It seems Dr. Piper is equating sleeping, here, with death, and implying that we needn't fear death because it's not real.

I used to fear death, when I believed there was an afterlife and I was plagued with doubts about whether I would be playing the harp in the clouds, or suffering eternal torture. Once I realized there isn't anything after death, I was able to understand that dying is just like not being born yet. I've already experienced that.

The only fear left, really, is the fear of a painful death. But, I have a fear of painful life, too, so I have to keep dealing with that one.

I didn't see any "antidote" to the fear of dementia in this section. He just described how ugly dead people are.

I rather like the way Mexican culture honors their dead, at least as it was depicted in the Disney cartoon, Coco.

Why must there be a point?

After we treat the specific ailments that may be troubling us, the treatment for affliction is really fellowship.

Belief is not something you can do. Nobody can choose to believe anything. Belief is something that happens to you.

You might choose not to voice your questions. You might choose not to look for or at alternatives to the answers you prefer. These choices might eventually lead you to actually believe something, but you did not believe because you decided to believe.

I grew up believing in Christianity because I was a child who accepted the words of adults as truth, without even realizing I had the option to investigate their veracity.

I never decided to stop believing. I lost my faith because I chose to study it. I was determined to substantiate the truthfulness of the faith I already had. Eventually, after many years, I realized I hadn't really believed in Christianity for quite some time. At that time, the only choice I made was whether to let others know that I no longer believed.

Stories don't have to be true to inspire us. Many novels and movies have actually inspired people to achieve more than they thought themselves capable of.

The many poor and homeless would beg to differ, here.

How many people die because they can't afford their life-saving medicines (while the pharmaceutical companies make record profits)?

When it all boils down, this section doesn't alleviate the fear of not having enough money. Instead, it is telling you that you shouldn't have this fear in the first place, because you're wrong to think you need more money.

Christianity is very good at blaming the victim for their own problems.

That's sound logic, but there's no evidence of an actual God actually giving "all things" to any people, let alone his followers.

Notice how Dr. Piper realizes he needs to qualify this promise, in the next paragraphs, by explaining that "all things" doesn't really mean all things!

In a capitalist society, where the profit motive is the prime directive, the fear of not having enough money is one of (if not, the) greatest fears we have in our old age.

My hope of a better tomorrow includes a society that has outgrown the profit motive and sincerely cares for everyone, even the old and unemployed.

This paragraph proves that God is not "instructing you", but you are making your own decisions. Sometimes you make good decisions, sometimes you don't.

You've heard vox populi, vox Dei, which describes democracy, but vox hominis, vox Dei is exactly what this section is describing!

Christianity's greatest success comes from the sense of community it tends to generate amongst its followers. It is actually that community that does the real carrying. You will feel God carrying you, to the extent that you have community.

This is a very common cop-out, throughout the Bible. A grand promise is made, and then an all-encompassing excuse is tacked on to explain that anytime the promise is unmet, it means the promise doesn't apply.

Really? Judaism and Christianity, both, embraced slavery and idolatry, despite claiming otherwise.

Most of the time, what is true of "other gods" is also true of the Christian God.

Humility is good, but it's better achieved in silence. Too often, people giving glory to God is really a way to humble brag (remember the Pharisee on the corner).

This is the primary objective of Jesus' teachings and the tenets of socialism (which is really the economic expression of Jesus' teachings): loving our neighbors as we love ourselves.

lol, it's invisible glory because there is no God, which makes it imaginary glory.

...you're happier than if you don't trust him, but still believe he will judge you.

If you don't believe that you are depraved, but that you are intrinsically good, you can be happier than if you trust in God!

If I'm not totally depraved, then I don't really need "future grace." My forward-looking hope is that more and more individual humans will progress toward peace and love (the so-called "red letters" of the Bible). This is a hope that Jesus seemed to have, but the overarching message of the Bible denies.

This is a really nice metaphor, especially if you think of "faith" as "hope".

This verse really seems to be "kicking the can down the road", so to speak. Obviously, we aren't observing these "immeasurable riches" today, so the author just promises them in some "coming age".

Nothing wrong with this, by the way: it's good for leaders to inspire hope for the future.

This concept that everyone is intrinsically wicked has probably caused more psychological harm than anything else, and it's my suspicion that this was deliberately invented by people who wanted to keep the masses subservient without having to exert too much physical force to do so.

As a parent, I have tried to nurture a strong sense of worth in each of my kids, so they never feel like they don't deserve good things.

I disagree with this assertion: openness and "globalization" (i.e., the dissolution of nationalism) are, in fact, an end, not merely means.