My Dogs Don't Speak English

Suppose, just for the sake of argument, we had a sense of salvation that said we were freed from guilt and that means we were well-adjusted, self-actualized, happy, positive people who have no reason to feel bad or unduly suffer.

Let's say that's what we say Jesus does for one who is saved, so I am saved from any sense of a negative self. So we have to assume that we believe in a self that can feel negative and so needs to be saved from that self-negativity. Fine, that comes with the territory- as do any number of other metaphysical assumptions and commitments. We're not evaluating or assessing the validity of those metaphysical assumptions- we're just imagining that that is what we say/believe.

So for the sake of time and space, let's say that what we say it means to be a Christian is to be redeemed from that negative sense of self so that what gives a life meaning is self-edifying fulfillment and happiness. Redemption is a matter of being able to love one's self.

So, if that were a description of some Christian person and that person hung out with others- though it would be odd to say that person was a part of a community... or maybe it would just be an odd community... anyway, it's some someones. You, and me, and some generic anyone. Okay. So it's some group of people like that- a church- how would that church confront things that were difficult to confront about themselves? I don't mean how would they deal with crises and difficulties. I mean how would they confront their ugliness, their participation in or affirmation of "bad things"? How would it even be possible?

ed.- Why do I hate grammar?