“The prosperity gospel isn’t just
bad because it’s factually incorrect, but because it relationally removes
people from the love of their Father.” (Billy Graham).
Injil Kemakmuran tidak hanya
jahat karena nyatanya tidak benar, tetapi karena pengajaran tersebut secara
relasional menjauhkan orang dari kasih Bapa mereka.
Every pastor has their “rant.”
It’s that subject that immediately makes our blood pressure spike. It’s the
part of our sermon that was supposed to take three minutes and ends up going
10. It’s our “holy discontent,” to steal a phrase from Bill Hybels.
When I was a pastor in Southern
California, I quickly found the thing I absolutely couldn’t stand. It was the
book The Secret. It was an Oprah-approved spiritual self-help book that
dominated the bestseller lists 10 years ago. Its basic idea was that we can
shape the reality of the world around us by speaking positive realities into
existence, releasing good thoughts into the universe, etc. etc.
I hate it because it reflects a
pseudo-spirituality that’s everywhere in Southern California, a
non-threatening, benevolent, sentient universe that requires nothing from you
other than positive energy, and a general, and completely vague, commitment to
being a “good person.” I hate The Secret because of the unspeakable horrors
that are happening in Syria, thousands of foster kids in Los Angeles alone and
horrible racial divides in our country. What sort of entitled nonsense believes
the victims of these atrocities just need to name it and claim it? I hate The
Secret because for around half a century now, the book’s idea has snuggled up
with Christianity and birthed the prosperity gospel. Like I said, this is my
rant.
I generally agreed with the
response to this question which said 1) no, the Bible doesn’t promise riches,
2) the Bible is actually very cautious about the role of money in our lives,
and 3) the riches we have in Christ are something far better than money.
But something struck me as I
finished. There’s pain behind this person’s question. Notice what this woman
says. She and her husband are trying to “put God first” (who ever feels like
they’ve accomplished that?) but are still struggling each month to pay their
bills. Do you hear the question behind the question?
Are we being godly enough? Is
there an area of disobedience we don’t know about? What are we doing wrong? Is
God holding out on us? Does he see? Does he care?
In my experiences in pastoral
ministry, behind the scenes of most peoples’ lives are one of two lies: “God
isn’t giving me what I deserve” or “I’m letting God down.” The first leads to
arrogance, entitlement and bitterness. The second leads to shame and anxiety.
And both can so easily flow out of a The Secret-influenced way of thinking
about God that ultimately tells people, “If you are just positive/prayerful/persistent
enough then life will go well.”
Nowhere in the response to this
woman is her pain addressed. There’s not a word of comfort. There’s no “it
sounds like things are hard right now and I’m sorry.” There’s a lot of correct
theology but there’s not a lot of Jesus looking lovingly into the eyes of this
woman and saying, “Peace, be still.” I don’t say that to judge the author of
this article (presumably not Billy Graham, as attributed), but to look at
myself and ask “How holy is my discontent?”
What people need in response to
The Secret is not just me ranting about the dangers of being either prodigal
son, older or younger. What people need is me explaining that there is a
Father, patient, loving and waiting for both of his sons to return to his love.
What people need is for me to relationally incarnate the presence of Jesus in
their lives.
The prosperity gospel isn’t just
bad because it’s factually incorrect but because it relationally removes people
from the love of their Father. The question then becomes, am I embodying that
compassion in my message in a way that they see how great God’s love for them
really is?
In other words, is the volume of
my rant drowning out God’s compassion toward his kids who are hurting?
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