Comfortable Misery: Pop Culture's Love Affair with Misery

Now Christians have been born again by the Spirit of God. We are being transformed more and more into the image of Christ. But we still struggle with that old sinful human nature, and sometimes we find ourselves just like the rest of modern society—having grown accustomed to sin and misery.

Just look at our pop culture. I grew up watching shows called "Happy Days," "Good Times," "Little House on the Prairie," "Bonanza," "Cheers," and "Friends."

In the last decade or so, look at the show titles: "Lost," "Desperate Housewives," "Arrested Development," "Gossip Girls," "2 Broke Girls," "Sons of Anarchy."

I used to enjoy watching some good suspenseful movies. There were usually some redeeming qualities, and things got worked out in the end. But nowadays, a lot of these movies end with everyone dead. It's miserable!

There's even a Stephen King movie called "Misery" based on his book.

Apparently misery really does love company.

But in a society that has a love-hate relationship with misery, how can we even know what true misery really is?

According to Q&A 3 of the Catechism: "The law of God tells me."