Tue 21 February 2023

Content Warning: This is straight-up Bible stuff from a very Christian perspective. If that's not what you're looking for, I'm sure I'll have other posts you'd be interested in soon. Cheers.

Content Warning #2: Ummm, guys... don't blog angry. Maybe skip this one. XD

I've been home sick the past few days (mostly recovered now, thankfully), so I did a lot of flipping around on my TV. Finished up Ms. Marvel (LOVELY show, highly recommend, particularly to those who could use some empathy and understanding towards Muslims, *cough*) and watched all of Loki (weird show, but very interesting).

After my brain was reeling from way too much Marvel the first day and a half, I switched to watching a lot of GodTV. Now, mama didn't raise no fool — I know that Christian TV and especially Charismatic Christian TV is a seriously mixed bag. There was amazing stuff on there, and I was introduced to at least one really SOLID preacher — Seth Dahl. His talk on mental health from the Freshwind Conference, Toronto, was really life-giving.

Of course, there were people on there I knew I wasn't going to give the time of day to. I won't watch a second of Creflo Dollar or Kenneth Copeland — The former in particular actually has a lot of wisdom, but it's interspersed amongst the horrendous and stupid Prosperity Gospel. Not gonna touch that with a ten-foot pole.

There's also Joyce Meyer, whom — may I be honest? Who horrifies me from the second I lay eyes on her. I know it's not right to judge someone based on their appearance, but dear Lord the lady makes poor Michael Jackson in the latter years of his life look quite healthy. I have much sympathy for him — none for her. Three preachers whose lavish lifestyles they will watch burn. Not to say that they themselves will (I'm not their Judge), but dear Lord will they suffer loss.

But none of those people horrified me that much. I already knew what to expect. It was Dr. David Jeremiah —

"David Jeremiah!?" I hear my Christian friends cry. "He's a stalwart, solid, unassailable preacher of the Gospel! He's not an über-Pentacostal kook or a prosperity preacher!" Well... Here's the thing. There's another form of the Prosperity Gospel which is quite rampant, especially amongst Evangelicalism. I call it the Gospel of Capitalism. And the mindless propaganda I heard him spew shocked me. He was talking about Socialism and the godless origins of it. Now, that's nothing new to me. But unlike more simple-minded people (ugh, Lord, where's my humility?) I don't see criticisms of religion as sacrilegious, any more than the Protestant Reformation was sacrilegious. A criticism is a criticism, and must needs be weighed carefully and impartially if one is ever to grow as a person.

Dr. Jeremiah laid the case that Socialism was started by godless people and is therefore a godless ideology (quite a stretch, to be sure), and capped it all off with this doozy, "You cannot be a Socialist and a Christian."

Well, Dr. Jeremiah, how about if I say that you cannot be a Capitalist and a Christian? I can far more easily point to obvious bible verses than your crudely-crafted sophistry. Let's start with a few:

"Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.'"
Hebrews 13:5 ESV

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
Matthew 6:19-21 ESV

"And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, 'Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.'"
Mark 10:24-25 ESV

"No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money."
Matthew 6:24 ESV

"And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: 'Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.'"
Luke 6:20-21,24 ESV

"Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you."
James 5:1-6 ESV

And final word on riches, uttered by the Apostle Paul in the sunset years of his life:

If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. …imagining that godliness is a means of gain. But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.
I Timothy 6:3-10 ESV

I wonder how long the Church will suffer being made the handmaiden of injustice, the bondservant of unscrupulous men and ravenous greed. I wonder how long Her Bridegroom will suffer such treatment of her.

Not long.

#100DaysToOffload - Day 5

Category: Ethics Tagged: 100DaysToOffload Philosophy Ethics Christianity Non-technical post