fat christians vs skinny Jesus
by Ali Abbas** Youtube for some reasons has removed this video
Please watch the following video, before nailing down to the article - otherwise ya lost -__-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTHN3MPW5qQ
Many times, I have watched one of those reports and thought to myself “Dang, those are the people who corrupt the meaning of Christianitiy”. Many times I thought to myself how can many people “psychologically lie to themselves?” and follow those kind of ministers?
Well… I guess to some extend, we do sometimes lie to ourselves in order to avoid some truth, which might shake our little universe, our little confortable bubble! See mankind is about one thing! “Confort” - “Pleasure”.. two concepts in which the universe seems to actuate itself!
Oh well… if you have watched the video, you might have noticed two major things.
The first thing was Wealthy Ministers preaching prosperity gospel of a financially broke Jesus…
The second thing was Wealthy Ministers justifying why they are preaching prosperity gospel… (one said they were building a hospital in Haiti) - (well what about building a hospital, a school and hold on, what about 20 hospitals and 20 schools?)
Ok… so I kind of assume that you guys all know about prosperity gospel… for those who do not know, it is simply about preaching a gospel of wealth, success and all the pleasure crap that comes with it… funny to realize that in average the biggest churches are the ones where Prosperity Gospel is being preached with a minister who lives in a little luxurious bubble.
So at this point, you might think! well Christ never lived like that, so obviously those people aren’t christians!
But ok hold on…..
See for you, what they are doing is “delusional”, since they truly believe in it; but have you ever wondered if you were being too judgmental? or too strick in judging their actions and not yours?… aren’t you also maybe delusional?
let me give you an example…
let’s take one of the most watched live church tv program on the internet, let’s take LifeChurch.tv
I believe some of you are familiar with lifechurch, if not please visit their link at www.LifeChurch.tv. !
LifeChurch is what you and I will consider “Christians” right?
Let’s be honnest here… we both will not consider the people in the video we just watched “christians” right? or maybe you will, depending on your views on the gospel! but in general, for most evangelical, luxury is not soo biblical!
So, the bad guys in the video aren’t christians because they obviously preach for money and then waste it! but the dudes from Lifechurch are good guys, because they do not preach such heresies.
But hold on, the thing about Lifechurch and other “good” churches is that we do still invest money into things that appear as reflected in the bible uncessary for the worship and for the experience of God.
Big buildings, nice carpets in the church, confortable chairs and sometimes like Lifechurch good “video system set up”to propagate the message of a fianancially broke Jesus!
I do not know about you but for me! a simple video made by a dude with a cheap camera on youtube has more views in less than a week than what LifeChurch is getting with their incredibly expansive video system!
I mean… that video system could build at least another school in Haiti, no? Well… ok… maybe not a whole school! but imagine the amount of WATT that thing uses! and who takes the consequences? the environment!
So (extremely said 
) , we preach the gospel but destroy the environment? lol Genesis 2:15?
So can the bad guys be the one who preaches prosperity gospel? or can the bad guys also be the one who unconsciently live prosperity gospel?
Do you live prosperity gospel and you aren’t aware of it?
so at the end, what is really prosperity gospel? I guess the question is more “what is too much?” “what is necessary and what is unecessary?”
Did Mother Theresa lived prosperity gospel? Did Wesley? From their lives and what we know of, it does not seem like!
so are you a prosperity gospel driven person?
“How do I know?” you might wonder…
well… how much did you pay for the last hotel where you stayed when you visited a country? did you travel in Business class when there is a good class named “economical class”?… are you planning your next meeting in a fancy place? when thousand of people every sunday meets under tents on green grass?
well… I guess the real deal for you to ask is “what is the real thing I am looking at in the things I do?”.. confort? or worshipping God?
“this post will be followed by other post, so the discussion is not closed! there are much more facets to wealth and christianity to be seen and discussed, that this post is just a general glimpse”
peace and reason,
ali
*related article: Love vs. Generosity
August 26th, 2007 at 6:03 pm
Ali,
I’m not much into researching YouTube about such videos, but it’s interesting to see one from time to time.
Good thoughts. I liked the video too.
About your thoughts - I agree - all we can give we ought to give. If we can do something in order to be able to give more - then we ought to do it. This post reminded me of the Parable of the Talents from Matthew 25:14ff. It clearly shows that we are responsible for what we are given and we need to use everything in a way which will glorify God and represent our response to His call for love - in theory and practice (because both things matter - WHAT we do and WHY we do it).
Lately I’m thinking more and more about how I’m doing concerning all these things. One example I’ve learned a lot from is my photography experience. Yes, Petra and I have spent about 400 Euros on a photo camera and some more 50 on accessories. However, now we’re able to give regularly $100 every two months just like that. Yes, we could have given our 400 Euros and be happy too, but in this case the investment is one which results in a long term provision, which would be difficult for us to accomplish should we have not chosen to invest our 400 bucks this way. Next to that I happened to get a wonderful job through that, so I always see it as a double blessing. Now from my job I’m also able to regularly give money also to my family in Bulgaria who needs them.
Bottom line - it’s sad there are people and groups of people who misuse the honest giving of others. However what ultimately matters is what I do about this, but not what I think about the way others do it. Of course, both things will always be present when one pays enough attention to life, but all I’m saying is that we should invest our energy in making sure we are doing what we’re supposed to do.
Good challenging post!
Cheers!
Petar
August 27th, 2007 at 10:28 am
Petar,
I hope you find here the summary of my thoughts regarding our msn exchange!
I have actually found that video by mistake on youtube - video which is hosted on http://www.ministrywatch.com
You are right when you said “what matters in the eyes of God is what we are accountable to” - true! right! however that is something implied and expected to all the persons that come to this website and read the articles (at least I hope
)!
If you have watched the video carefully, you will notice that one minister converted her ways by the action taken by the founder of ministry watch..
See our universe, the world, the natural phenomenon turns around one physic law (force implements action)… In our today’s world, communication, expression as well as reflections are that “force” which implements actions…
It is a bit like an heurmetical spiral “force->action->force”
I am mentioning this because I find the ending of your comment a bit “blastifying” the concept of reflexion “What matters is doing, instead of talking”..
Not sure, but I find it a bit cheap or maybe delusional, more like one’s self concept reflection of what christianity is about… “Don’t talk but do”
The concept of Love “the do without the talk” has become a curtain behind which lots of people decide to hide without bothering about the problems of our faith… and we call christianity, a communitarian faith? hmm…
See you might suggest, it is about love, not talking… but how do you love if you do not talk or challenge yourself on what love is??
Anyways…
It is ok to encourage action, because reflexion without action is useless… however it is inerrant to refute reflexion in your words… or maybe shall you for the next time use a much more clearer sentence in order to avoid any misscommunication?
I hope you grasp the concept that this website is about stimulating action… comments are for further expanded reflexions… not telling others to stop thinking and to do…
see actions without thoughts is a bit similar to…. an animal?
Finally, I liked the example you gave of your own experience, the whole problem of wealth and christianity is the a deal of how much is too much! and what is “common sense” - good addon!
Thx
ali