The new Jesus … the distinctly, American Jesus … the Jesus who bestows some believers with wealth, with material comfort, with, well, stuff, that is the topic for this day's blog. I'll preface the whole thing with a very important statement: I'm not a Christian. I do believe that Jesus existed although I don't believe that the Bible is an infallible document that accurately states his beliefs or actions. That's not really important here though. What is important is that people who do believe in the infallibility of the scripture and who profess to be followers of Jesus do believe that the red letter bits in the King James Version are quotes and are the infallible words of Jesus who was serving as a conduit to deliver the word of God to whoever might listen.
Prosperity theology is very much an American thing. It's been covered well in the news and in books. (Here's an excellent article regarding the trend from a 2006 Time Magazine article here. I don't mean to belabor the topic, but the recent debate on taxation of the wealthy, CEO bonuses, Wall Street shell games, mortgage meltdowns, etc. makes me want to recall the debate and lay out some basic facts about the teachings of Jesus as documented in the King James Version of the Bible. I'm not sure of the actual figures but I would assume that the majority if not all of the Republicans in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives adhere to something akin to prosperity theology and they're the ones pushing so hard to keep taxes low on the wealthiest Americans; so bearing that in mind, please indulge me.
If you weren't familiar with the Bible or with the actual teachings of Jesus you would probably think that he spent a great deal of red letter discourse on the topics of homosexuality, abortion, drugs, low taxes, and the spread of democracy in addition to the most important fight waged by Christians in America which is the war to keep Christ in Christmas. In fact, at least from what we know, he never addressed homosexuality directly and we're not sure what his birthday was or if he cared. Whatever abortions were done in his day were not addressed though it could easily be assumed that he would condemn the practice. He did in fact address taxes and I'll discuss that here. Actually, a large part of the teachings of Jesus was directed specifically at denial of the things of the world in favor of focusing on the after-life in Heaven. The doctrine of prosperity theology isn't just a little off; it doesn't bend a few things here and there. It actively skips over the things that contradict it and is in fact completely at odds with the actual teachings of Jesus as we know them.
Let's start with taxes. Jesus did have something to say about taxes. When cornered on the topic in the 20th chapter of Luke he said, “Shew me a penny. Whose image and superscription hath it? They answered and said, Caesar's. And he said unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar's, and unto God the things which be God's.” The reason he was being asked about paying taxes to Caesar is because the Jewish community thought it was wrong that their money be used to fund the pagan government of the Romans. It's purely speculation but, and I feel well-founded to say that, if Jesus were in front of John Boehner right now, and Boehner questioned him about taxes, he would point out the signature on the dollar bill belonging to the Secretary of the Treasury and say that the money wasn't Boehner's to be concerned with. In fact he might elaborate that John Boehner would be better served concerning himself with the kingdom of Heaven than with such worldly concerns.
From every thing we can tell about Jesus through the Bible he would appear to be a mendicant, maybe something akin to what the Buddhists call a bikshu. A bikshu travels from town to town and can only have a robe, needle and thread, and a bowl. The needle and thread is to mend the robe if it's needed and the bowl is for begging food. Similarly, Jesus speaks at length in the 12th chapter of Luke about the lifestyle of the mendicant. He says that lilies and birds have no jobs or possessions but they are looked after by the abundance of the Earth. In the same chapter he goes on to say that you shouldn't store up treasures on earth but, rather, store up treasures in Heaven. He speaks against covetousness and the desire for worldly possessions and says, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Doesn't really seem like the kind of teaching that would lead you to by a Hummer or Escalade for your weekly jaunt to church though the parking lot of the prosperity churched I lived near in Alpharetta, GA, Mount Pisgah, had a parking lot full of them on Sundays.
There is a very well-known bit of scripture in which a wealthy man approaches Jesus and asks how he can gain entry to Heaven. Jesus tells him “How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” There has been a ton of discussion and dissection of this brief exchange. Prosperity theologians have changed things so that the Eye of the Needle was supposedly a small opening in the wall around the city of Jerusalem and a camel had to kneel down to get through it. Well, obviously, the translation here doesn't use the proper noun to suggest that this was an actual place with a proper name. There is further confusion about the translation from the original Aramaic; actually this makes more sense to me. The word in the original script is apparently gamla which can mean either camel or rope. It would seem to be more fitting if the intended meaning was the rope because a rope is made up of many strands. If unwound to just one strand it may well fit into a needle's eye. Likewise, as is obviously Jesus' intent in the passage, if you pare yourself down from the many things you've accumulated in life, maybe you can make it. In other words, you can't take it with you.
I could literally go on for pages with scriptures quoted. Jesus went on to say “blessed are the poor”. Well, here's the full text from Luke and you decide how Jesus felt about the rich and the poor in the Beatitudes from the 6th chapter of Luke: “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. Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets. 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 everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.”
Much of the defense of material wealth is found in the Old Testament as is the denunciation of homosexuality and of laying with animals and eating of pork. I'm not sure why homosexuality is still denounced so fervently while kosher diets aren't much more popular. It all comes from the book of Leviticus, once considered to be THE LAW.
At any rate, I did myself a great service a while back by going through and actually reading the Bible. I guess a large number of people who call themselves Christians and go to church on Sundays hear bits of it here and there. I know many of them question the parts that are a little uncomfortable or confusing when they've heard that belief in God means material satisfaction like the stuff about giving away your material belongings and not storing up treasures on earth. Surely they get pat little responses so that they don't worry their little heads about this sort of thing. Now, I certainly wouldn't be able to follow the teachings of Jesus. I love nice, shiny, bright, new things. It's the same reason I don't call myself a Buddhist although I firmly believe in the teachings of the Buddha. I know what troubles come about chasing after the things of the world yet chase I do. The important thing is that I realize that I can't really call myself a Buddhist and continue to chase the mammon, or material wealth. Jesus says in Matthew 6:24 “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” Certainly, it would appear, that most of our politicians spend a great deal of time serving mammon.
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