From Black Friday to Christmas we've heard news stories of shopping that have ranged from violent to charitable. From bad to worse, the notorious pepper-spraying officer gave way to the pepper-spraying Walmart shopper. The season of consumer coverage culminated with warm stories of anonymous donors paying off lay-away bills at K-Mart. As good as the story ends, I'm left disappointed that one of the holiest seasons of the Christian calendar can be so overwhelmed by American consumerism. A now secular habit of gift-giving, rooted in the narrative tradition of the three magi, seems to subsume the message of the season: that a child was born and the world will never be the same.
In my Christian Universalist tradition, that child, Jesus, reminds us that God is centered in love. That God's love is unconditional. And all are saved. That last precept has caused controversy throughout Christian circles for at least the past 200 years. It would be heard as either a joyous message or a dangerous heretical teaching. This teaching continues to remain alive, if not thriving, because many of us simply can't imagine our all-loving God condemning anyone to ever-lasting misery. We can imagine humans doing that to each other, but we just can't lay that sin upon God.
I do believe in Hell. I just believe that it's in our lived experience and crafted by human hands. The news story of a Walmart shopper who was desperate enough to pepper spray fellow shoppers is a clear illustration of one kind of Hell. Pain and misery, both physical and emotional, is suffered because of a perceived lack. Life isn't full enough without the plastic-wrapped widget. It's almost as if the latest item on sale has become the biblical Golden Calf, the idol we build when we think God is absent. "If only we can obtain it, all will be well."
Whether you believe in an afterlife or not though, religious values can still be of help. If Hell is caused with the belief that we are fundamentally lacking something, then Heaven is found when we recognize the abundance before us that we have been given regardless of our own merit. (If you maintain a view that you've earned all that you have then consider your birth -- the gift of life was freely given through no action of your own.) If it doesn't take too much imagination to conceive of a Hell of our own making, then maybe we can imagine a Heaven that's crafted by human hands as well. What if we focus on the belief that there is an abundance in life, that there is enough of the pie to go around so that all can have a slice? If it's too hard or too fanciful for you to imagine this to be true for the whole world, then try to imagine it for just the country you live in, or just your home town.
We know that the clutch and grab of the desperate shopper, the icon of consumerism, isn't really working for any of us. We can choose to put that same energy into helping those around us. The gift-giving tradition was rooted in a sense of generosity, and it has shifted into a competing sense of woeful obligation and a child-like desire for more. Let's move away from giving random widgets and generic gift cards, and move toward gifts that build the foundations of a Heaven in this life. If the gifts are ostensibly in the name of the Christian tradition, then gifts of service, of compassion, of relationship-building would certainly be more in line with the teachings of the man who was born in this season.
If we were to occupy Heaven in our own lifetimes, the practices would reflect some of the calls for justice we hear in the broader Occupy Wall Street movement. Some of the theology is the same. There is enough to go around. We are first citizens of this world, not consumers. We can choose to use our power or privilege or spirit to care for our neighbor. In the coming year, let's all seek to don the mantle of citizen rather than consumer and build a heaven on earth. We can allow cynicism to crush our efforts before we start, or we can choose to live a more gracious life.
Follow Rev. G. Jude Geiger on Twitter: www.twitter.com/revjudegeiger
Steven Cohen: Sustainability, Politics, and Consumerism
I suspect you did not mean the material abundance. But perhaps that is the hell of your own making. I got to get back to my ego-created heaven and hell.
hariaum
Got it.
Ricky Bobby theology. Ricky always referenced the "baby" (child) Jesus because, as he stated, the grown up Jesus scared him.
"And all are saved."
Not according to Jesus (the grown up Jesus not the child).
Mark 16:15 And he (grown up Jesus) said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
Don't get me wrong, I believe that God is a God of love, but he is also a God of justice and judgement.
Matthew 12:31 Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.
"There is no sin committed yesterday that the Lord would not forgive today because He died for all sin. The Holy Spirit came into the world to make real the salvation of Christ to the hearts of mankind.
If you resist the working of the Spirit of God when He speaks to you, my friend, there is no forgiveness, of course. There is no forgiveness because you have rejected salvation made real to you by the Holy Spirit. And it is the work of the Spirit of God to regenerate you."
- Dr. J. Vernon McGee
In short; believe or burn.
Personally, I don't WANT to spend eternity with fundamentalists of any religion; they're annoying enough in this life.
Many times throughout the bible God talks about the importance of hard work. Does the verse "let he who not work, not eat" sound socialist to anyone. Does the idea of "God loves a cheerful giver" sound like he is advocating for taking by force peoples wealth. Throughout the bible God even mentions several times where wealth is a REWARD for hardwork.
Do yourself a favor, and continue to be a left-wing socialist, but don't use religion to advocate for your world view.
Furthermore, the Bible says lots of things about money and making money, some of those may suggest that handwork is rewarded by wealth, others, however, command a return to original ownership and a debt release program every few years, e.g the Jubilee year. Some even suggest that God and wealth are strictly opposed to one another; e.g. the rich young ruler, and the whole "two masters" talk, some folks in Acts were killed by the Holy Spirit for not giving all of their possessions to the poor. I think in the end, your understanding of economics, Mr. Geirer's understanding and my understanding are all influenced by our particular hermeneutic and religious assumption.
booga-booga!!
Indeed.
Compassion and kindness has no need of relgion or politics. It is a basic human truth.
Yet, I feel your message will still be distorted for some will claim theirs is the 'better and real' way and once again compassion and kindness will be curtailed...
It's there so you can play favorites.
Ironically, if even 10% of the population took such advice, it would double the economic down turn. Which shows how irrelevant it is. Our economy is powerful exactly because of consumerism, and to denounce it is to dismiss our economy. I think some people might disagree around 20% unemployment.
You're right. THIS economy can't take us all buying less because this economy is consumer-based. But there are alternative economies, ones that are more fair and more sustainable.
good article
“Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a fishing net that was thrown into the water and caught fish of every kind. When the net was full, they dragged it up onto the shore, sat down, and sorted the good fish into crates, but threw the bad ones away. That is the way it will be at the end of the world. The angels will come and separate the wicked people from the righteous, throwing the wicked into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 13:47-50 NLT)
Is God an angry, unfair God because of this? No. He sent His Son to us so that we would not have to spend eternity separated from Him. We have to remember that we were created for His glory, not ours. Our selfishness gets in the way, however, and we think that it's all about us. Totally incorrect.
If you choose not to believe in God or not to follow
http://www.tentmaker.org/articles/jesusteachingonhell.html