I’m going to springboard off of a GREAT post by Siamang earlier this week. As some of you may know, the topic of prosperity and Christianity is a hot spot for me. It’s a topic that polarizes people (even within the realm of christendom, where we should have unity), yet virtually everyone misunderstands (IMO).
Let me start with a general philosophy I have regarding Bible interpretation
Given 20 minutes and a slide-rule, you can support any position you want using Scripture.
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There’s a great interview with Hemant (the ‘ebay atheist’) in the latest issue of Outreach Magazine:
The Atheist Who Went to Church
Heather, the interviewer, asked him some excellent questions and as always Hemant’s answers are thoughtful and interesting.
Outreach Magazine also includes the first chapter of Hemant’s book.
Posted in A Cacophony of Posts, Ir (Helen) | Comments OffBy Siamang
Sunday I was reading Isaone’s post at the same time my wife was flipping through the TiVo. And in a moment of coincidence, “The Secret” was on both. So we watched and discussed “The Secret.”
“The Secret” is a video and a book and I’ll call it what it is, a brand-name for a particular style of prosperity theology. Ellen DeGeneres had done some episodes on it, so did Larry King, and now it was Oprah’s turn. My wife and I watched the second of two episodes Oprah did on “The Secret.” And Oprah touted it without skepticism, with barely a wiff of any opposing viewpoint.
The gist of “The Secret” is the idea that you “magnetize” whatever you bring into your life by your own thoughts. “The Secret” is a very new-age set of beliefs, with more than a bit of name-checking of “Jesus the Christ” for some street-cred. This makes it nominally Christian, but certainly not mainstream. This is very close to what my beliefs were just before I became an atheist. I’ll explain my problems with this after the video.
Oh, and they also try to rip off the DaVinci Code too.
My wife and I watched the Oprah show, which was called “The Secret”: The Reaction. The entire episode was filled with glowing viewer responses talking about how they were going through problems, but now everything seemed so clear to them and they have a new outlook on life after watching “The Secret.”
And steam shot out of my ears. Here was Oprah, who has more money than God, telling people who will never, ever be rich or famous that the key to success was to do what she does, which is apparantly just to want stuff. No Oprah, the key to success is EDUCATION. The key to success is HARD WORK. The key to success is to be at the right place at the right time with the right talents. The key to success is to have good opportunities, and loving people who will help you get the chances you need. The key to success is NOT to watch a tv show and “ask the universe” for material goods.
As Mike’s Weekly Skeptic Rant writes (caution, strong language): This is blaming the victim. I guess starving children in Africa just don’t visualize food well enough, or “ask the universe” the right way.
As I said before, I believed this idea of magnetizing things to you by thinking positive thoughts. And as my wife says, at one level, sure it’s correct. If you have a positive outlook, you’ll draw people to you with similar outlooks, and you’ll see some benefit in your life… no magic required. Just the “magic” of human kindness.
But I believed it on a magical level, and here’s where I hit upon the moral problem of this belief. If I get good things because I think good thoughts, then people who are suffering are suffering because of their own thoughts. This is a terrible moral position because it excuses me from my moral duty to help others. Katrina victims? Why they probably brought that negativity on themselves. The poor? Oh, they don’t think positively enough.
This kind of belief is a balm to the folks who feel guilty that they should be doing more to share their good material wealth. It sure feels good, if you have a lot, to comfort yourself with the idea that you deserve it, and that luck didn’t have anything to do with your station in life. How nice to look upon a homeless family and never have to think “there but for the grace of God go I.”
As I said before, Oprah is richer than God. And wouldn’t it be wonderful if the economy worked in such a way that wealth was generated not by work, but by wanting stuff? If it were, wow, Oprah could impart that secret, and prosperity would just make itself happen. Oprah could then make every one of her tv viewers fabulously wealthy (as they have made her fabulously wealthy).
On the Oprah episode, one audience member spoke with clinched jaw about how this wasn’t Christian theology. Oprah was very dismissive of her views.
I explained to my wife how Prosperity Theology worked. I saw it first-hand when I was growing up. My father belonged to a “New Thought” church which taught a flavor of it. They taught that abundance was our right as children of God, and God provided all. “Abundance” was always referenced holistically. The church leaders weren’t talking about mere monetary abundance, but “an abundance of spirit” as well. They spoke of a “abundance of all things, mentally, physically, spiritually.” Spoken in those terms, it didn’t sound greedy. It sounded normal and healthy to say that we all deserve to be well and rich in mind, body and spirit.
The trouble was, this prosperity theology was a con. Probably a self-working con, believed as fully by those getting rich off the con as well as those whose pockets were getting picked. They were taught a bible verse that said something like (biblical experts correct me here), “whatever thou givest shall be returned to thee tenfold.”
This verse was printed on the offering envelopes.
Remember in the video above, Bob Doyle says,
“What will help you generate the feelings of having it now? Go test drive that car, go shop for that home, get in the house, do whatever you have to do to generate the feelings of having it now and remember them, whatever you can do to do that will help you to literally attract it”
Of course, the ultimate way to “generate the feelings” of having it now is to buy the item, on credit. When my father would put $500 he could barely afford in the offering envelope, God was promising him $5,000. But only if he could generate the feelings of having it now.
After a decade or so of belonging to this church, my father’s finances collapsed under a mountain of debt.
- Siamang
Posted in A Cacophony of Posts, Siamang | 30 Comments »