Mega Christianity Part One

Writer: Jeff

Imagine walking into a large stadium-sized building with 402 bathrooms or a food court that seats over 750 people (more than most malls). A building that includes a bookstore with over 10,000 books, has between 500 and 1000 employees, and profits almost 5 million dollars a year that is stored in an enormous on-site safe (not including money that is reinvested). – [MJ] Now, imagine more than 750 buildings just like it popping up all over the country in a little over 20 years. The buildings include cappuccino bars, on-site hotels, state of the art sound systems, media systems with 16-28 foot LED Screens, pools, gymnasiums, shuttle busses, all laid out on enormous amounts of land with their own zip-codes. Imagine movie stars such as Stephen Baldwin, Randy Travis, and Mel Gibson, music superstars, and politicians frequently visiting these buildings. Imagine between two and thirty-five thousand people visiting these sites each week in a parade of SUV’s and Hummers. [WAD]

Is this building the new state of the art Big Box store? A new sports arena? A Mega-mall? I am sure that as you began reading that paragraph above that may have been your first thought, but by the time you reached the end of the paragraph it is pretty obvious what this building is: a Megachurch. Every attribute that I listed describes at least one real Megachurch and in most cases many of them. Many Christians find this exciting, thinking: wow, how exciting that hundreds of thousands are coming to God and that God is blessing them with this tremendous wealth! I question this thought process and would like to examine the following questions concerning this issue: What message does this send to non-believers? Is it better to reach large masses with a watered down, society-influenced message, or reach less people with the real word of Christ? What impact do these Megachurches have on regular churches and believers? And, can a Megachurch stay true to God’s word?

Luke 6:20-21
Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.

First, what message does this send to non-believers? Answer: Christianity = Excess. If you believe, you will receive bling. If you do not become rich, then you just do not have enough faith. Why do I think this is dangerous? Simple, it is raising an idol above Christ – money. Then they are using this idol to draw people in. As we are warned in the Bible – beware of false prophets, and the palaces that they are in may be a clue as to whether they are true or false prophets. We are told to imitate Christ and he would be overturning tables in these temples. And what is even more telling is the fact that in many Christian circles it seems to be blasphemous to even question the excess riches in these Churches.

Luke 6:24-26
But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort.
Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.
Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets.

Second, remember that over the past 6 years the amount of people living below the poverty line increased by five million in America alone, while these churches are storing up their money on Earth. That sound system could have fed a family for a year, each television a few more families, each stadium sized building could have fed a town of God’s children, and the parades of SUV’s could be sold in order end poverty around the world.

To be continued…

[Sources include: Mother Jones Magazine and Works and Days Literary Magazine]

A Meditation on Compassion

I left the Church for about 3 years because of events leading up to the I raq War, the war, and differences in politics that I felt affected both ideology and theology. During that period I found myself highly critical of certain denominations. I would often say things to the effect of: this Church only believes in the gospel of money, or a Church that supports murder (the war) is a Church that has wondered far away from God, or a Church that ignores poverty is ignoring the Bible and therefore God. A couple of years later, I wonder why it took me so long to become more loving…and to lose my harsh attitude towards other Christians. As I continue to work on this, I thought writing this blog as a meditation on the importance of compassion would help me with this…

A few years ago a good Christian friend of mine said to me “You need to lighten up in regards to your rhetoric against….” To be honest I remember thinking he was brain-washed and that he had truly bought into the false Christianity that permeates capitalist America. In retrospect, I think that I honestly enjoyed tearing others down with my more “socially responsible” theology. I’ve shifted a lot since then. I still have a long way to go in loving others and showing grace, but sometimes I wonder what kept me so long with a spirit of judgment, instead of love and leadership.

The fact is, it was pride. One of the things that the Bible teaches against the most is pride:

Matthew 7:21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.

I think that I honestly believed that I would bring enlightenment to those that thought differently than me through criticism and harsh judgment, when in reality this just pushes people away. I now realize that it is only God that can bring about this Enlightenment and His main tool for this is through love, compassion, encouragement, especially through the use of Christians. Of course, God can use judgment and tough rhetoric for change, but I think that where I have changed the most over the last few years is that I refuse to go that root unless I am sure that is what God is guiding me towards. I am now a full believer that judgment and criticism should only come directly through God’s guidance.

An example of this has been my view of Wal-mart and people who shop there. I have strong opinions about how socially destructive Walmart is and think that they have played a large role in the break down of the family in the United States. I think a quick explanation is in order here:

By making people work for almost nothing, no benefits, and driving competition so intensely, creating a survival-of-the-fittest form of social Darwinism, that other companies have been forced to follow their example or be eliminated (Thousands of US factories have had to move overseas within two years of signing a contract with Walmart) – I think that all of these things have contributed to the current state of the workplace where the Average American works 47 hours a week – yeah, that is right, the Average American works 47 hours a week— which deteriorates the family structure. After all, countries that have lower workweeks (Like France, average 32 hours a week) have lower divorce rates, lower crime rates, lower rates of unwed mothers, etc. Anyways, the fact is for a large portion of the past ten years I have harshly criticized Walmart and anyone I knew that shops there. Luckily, that has changed.

In looking back at those years of harsh criticism, I realize one thing- I cannot think of one mind that I had changed through all of that time. That fact completely shocked me. Over the past year and a half, I have completely changed my outlook. I now do not judge others for shopping there – knowing that my sins are much worse than theirs (I have to say I have extreme view that shopping there is a sin, although I admit that I could be wrong and I do not normally advertise this view) – I merely pray for them and lead by example. I also focus on getting to know people and loving them rather than judging them for their actions (at least I try my best to). I have to say that I have now noticed a big change in results as well. I can think of well over ten people off-hand that either do not shop there or shop there less because of knowing me and what this cause means to me. In other words, through patience, love, humility and understanding, God has revealed himself to them and answered my prayers. For me, this has been a much more effective approach to affecting people and would urge others to trust God more in the areas like this that are important to them, whatever they may be.

Of course, this outlook is one of the most difficult things for me to adhere to because of my pride. I often struggle when I see Christians living in a very non-Christian manner, or being extremely hypocritical, but now I take the perspective that we are all sinners, so I should deal with their sin in the way that I would want others to deal with my sin – through care, encouragement, understanding, and most of all trusting in God.