I see alot of advertisements within Christian websites, churches and even in sunday services...
prime example would be www.crosswalk.com.
i used this website to read the bible... that's it... they do have this one yr bible thing that helps you to read the bible in a year but most of the website is filled w/ ads, ads and more ads.
'10 steps to become a Christian', 'How to protect your marriage from infedelity', 'Conquering loneliness', 'Start your life changing journey now', Biblical wine - grape juice or alcoholic beverage', and the worse one out of all 'Find the love of your life today'.... sadly that ad leads you to eharmony.com... how sad...
how sad that we have commercialized Christianity... it's insane how 'Christian' has become a product instead of a life that is manifested through Christ.
Christianity have quickly become just another life style people are living... and the institutionalized churches (there's a difference b/w church as the body of Christ vs. church as an institution), are numbing the minds of Christians and have drifted Christ's teachings from the communal living as followers of Christ to isolated Christians constantly failing to fulfil the calling of God.
Why do we need 'programs' and 'guides' to be a follower of Christ?
Don't get me wrong, there are some great Christian organizations and books and music and what not, that's out there... but the institutionalized churches have become corporations instead of the body of Christ.
We only care about ourselves... our future, our possessions, our families and friends, our careers and our lives... that we fail to live the heart of Christ's teaching... that is to selflessly love... to become last, to be servants in this world...
There's only one leader, only one Lord, that is Jesus. We're all servants of God, and as servants we have to put ourselves last before everyone else... i fail to do that everytime...
Also, alot of Christians have become and look like everybody else in our society... I feel that the 'dark forces of this world' and the evil or this world as Paul describes it, keeps us from fully experiencing life in ways which God intended us to have... there's lack of creativity, faith and trust... that we all fall into the patterns of this world... losing out sight of God... and maybe in our North American churches... we have lost sight of God.
I believe that in order to go back to the foundation of Jesus' teachings is to live and exist relationally. What i mean by that is to live and learn in a community where Christ is the head of our Church (instead of the pope or a reverend), where us as a community take care of one another and to eliminate the evil that exists in this world (ie, selfishness, greed, etc...)
Instead of a 10 step guide, maybe we need is people who will teach us and to learn with us, instead of worrying constantly about one's marriage falling apart, we may seek help from one another and to keep eachother accountable.
Even God chooses to exist relationally... (Father, Son, Holy Spirit)
I believe that the situations the disciples were faced with back in the New Testament age is no different that the situations we're face with now. We live in a world where there are forces that constantly draws away from living in communities and living according to God's words. We're bombarded with advertisements to make us buy the things we don't need and support the very own evil that is causing poverty and oppression in this world. That is happening in Canada, US, Europe... in all the 1st world countries.
It starts w/ resisting these forces, resisting these 'common belief' to move forward to be the seed that falls on good soil to produce fuit. To go back to the true foundation of Jesus' teachings... instead of these false representations...
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4 comments:
Jamesy,
It seems to me that a lot of this is closely intertwined with a pile of dan's posts about capitalism and the church(http://poserorprophet.livejournal.com).
A great deal of this can be traced back to the notion that everything exist to be bought and sold. Consequently, we have seen Christianity become a commodity which can be bought and sold. We can incite the feelings of faithfulness by reading a book, listening to music or attending a service without the actions, relationships, and dedication that it would normally take to experience those feelings.
Some might say that the emotions incited by these media outlets are cheap because they can become available on demand. Others might say that this is a way that they connect with and experience God. It inspires them to live differently.
Are these Christian media outlets bad? You can judge a tree by the fruits that it produces.
Pete,
I'm w/ Dan in regards to his view of capitalism and christianity.
I believe that capitalism is the very evil that Paul talks about in the New Testament.
In Paul's time it was Rome, and in our time it's Capitalism.
As an economics major, we extensively focused on Capitalism and how 'great' it was... but more and more i've become aware of the products of Capitalism... i've become to hate it since it's been exploiting and oppressing the people in this world...
In capitalism, rich people cannot exist without the poor. Corporations that exploit cheap labour has to exist when you're in a system that thrives on profit...
The word 'enough' does not exist in capitalism, it only teaches us to have more, produce more, exploit more and more and more...
it teaches us to horde... where us as Christians are call to give...
Capitalism makes us only to think about ourselves and our well being, wheras Jesus teaches us to put others before ourselves...
it drives us away from the communal living we're called to live by having our own 4 bedroom houses w/ 2 cars...
I believe that Christianity in North America has been compromised... the Western Church has become the pharasees of Jesus' day... it's given in to Rome... it's given in to Capitalism...
So whatever 'institutions' and 'programs' we set up to 'help' people... we'll only be a bandaid solution since 'we're setting up a program in a system that is flawed' (according to Dan).
I think that the disciples were being persecuted because they resisted the very evil in the world... and we're called to do the same.
It's interesting how you said 'you can judge a tree by the fruits that it produces'... cause when i see the product of the Christian media outlets in north america... i see alot of shallow faith (including myself), that's dependent only on milk... we have so much to learn from the Christians from 2/3rds of this world...
I'm not saying that ALL the Christian media outlets are bad... but i think that we need to re-focus our attention to the root of the problems in our society instead of drawing from these outlets that are only bandaid solutions.
the question is, what do YOU think about all the Christian media outlets and christianity and capitalism?
I think Christian media is niche within the media market. It operates as a subset of society's greater values with slight 'Christian' tinges. Children can watch veggie tales in stead of care bears, or adults can watch 100 Huntley street in stead of Oprah. We mirror regular society.
Is that a good thing? Probably not. It probably contributes to the Church's sameness to regular western culture. Ironically, I'm going to refer you to a christian media source. Check out this article by Tony Campolo:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/mayweb-only/118-22.0.html?start=5
(make sure you get all 6 pages)
I hear and I understand your frustration. Its easy to get frustrated with the Church. I do angry with it too. Its easy to complain, its a lot more difficult to do something different. So do something different.
hm....
very interesting article, quite enjoyed it.
I do see the imporportance in the institutionalized churches... as much as i want to deny it, they have shaped my life and my faith in many ways... but what i want to emphasize on is that, the church does not need to be the four walled building with a cross at the top of it.
I believe in the body of Christ, the church, i believe in intentional and communal living also... that's why i know that i can never abandon the church and just walk away...
however, i do see the failures of the institutionalized churches just like i see my own failures as a follower of Christ.
When things are institutionalized, you have to abide by certain rules.. obviously as Christians we abide by God's law, however, there are certain rules placed upon churches and christian institutions that can be a hinderance to the gospel.
rules set up in social work field to protect the organizations, rules set up in missions organizations, rules set up in church institutions...
the rules are set up to protect people and the organizations, but sometimes it prevents Christians from radical giving, radical love and generousity... (hence Dan's frustration on not being able to invite his street involved friends from the shelters)...
i guess my point is that, these set up institutions can be helpful as well as harmful, but i want people to know that these institutions are not be all and end all.
We too can go on missions w/o an organization sponsoring us, we too can take in homeless people into our homes, we too can set up a church service to honour and worship God on sundays... let's not completely withdraw ourselves from the church (because she is our mother. Let's be rooted in the church, however let's imagine and be creative beyond what these institutions have to offer... and radially follow Christ...
i know it's easy to complain, and i do that alot... and i do recognize my hypocrisy, but i believe that i am doing something by leaving... i believe that both kelly and i have been called to leave... opportunities opened up and things have been provided for, and i'm just stoked to go and live differently then i am now (b/c i feel that i am stuck in an environment where i do not want to be).
but ...5 more weeks... 5 more weeks :)
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