Good news gone bad

So, with my feeler still comatose, my thinker has had free reign to further dissect the implications of telephone con artists. I wonder what role they've played in changing our generation's approach to faith in general and the gospel in particular. Think about it--any time someone offers us something REALLY good (or even just passably mediocre), how often is our first thought, "What's the catch?" Whenever the world offers something too good to be true, it usually isn't (good, true or both).

Hear me on this one? That tension of feeling like our two choices are gullibility or cynicism?

And into this tension God offers the best deal ever--eternal life, divine resources, love, wholeness, healing, forgiveness, hope, purpose. All by grace. All free.

I wonder how many people turn away because it's simply "too good to be true."

And we'd rather be hard than foolish, empty than fooled.

So Jesus said, "Be wise as serpents, innocent as doves."
(Feel free to judge contextual legitimacy or lack thereof by going to Matthew 10:16)