{"id":6857,"date":"2025-10-05T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-05T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=6857"},"modified":"2025-08-12T16:44:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T21:44:11","slug":"good-new-bad-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=6857","title":{"rendered":"Good New, Bad News"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>Short and sweet thought for the week\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Good-News-Bad-News-churxhartpro.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Good-News-Bad-News-churxhartpro.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6858\" width=\"335\" height=\"334\" srcset=\"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Good-News-Bad-News-churxhartpro.jpg 582w, https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Good-News-Bad-News-churxhartpro-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Good-News-Bad-News-churxhartpro-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 335px) 100vw, 335px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>Good news\/bad news jokes abound. For example&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Good news: Your favorite TV show got renewed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bad news: It\u2019s only on a streaming service you can\u2019t afford.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Good news: You got a reply on your email today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bad news: It was from a Nigerian prince.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Good news at your yearly physical: Your cholesterol has stayed the same: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bad news: Research findings on cholesterol have changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These jokes could go on and on and on. If someone were to say to you, \u201cI have good news and bad news, which do you want to hear first?\u201d What do you answer? Do you want to hear the good news first or the bad news?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Years ago, a study in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin revealed that most people want to hear the bad news first because they think they\u2019ll feel better if they end with something positive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, those who had to deliver the news preferred to start with the good news before the bad news. The researchers call it \u201cpriming emotion-protection,\u201d which actually means that maybe the bad news won\u2019t seem as bad if something good comes first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Personally, whether I\u2019m giving news or receiving it, I\u2019d rather have more of a sandwich approach. Give me some good news, then hit me with the bad news, and end with some more good news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s why I like to start my day with a devotional or a little Bible reading before I hear any current news reports. It doesn\u2019t take much murder, injustice, disease, politics, fires, floods, war, hate crimes, conspiracy theories, or mayhem to dampen my spirits\u2014and that\u2019s the real news, not the fake news. With all the media options available, it is easy to access bad news 24\/7. No wonder so many people are depressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So after hearing some bad news, I like to fill my mind with some really good news\u2014Jesus! &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When Christ was born the angel said, \u201cI bring you good news of great joy for all the people\u201d (Luke 2:10).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Did you know that the word \u201cgospel\u201d in the Bible means \u201cgood news?\u201d So here\u2019s the gospel, or what I call some really good news: Jesus came to earth. Jesus dwelt among people. Jesus loved us while we were sinners. Jesus died for our sins. Jesus rose from the dead. Jesus lives in us. Jesus will never leave or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Good news: God is allowing us to live another day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bad news: The world is going to hell in a handbasket.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Good news: Christ brings hope to a hopeless world. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><em>\u201cFor I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power<\/em><br><em>of God to salvation for everyone who believes&#8230;&#8221; ~Romans 1:16<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Short and sweet thought for the week\u2026 Good news\/bad news jokes abound. For example&#8230; Good news: Your favorite TV show got renewed. Bad news: It\u2019s only on a streaming service you can\u2019t afford. Good news: You got a reply on &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=6857\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6857"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6857"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6857\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6883,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6857\/revisions\/6883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}