Dad,

We have written much here about faith and action, lifestyle and religion. I want to revisit the conversation about the Prosperity Gospel. I spent much of my formative years rolling my eyes at the public face of Christianity. The public face of religion in general, as a matter of fact. In the last five years, I have learned much about life and teachings of Jesus and about the history and traditions of His Church. I have experienced the benefit of conviction, and I am better off for my relationship with my faith and my church. I still find myself struggling not to roll my eyes at the public face of Christianity.

Here is a video that highlights the money emphasis of the Gospel According to America:

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It is hard for me to reconcile the message of sacrifice, service, and justice that Jesus preached and the message of greed and materialism that is so enticing that it draws crowds so big that auditoriums are standing room only. I seem to remember that when Jesus was teaching, most of the people left.

When the disciples experienced the Pentacost, thousands were added to their numbers daily, but that was in response to their sacrificial lifestyle and their adherence to the instructions of their teacher, not because they were saying the kinds of things that were attractive to the culture of their day.

We have also talked about anarchists and freegans and dumpster divers here at The Fireside Post, and I would submit that the people who are less likely to embrace the message of our popular culture, less likely to be enticed by the glittering images of a department store Jesus, and less likely to send money to someone that promises to deliver them the answer to their poverty, are the folks in our society most likely to resemble the person of Jesus.

Bryan