Our lives are harder than they should be and the truth is that this is due to sin, others sin, our sin, just sin generally. Genesis tells us that it doesn't have to be this way, Jesus tells us that it won't always be this way. In fact, He says it can be better now but we should get over the idea that it is going to be perfect now.
The Beatitudes tell us how to live in a broken world, change our values. Blessed are the poor in spirit, mourners, the meek, the persecuted and the slandered? There isn't a single secular book that embraces that worldview. We are like John Mayer, we're waiting on the world to change. The Bible tells us it won't change for the better. The Bible is a fatalistic book when it comes to human nature.
What the Bible isn't is fatalistic with respect to humans. It tells us right up front that sin is a human problem and it only gets worse. In fact, it got so bad one time that God completely gave up on humanity and wiped it out and started all over again, but not entirely from scratch, like sourdough bread, a little of the old starter was saved. Human nature remained, sin and all. The Holy Spirit is God's plan for a better world now, changing us from the inside out, so that we can be salt and light, and point to that better world by our lives.
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