I've blogged in the past about what I perceive to be the horrible aberration that is Prosperity Christianity in America and was thinking recently about one of my favorite parts of the Bible.
I started thinking about it while in discussion with this kid I work with occasionally who is kind of half "real" Christian and half Messianic Jew. He wears some of the trappings of a conservative Jew but has the Catholic Chi Rho tattooed on his arm. He's a really nice kid, easy to talk to, and very open to opposing beliefs. He doesn't own a car, is usually barefoot, and dumpster dives for a lot of his meals, not because he has to, but because the New Testament tells that followers of God will be provided for, lilies of the field and all that. Pretty interesting.
So we were talking about modern, American Christianity and the new belief that you will be rewarded as a Christian with an abundance of stuff.
Anyway, my favorite verse from the Bible is when some kids are making fun of the prophet Elisha for being bald and God got mad and had them ripped to shred by some bears. Forty-two little kids. Ripped to shreds. WTF?!?!
Second favorite and perhaps less quoted is the part of the Acts of the Apostles where the followers of the apostles begin a sort of communal existence in forming the fledgling Church. The followers are selling off ALL of their belongings, throwing the money in a big communal pot, and living as equals. One husband and wife come to sign in and give their money but it turns out they've actually held back a little in case things don't work out or whatever. So, in the book of Acts they are rewarded for their greed by being struck down by God. Seriously. Killed for their greed.
Here's the passage from the New International Version:
4:32 The multitude of those who believed were of one heart and soul. Not one of them claimed that anything of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. 4:33 With great power, the apostles gave their testimony of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Great grace was on them all. 4:34 For neither was there among them any who lacked, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, 4:35 and laid them at the apostles’ feet, and distribution was made to each, according as anyone had need. 4:36 Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas (which is, being interpreted, Son of Encouragement), a Levite, a man of Cyprus by race, 4:37 having a field, sold it, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
5:1 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira, his wife, sold a possession, 5:2 and kept back part of the price, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles’ feet. 5:3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back part of the price of the land? 5:4 While you kept it, didn’t it remain your own? After it was sold, wasn’t it in your power? How is it that you have conceived this thing in your heart? You haven’t lied to men, but to God.”
5:5 Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and died. Great fear came on all who heard these things. 5:6 The young men arose and wrapped him up, and they carried him out and buried him. 5:7 About three hours later, his wife, not knowing what had happened, came in. 5:8 Peter answered her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.”
She said, “Yes, for so much.”
5:9 But Peter asked her, “How is it that you have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.”
5:10 She fell down immediately at his feet, and died. The young men came in and found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her by her husband.
Holy crap!!!! If you missed it, perhaps you should go back to the part that sounds suspiciously like from each according to his ability to each according to his need. But that was Karl Marx talking, not Jesus.
Just to be clear here, this is the formation of the first Christian Church based on what we would consider to be modern communist principles.
I don't want to go into a diatribe on what's wrong with Prosperity theology again. I just wanted to bring this little passage to the attention of anybody who might have missed it and cares to know what's actually in the Bible. I've read leaflets written by groups who are very anti-communist Christians talking about the evils of Liberation theology and how the followers of that movement have attempted to create a "false communist Jesus".
One of my favorite things is reading the leaflets put out by Chick Publications, a Canadian, right-wing nutjob bunch of folks who are big on Prosperity and hate the Catholic Church with a venom that is just freaking spooky. You can read a bunch of fun stuff and look at all their super cool comic books and tracts at chick.com if you like to be freaked out.
Here's a little blurb from one of their posts dealing with Liberation theology in Mexico:
Many Mexican priests are fervent supporters of "liberation theology," a noxious hybrid of Catholicism and Marxism. The Economist noted that Mexican bishops and other Catholic higher-ups also "disliked the free market (though they rarely specify what would be better)."
I won't even bother to go in to the wrongness involved in quoting The Economist rather than the Bible to make your arguments but that's the fun kind of stuff you'll find on that website.
My thoughts for the evening. In closing I'd like to share something from one of my favorite bands, Belle and Sebastian. From their Life Pursuit album, Act of the Apostle I and Act of the Apostle II, the reprise. Nothing to do with the topic of the blog but well ....
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