Are Christians supposed to have an "easy life"?

I was wondering what is "normal" for a Christian? An easy life or a hard life?

I was talking to some Christian friends last night about this and they all thought that Christians are supposed to have a hard life. As in, God is supposed to test us all, and push us to our limits. And life should be stressful. And when we become Christians our lives become more difficult because we are working against Satan and we are facing persecution because society sees us as freaks.

But my life is the complete opposite from this. My life is easy. I love my life! I have a great job. I enjoy all the activities I do in my spare time. I have great friends and great family. I love everything in my life. Yes, there're always "problems"; there's hardly a week goes by without something going horribly wrong for me, but I never worry about it because I trust in God and pray and things always work out in the end. Since I became a Christian, things seem to have gotten easier, and I am even less stressed than I used to be.

So what is normal? And am I an 'abnormal' Christian? Please tell me how hard/easy your lives are, as Christians.

 

Christians have chosen the easy option.......there is nothing hard about living your life with someone else telling you how to do it,,,,,

 

it's harder to be a Christian than not. But, everyone's lives are different. Becoming a Christians doesnt make your life instantly hard or instantly easy. We all handle things differently, and we all have unique strengths and weaknesses.

 

How do you come to that conclusion?

 

because Christians are swimming against the flow. Against the current.

 

Elaborate?

All i see is a bunch of people who allow another to judge them [God]....everyone else has a much harder time....they must trust themselves, to judge themselves.

 

Just curious seahorse, have you ever not been a Christian? If not then how would you know what it's like to not be a christian? If yes then never mind.

The "flow". right. The last thousand and a bit years have been dominated by Christiannity, and unbelievers were killed.
Only in the latter part of the 20th century have people become more free to choose whether or not they are religious. There are, I'm guessing, far more atheists now than there used to be. So the "flow" is changing a bit from what it used to be, but at least we aren't going to kill christians for it

But society is still pretty much uncaring as to what religion you are, aslong as it isn't islam. I don't see how it is any harder/easier for christians than it has ever been. I mean, the US has a "bible belt".

seahorese, next time you present an argument, atleast try and explain it.

Now how can a Christian's life be harder?

You have your death safety net.
You have your manual to life.
No matter what, god loves you.
People who don't agree with you go to hell.
You have plans every sunday, wheras I'm shitbored.
You get to steal other religions holidays.
No responsibility.
A meaning given to your life(god's plan).

I think I'm going to start going to church!

 

i can say that my life has always been pretty much the same [whether non-religious, pre-Christain faith which i wont elaborate on cause its somethign i sorta made up based on a few others, and now Christain]

 

Fuzzynutz. I am interested in what you have to say, and without people like you there wouldn't be so many lively debates on these forums. But please try to keep the conversation intelligent.

What you said above is very silly thing to say, and I hope you realise that. Not only have you blanket labelled all Christians, which is obviously not possible. But you have made a grossly incorrect evaluation based on, what I can only presume to be, pure speculation.

If you knew any Christians you would know that doing God's will does not "conflict against our logic". We trust God and respect his advice and most of the time it agrees directly with our own logic, and with common sense. We are not people "with virtually no coping skills"; we are just normal people, some with very good coping skills.

Again, you're way off about us having extremely low self esteem. That just isn't the case at all. I, for one, have incredibly high self esteem.

But most importantly of all, we Christians do not believe in God because we choose to believe in him! We believe in him because it's our opinion that he exists! People don't believe in Saturn because they feel a need to believe in it. They believe in it because it's their opinion that it exists, based on the facts. (However, I should point out that most people have never seen Saturn first hand, whereas many Christians have had a personal, first hand encounter with God.)

I don't mean to make fun of what you wrote, but it's just so utterly wrong. And that I can prove, because I am the proof!

Contrary to what you believe, I do not believe in God because I want to. That means I would be very happy if someone proved for certain that God didn't exist. This means I'm quite happy to discuss these issues with you in order to get to the truth. But you are not doing yourself, or your argument, any favours by saying silly things like this.

The irony is, you're claiming that we Christians are biased by emotion, but by making brash ignorant statements like these, it looks more like you're the one with the insecurities. I might even go so far as to say it looks like you have an egotistical agenda, rather than pursuing the truth. Your argument is losing its credibility.

 

It takes some bloody coping skills to cope with God. Believing in God hasnt made things easier whatsoever. And my self exteem actually got better.

 

GOD is our reality.
GOD is our logic.
Of course there's a battle...you are fighting it too...we're just not in the same side.
I have great coping skills and so do most of the Christians that i know. We feel free from the burden or worry because of the faith we have in our Father to take care of us.
I have very high self esteem too. No problems there.

 

Sweetheart, you shouldn't have ANY problems with self-esteem!


I mean...WOW...

 

That kind of scares the shit out of me.

 

dont be scared, we'll be alright.

 

huh? point?

 

Just what I perceive of that kind of authoritarian worship. What's even scarier is that it is directed at some unproven, invisible, intangible interpreted "man in the sky". That's like Fascism combined with those UFO-obsessed folks...scary shit, man.

*shivers*

 

The term "easy life" to describe Christianity is very relative. If you "enjoy" your life is it because you have everything you want and are living for yourself? or do you constantly live for and do for others and find great satisfaction in that. I believe that by living a truely selfless life devoid of greed, laziness and pride we will otherwise "want" very little material items and God will provide for us to ensure our continued happiness in fulfilling his word.


I also feel that as a Christian, if you feel as if your life is difficult then maybe you have not fully developed spiritually and have not completely released your grip on earthly sins. I can attest that I have not completely reached this stage of developement, but I feel that as every day passes I am one step closer, and that life and the meaning of it seems to become much simpler and easier to attain.

 

A life devoid of pride will ensure happiness? Hmmm...

Well, it's kind of odd. I am proud of my accomplishments. I am proud of who I am. I have a lot of pride, but it doesn't get in the way of truth. I have changed my viewpoints before, pride takes a backseat to truth, but it is still necessary. I, for one, am extremely happy.

I'd much rather have pride than fear in some invisible Sky daddy and imaginary "sin" concept. Thank Me, I have seen "the light"! Hallelu-ME!

 

I personally don't think we can find true happiness if our goals are anything short of selfless and altruistically driven or driven by faith.


It has been well established that I am continuisly seeking a higher level of spiritual enlightenment.

Lately I have experienced "highs" purely induced by prayer, faith, and through a "connection" with the lord and God that have been by far more euphoric than any marijuana induced "highs" I have ever experienced. I just can't easily explain this feeling or consequences but I can easily say that these times have brought me closer to true happiness and fulfillment than anything else I have ever experienced! A sort of euphoric energy comes over me and is the most enjoyable state of body and mind that I have ever experienced!

Would there be such a thing as pride if you were the only human left on earth? Pride is, in essence, directly related to how we conceive of our standings as compared to other humans. To me the highest standing that we can achieve in the eyes of others is by abandoning our needs and selfish wants for their needs and to help others with no regards to our own "well being". I would wrather be judged for my selfless love and help for others than any selfless acomplishments of my own.