Well, yesterday the president pardoned the turkey and hundreds of thousands of people were on the move toward other family members. Thanksgiving is a huge deal in the States and the most significant gathering time in the year, ahead of Christmas. It is an opportunity to give thanks for abundance, security, prosperity. Of course this year's Thanksgiving is different. Millions are out of work and a quarter of those fortunate to own a home know that the actual value of their property has sunk below its mortgaged value. Recently president Obama was in China, cultivating the relationship with the nation which has become its banker, along with a cluster of Arab nations.
The latest Atlantic Monthly magazine has an article suggesting that a big reason for the current recession in the US is Christianity. Man, we get blamed for everything these days.
I do understand the premise of the article. In the past few decades the "health and wealth" gospel has been a powerful and pervasive message from many American pulpits. It is essentially the message that prosperity and abundance find their way to true believers. The American Dream has been intertwined with God's blessing, and that blessing is lots of cash.
One of the pastors featured in the article, a guy who is an unrelenting preacher of this message also happened to be a mortgage loan officer for two institutions. So he was promising that God would bless his congregation and then loaning them the money to buy houses they couldn't really afford. Today many of the foreclosure hotspots in the country coincide with areas where this message is preached.
While big-name Christian pastors such as Joel Osteen promote "health and wealth" so does someone like Oprah who endorsed the book The Secret.
Do you think that God blesses the faithful with material wellbeing? If not, how does God bless us/you?
When I was a child, I had a friend who believed that the more you had the more God loved you. I remember when we were both around 10 we had an argument about it. Then as a young adult I went through several years of real poverty. I actually had to be treated for borderline starvation several times. It seemed peculiar to me that this same childhood friend berated me for not having a job. She told me I didn't have a job because I didn't want one. IT basically boiled down to the fact of my being a bad person. I remember thinking, "I'm really hungry" and trying to focus on her 'goodwill' speech. She was telling me all about how I had to buck up and stop being so lazy.[My marraige had just ended] I had tried to work while going through this but on my first day I passed out and ended up back in the hospital. I was only able to keep down a few tablespoons of fluid at the time. When you have been hungry for a long time it becomes hard for the stomach to accept food. This friend lived at home with her parents in a huge home and drove a car provided by her parents.I had supported myself for years. I didn't have much, but what I had I earned. What surprised me the most was how thoroughly she believed that her life circumstances and her unearned privilege were tied in with not only her worth but mine. I think I was blessed in that example. I had no wealth to shield me. So no, I don't think God blesses the faithful with material wealth, I think God blesses the faithful with the wisdom, perseverance, and insight that the discipline of faith is designed to instill.
ReplyDeleteWell said, Pupil....I aim to receive my abundance as blessings because I believe God is a part of all that is truly good. I don't believe that goodness is endowed on the most faithful, though. (seems though that the word goodness is skewed in some elements of the American Dream mentality) What did I (in vitro)or my parents do to "deserve" my(or their own) healthy birth into a wealthy, free land? Humankind has brought about our own troubles in this world. I am thankful that God speaks loud enough that I still can hear His/Her voice over Black Friday's cash register's ch-ching.
ReplyDeleteMaybe this year fewer people in the States will be trampled in the stampedes into stores for what Laura notes is called Black Friday, the day when many retailers make it into "the black."
ReplyDeleteThanks to both of you for adding good thoughts to the discussion.