn into a productive human being the fundamental issue would be to have positive thinking. Take pleasure in Sky Rocketing Achievement with Turbo charged Positive Affirmations... Produce Positive Thinking So It is possible to Eliminate Strain From your Existence, Enhance Your Self-Confidence and Plan Yourself For Lifetime Achievements!
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