1. "Christianity is at its best when it is peculiar, marginalized, suffering, and at it's worst when it is popular, credible, triumphant, and powerful." p. 164
2. "To say that we must kill our enemies and join the popular project to "rid the world of evil" is to call Jesus unrealistic." p. 166
3. "The danger is that we can begin to read the Bible through the eyes of America rather than read America through the eyes of the Bible. We just want Jesus to be a good American." p. 194
Do you think the American Church is guilty of quote 3?
What about Jesus being considered unrealistic? Is that the case, or is just a different time frame?
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2 comments:
I think we are 100% at fault of number 3. I mean remember growing up...where did you think the anti-christ was going to come from? Where was all the things from Revelation going to occur? It was always in America. We try to adapt the stories to what we know, but in the process we Americanize the stories. Just think of all the passages now that are being adapted to make being rich ok and that God wants us to be rich.
The unrealistic quote is powerful. I don't know where I stand on that yet. If we take the approcah discussed how would WWII have turned out? I think they do offer up a solid point though.
The unrealistic quote is tough, but I try to look at it as Jesus came to die for the evil in this world, not get rid of them all.
Here's a blog from sojourners.com about the prosperity preachers.
Prosperity Preachers and Personal Planks (by Nadia Bolz-Weber)
Yesterday NPR ran a story about the on going Senate investigation of the so-called Grassley Six; Crefflo and Taffi Dollar, Paula and Randy White, Eddie Long, Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland and Joyce Meyer – prosperity gospel preachers whose 501(c)(3) status is being questioned in light of the Bentleys and Leer jets being purchased with "non-profit" funds from their respective churches.
As a Lutheran, I fully reject the gospel of prosperity, primarily on the grounds that I'm pretty sure it makes Jesus throw up in his mouth a little bit every time he thinks of it.
The NRP story opens with an audio clip of a Kenneth Copeland sermon, "This is the word become flesh, the word become health and healing, the word become massive wealth." How one goes form the word become flesh - God entering fully into the muck of our existence in the scandal of an illegitimate child born in the filth of a barn, the Almighty slipping into skin in the most vulnerable and beautiful way possible - to word become massive wealth is beyond me. Unless one ignores the entirety of all four gospels, except a poor reading of John 10:10, "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." (NRSV) In a Joel Osteen sermon I've recently written about, he actually quotes that verse thusly: "Jesus came so that you can have an abundant life" - he equates life with financial prosperity. None of us truly know the mind of Christ, but my best guess is that he'd have something to say about this. We are left with precious little teachings from Jesus on many, many topics - wealth is not one of them. When Jesus spoke of wealth it was cautionary at best, and at worst, it was nearly condemning.
This is where things get uncomfortable. As I write snarky commentary about prosperity gospel preachers and how their lavish lifestyles are paid for primarily through the Social Security checks of the disempowered, I do so from the comfort of my 1948 brick ranch. My husband and I are a clergy couple, so everything we have is paid for by the tithes of others; our two cars (old but paid for), my expensive jeans, his garage full of back country gear, the $3 a dozen organic eggs in the fridge. All of it. I too live a lavish lifestyle funded by giving of the faithful and this realization is discomforting. It is undoubtedly the plank in my own eye.
Nadia Bolz-Weber is a Lutheran vicar living in Denver, Colorado where she is developing a new emerging church, House for all Sinners and Saints. She blogs at www.sarcasticlutheran.com and has a book for Seabury Press coming out this Fall; a theological and cultural commentary based on having watched 24 consecutive hours of Trinity Broadcasting Network and survived.
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