our current sociatal plight

I'm posting this because this I'm wanting some feedback on this as I am unsure how to process this info. I understand the fact that people barely meet ends meet now and working feels like a waste of time. The fact that health care needs to earned in this country is ridiculous. I'm on disability so I've been incredibly fortunate to be able to pay for my surgeries and cancer treatment. Unfortunately dealing with severe mental health and anxiety including suicidal thoughts and the fact that the older generations running the country scoff at it think we need to "Get over it" only drives people into deeper dispare. Unfortunately it seems that self worth is seen in things you do as opposed to your work ethics as capatalism supposedly dictates isn't the answer either. As Christians our lives is to serve others so this type of constant self indulgence is anti ethical (I myself have gotten a job in hopes of doing more in the community, but I don't do it for self worth but because God expects me too and yearn to please him.) I feel this makes some valid points, but unfortunately it does not give a viable solution that isn't worldly and self serving. So what is the solution 🤔 Life is meant to be a struggle but we can only take so much. https://www.businessinsider.com/cap...iwork-2022-2?utm_source=pocket-newtab-android

I'm taking an incredibly big risk in bringing this up here as its potentially political.

Societal... I misspelled 😬

Short version: Sometimes life just sucks. We're here to learn how to live, not necessarily to be rich or live a long life. There's no guarantee we'll enjoy most or even a small part of it, but enjoying it is not really necessary to the objective of life.

I must disagree... I struggle all the time with "KNOWING". Despite all the useless and vain effort I've put into living "IN" this world, I'd like to know that it was always obvious that I'm not "OF" this world. If God would just speak to me once, and tell me exactly what He wants me to do, I would be a very happy man...

What kind of answer are you wanting God to speak about? His Word tells us what to do.

Every individual in the Bible including Jesus suffered throughout their life. The Bible has a lot to say about suffering.

Yes, that is true. I'm always hesitant to reading these types of articles as it's usually used to attack Christianity and it's morals. This article takes a few hits at it but it also makes a few valid points. The thought that our self worth is only measured by our worldly gain or joy is not a good thing. Unfortunately a world that believes they are there own God will only seek fulfilment within themselves. This kind of reminds me of Japan where a hard work ethic consume s many and they have no time for life as it's expected to be overworked in there culture. However there is a counterculture there called the NEET which is the opposite and they don't work at all, but focus on self indulgence.

The book of Ecclesiastes is perfect for this conversation. It pretty much says that it's all meaningless..... Rich, poor, working all the time, not having to work at all. It's all meaningless when you put it in the context of eternal life with God in Heaven.....Work your 40 hours and enjoy what you can while you can while giving glory to God, this is a man's, and a woman's, right.

One of my favorite OT books. I've had my King Solomon portion of my life and I can relate to him in many ways.

The Bible also speaks a lot about "peace beyond understanding", which I only experience while praying... but I can't spend my whole life in prayer.

I look forward to "the meek inheriting the earth" and "the downhearted shall have joy". But until then, I feel useless to this world, and I know persecution for my faith is coming. I sometimes wonder how Jesus did it... knowing the self serving evil the world is capable of and forgiving us anyway. I really don't enjoy this life...

And just so I know - who do you answer for, K? Who are you responsible for? Is it society that's messing you up? Society is like... me. Me and Lynx. Everybody here at cc matter of fact. Is it old folks? That's also a lot of older folks here. It's Mrs. Martin an older lady down the road from me. Sweetest lady you'll ever meet.

Putting folks in categories is just bad business. It doesn't do a thing except make me a victim. The only thing we have in common as society is we're all God's children; some good, some bad and most just floating around in the middle.

Finally, there is profit in all labor. Proverbs 14:23. I remember this dude my dad met at the Georgia Dome in 1994. My uncle and him went to the Superbowl down in Atlanta and at the concessions there was this guy who had a booth and was selling coke cans made into cars and trucks and biplanes. All kinds of things. All the coke cans were commemorative 94 Superbowl cans and my dad said the work was beautiful He bought a biplane and a couple of cars and gave me the biplane when he got back. Well, K, you wouldn't believe it. Even the propeller spun and the landing gear wheels turned. I still have that thing. I hung it from a string in the barn like it's flying around. I'll try and take a picture and share.

And the dude who put these intricate and workable pieces of art together had cerebral palsy. Could hardly sit up in his chair, dad said.

I've moved a few times since and the thing is all bent up that I've kind of bent back into shape and not the perfect piece it was. But the value never was in the coke cans. It was in the work. It was in the man.

Cannot say I agree with the articles premise. People enjoy the benefits and amenities of a free market, but don’t want to be a part is the process. I say follow your passion if you choose to, but don’t expect me to pay for your needs and wants because you can’t make a buck.

Q; Will there be money in God's kingdom?

The cash flowing in God's kingdom is love.

Yes, I understand that. I just butt head's with the older generation more often. It pains me to say my biggest issues being a Christian is other Christians. I was hesitant about posting this, I get panic attacks easy and I get into a lot of arguments here. Once I figure out how to delete my account here I'm probably leaving. I don't have an answer for this article. As for who I'm responsible for it's usually myself. I can barely take care of myself and keep sane.

I get a feeling many of these younger people don't fully understand what we have in this country and how incredibly fortunate they are to have a somewhat workable government and society. I think it's in some parts ignorance of how it is in the rest of the world.

Statistically you probably wouldn't be happy. God spoke directly to many people and usually it involved a lot of work and some suffering. It was always worth it, but they usually weren't happy while they were going through it.

But happiness is a luxury anyway, and sometimes it's one we can't afford at the moment. No matter. It's not essential.

Let's see thoughts about the article:

1) We need to be careful to not confuse capitalism with workaholism. People don't work too much because we live in a capitalist society; there's a multitude of reasons.

2) Is it work that is taking such a toll on people, or is it their own personal emotional stuff, or is it just the fact that we've become a very soft people who expect easy as the standard and don't know how to cope with difficulty? Is Capitalism responsible for depression and burnout or is it our social media world where our whole lives are confronted by the highlights of other people's masquerading as their whole life? If comparison kills, we've got a whole lot more people to compare ourselves to than ever before.

3) I'm sick of hearing people talk like a utopian society has existed and it is inexcusable that we should not live up to that. When has there ever been a society that valued people's individual well being or mental health more than it valued its members in terms of their use to society? When has there ever been a society where people were just given housing without doing any work for it? And yeah then there's the advances in medical technology (hand washing wasn't something doctors really even thought about 200 years ago) It may not be ideal that the hardest workers get the most rewards, but who should those rewards go to: the biggest whiners, the people who belong to the right societal clique, the people who will hurt or kill you for them? And it's not like modern times have invented mental illness and burnout and all this other stuff; it's just that people didn't have the luxury of whining and introspecting about it in previous generations because they were too busy surviving to devote much time to thinking about how miserable their lot in life was..... and everyone around them had the same troubles.

4) Money comes from work because money is a measure of the value that your work has to the community. It's just a medium of exchange so that we don't have to spend a lot of time negotiating how much tech support I have to give the cook at Mcdonald's in order to get a burger (and if that cook is @Lynx then I'm really in trouble because he can do his own tech support).

5) We're much more prone to anxiety (especially about our self worth) if we don't have a secure foundation, tradition, community to draw on. So yeah if you think you're a monkey that just happened to develop some extra brain cells, you're going to have a whole lot more difficulty with the idea of your worth being inherent than if you believe that there's a God who created you and loves you and has a purpose for you. And if you think your well being and security depends on you and not God you're going to stress about that more too.

Ok if I don't stop there I'm just going to keep ramling on in disorganized numbered points.

5) Work isn't a bad thing. God worked. God gave Adam the job of caring for Eden before the fall. Jesus worked as a carpenter for a time. And it's Biblical (as well as a principle of America's first permanent English settlement), If someone won't work, they don't get to eat (see 1 and 2 Thessalonians). Gasp.. how could you deny food to people just because they won't work..... well because someone has to do work to get that food and make it ready to eat and that work needs to be repaid (seems to me there was a story about a hen on that theme as well).

I'm debating whether to claim plagiarism (because I'm always saying people have always had these mental illnesses but we have never before had so much free time to complain about them) or just be glad someone else sees it too.

Also if you know someone who thinks we have tough times now, tell him to buckle up and put on a helmet. We ain't seen nothin' yet. I have never in my life had to use peat to make a fire to cook my pinhead oatmeal while I worried that the murderous British soldiers would come over the hill directly at me. I haven't even had to sit by the road selling apples.