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One of the identifying marks of a Christian is that they are generally happy, successful people. I do not mean successful in the financial sense of being CEOs of large companies -- many Christians are very poor and some are even bankrupt. I mean successful in the psychological self-actualization sense

What a horrible load of BS. "Blessed are the poor in spirit". You are spouting a "theology of glory" and what you are advocating DOES usually imply that Christians will make money, be healthy, blah blah. Say, was John the Baptist a successful person by ANY human or psychological standard?

John the Baptist was a Jew, and so was Jesus.

That was not a very nice response to the person's opinion, you deliberately misrepresented what she wrote, out of your own spite or what have you. I think you should apologize.

In any case most of the born again Christians I know ARE happier than the unsaved people I know, despite their problems in life. It is the inner joy in looking towards the future with their beloved Saviour that gives them that inner joy others lack. I've seen terminally ill Christians who glow with the love of Jesus.

I think what the writer you posted to meant was that some Christians do face suffering as much as the next guy and some seem to have all the stars aligned just right about them, but what they all have is hope. Somehow that idea of hope keeps the Christian from offing him or herself or courageously getting through the suffering. I probably wouldn't call it happiness or success myself, because I've hit some very low points in my walk with Christ and I certainly wasn't happy and sometimes I wanted to die but there was a sense of determination that He would get me through it.

Suffering - another topic for another day.

What a horrible load of BS. "Blessed are the poor in spirit". You are spouting a "theology of glory" and what you are advocating DOES usually imply that Christians will make money, be healthy, blah blah. Say, was John the Baptist a successful person by ANY human or psychological standard?

First, I was absolutely clear that I was NOT talking about material or wordly success. What I meant [and I may have done a horrible job of explaining it] is that Christians trust to God to deliver them and are not [or at least should not be] overwhelmed by adverse circumstances. The example of Paul is that here is someone who is on death row. But Paul does not whine about being a victim, nor rail about how corrupt Rome is, nor does he seem to spend much effort on complicated legal maneouvering. My point about Paul is that even in these bad situations, he still acts for the good of the early Church, he still seems happy [and does write of his joy in God]. My point is that instead of taking the attitude of "I've been arrested, I'm a victim, I'm helpless and can't do anything," Paul took the attitude of "I'm looking forward to heaven and I find joy through God; I will continue to profess Christianity and influence the early Church. As far as success goes, I'm sure a great many more people will agree that Paul had a larger influence on history than, say, the particular centurian who arrested him. Which was more successfull?