Sentimental

I appreciated this because Mark and I sometimes have debates about "sentimentality" and I have felt at the end of it that I'm just too elitist and arty-litty on the matter.  But I think at the core have my critiques has been that sentimental things (movies, music, messages, etc) actually prevent people from engaging the "truer" things.  So, I guess I'm on board with this "definition"!

From Tim Suttle's blog, Paperback Theology

Sentimentality (my definition): softening the blows of reality by telling ourselves half-truths and untruths which temporarily assuage the nagging feeling that we are all living in a tragedy.

Sentimentality is what a sleazy guy says to a lonely girl; it comes off cheesy, but just sweet enough to distract her from the fact that he’s only trying to sleep with her.

Sentimentality is when parents continue calling tantrums and aggression “cute” or “a phase” long into the pre-teen years instead of doing the tough, right thing.

Sentimentality is Christian Fiction, Thomas Kinkade, Bill Gaither (not Gloria), Footprints in the Sand, modern worship music, soft lighting, precious moments figurines, Steven Spielberg, Barry Manilow, and the wedge which grows between us.

Sentimentality is the charade of pleasantness which is the mark of those who are afraid to feel anything deeply, so they feel everything just a little bit.

Sentimentality is when your friend dies and people insist on saying, “God knew it was the right time,” instead of saying, “This is bull-crap; death is the enemy, and it just got your friend.”

Sentimentality is when faith becomes the magic elixir we drink for every wound which keeps us from learning how to embrace the pain of being a Christian.

Sentimentality is the defense mechanism of those who are truly afraid to look.

Sentimentality is the surest way to sell you something you don’t need, or something which isn’t true.

Sentimentality convinces us that following Jesus will not require us to share in his suffering, and that of the poor in spirit.

Sentimentality is the oxygen of the dream world, and the poison gas of reality.

Sentimentality (not religion), is the opiate of the masses.

Sentimentality is to emotion what porn is to sex.