Here is an interesting post over on Internetmonk.com

He talks about using three stories to talk about the “Good News of Jesus”. The three stories are 1. The Feel Good Story (looks a lot like Mormonism, if you ask me!) 2. The I’m Good Story (also closely resembles Mormonism) and 3. The Grace Story.

The Feel Good Story 

In The Feel Good Story, the point of everything is whatever makes you feel good. God is there to fill up your wish and want list. You should be having a good time.

You are in the center of The Feel Good Story.

The Feel Good Story is easy to listen to, and it fits very easily into what a lot of churches want to say to those who aren’t Christians (and, more and more, to those who are.) It goes well with “church growth” and “prosperity” messages. The culture we live in is all about “feeling good,” so it’s not hard to find people who are looking for a God who will help them get what they want in order to feel good.

Beware of The Feel Good Story. It always lies and it always disappoints. Following Jesus sometimes feels wonderful, and sometimes it feels hard, lonely and difficult. God’s promise of a pain-free life without disappointment are always for a world to come, not this world.

The I’m Good Story

In the I’m Good Story, religion gives us rules to obey so that we will know we are good and others are bad. This can be very simple or very complicated, but the bottom line is that religion tells me what to do, I do it, and as a result, “I’m good.”

The I’m Good Story has always been around, crowding out the Gospel with the more appealing, easier to control story of how each of us can do more good things than bad and know that we deserve God’s love, favor and, of course, heaven.

The other side of the I’m Good Story is being able to easily know who isn’t good. The I’m Good Story enjoys pointing the finger at those who are different from us, and concluding they are “bad.”

Beware of the I’m Good Story, and it’s false security of having impressed a scorekeeper God who is playing a religious game with us.

The Grace Story

The Grace Story is immediately different, because it is not so much about us, or about what we feel and do, as it is about God and what God has done for us that we cannot do for ourselves. God’s love, acceptance and continued kindness to us are undeserved. Nothing makes them come to us or stay with us. God simply loves us, and we can be assured and insured by that love, in this life and the world beyond.

The Grace Story invites us to recognize the grace of God, and to join in a life that relies on that grace for everything. The Grace Story isn’t the Feel Good Story, but it finds its joy in the grace of God more than in the gifts of God, so there is real joy overflowing. It’s also not the I’m Good Story, though it gives us the greatest motive for obedience and the assurance that we still belong to our loving Father even when we fail to “be good.”

The Grace Story magnifies the cross and resurrection of Jesus. It shows us a covenant-making, promise-keeping God who puts forward his Son as the mediator for a broken and hurting world. The Grace Story empowers worship and fills all of life with a worshipful meaning.

The Feel Good and I’m Good Stories do exactly what we expect them to do: give us what we want and confirm that we are good people. The Grace Story does the revolutionary thing; the truly unexpected thing. It treats sinners and undeserving people as honored guests. It doesn’t do what we want, but meets us at a place of joy and fellowship with God that we have been taught to deny, erase and ignore.

I know it’s long but it’s a good read. I’ve quoted much of it here, but for the full effect, read the entire post.

I feel that our church has a lot of the Feel Good and I’m Good stories. We rely so much on feelings and doings.

I didn’t understand the grace concept for quite a while - and maybe I still don’t. But as I understand it because of God’s grace, we have a desire to be obedient. In our church, we must be obedient first to try to earn God’s grace. It’s interesting that both beliefs have essentially the same reward - salvation. We just go about it in different ways.

For me, I’ve always followed the rules because I’m scared of what might happen if I don’t. I’d like to learn to be obedient to God because I want to show him how much I love him and am grateful for the Atonement and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Not just follow the rules because they are there.

I’m a rule-follower. I hate it sometimes. I’d like to be a bit more free and free-thinking.

At the same time, I can see how rules are a good thing and I don’t want to completely throw them all out the window.

Can you tell that I’m one confused gal?!?!?

Here’s another thought for you….I’ve decided that I’m going to believe in God. If I have doubts, well then, I don’t know. I think I just have to decide to believe or not believe. There’s nothing that can prove or disprove the existence of God, so why not just believe? If I’m indecisive about it, why not just make the choice and then live that belief? I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. Do you?