Blessed are those who mourn.
It’s impossible to serve the true God and the false god called “Mammon” at the same time, yet we keep trying to do just that. Ouch!
Having sanctified, spiritualized, and sanitized Mammonism, a segment of the American Church might be the most culpable of all. Instead of mourning the money-madness addiction we imbibe in its intoxication. To our shame, instead of modeling the simple life into which Jesus summons us, we jump on the same Prosperity-Now train that everyone rides to a washed out bridge.
We reason that our best marketing strategy is to impress pre-Christians with a religion of accumulation wherein we promise them a God-generated success: If you possess as much faith as ours, pray with the formula that we give you, attend our church, and give your ten percent, you too can be healthy, wealthy, and rise to the skies! Ouch!
Is this really the ad we want to hang on our church signs? Don’t you think this is so shallow that a thinking person can see right through it? Is it possible that people are looking for a community that knows how to grieve its forfeitures and how to bring our sorrows to Someone bigger than themselves for comfort? Could it be that they’re longing for a place where people engage in the pains of the world rather than hide their heads in the sham of spiritual sand while claiming their diamond studded destiny? Ouch!
This is an excerpt from a book I hope to publish in the near future on the Sermon on the Mount called: What In The World? Some Moral, Social, and Politically Disruptive Implications of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.
As such, I’d appreciate your feedback on this post and others to come in order to make the final copy publish-worthy.
barney wiget 