Oh, what a tangled web we weave

When I was studying theology at seminary, one of the popular teachers gave us the basic, essential prerequisites for running any activity to attract children. This was back in 2012, so it is a little out-of-date.

A church needs an animal petting zoo, a jumping castle, a BBQ, cupcake stall, and a qualified barista. Without these, no family will walk through the church gate. You cannot simply tell them the good news of Jesus. They will not come.

Tragically, he is most likely correct, but not for the right reasons.

Churches are a consequence of capitalism

Churches have lost authenticity, authority, and relevance in a rapidly changing capitalism system. That is, essentially, the problem. Western capitalism is now bearing fruit. It is a bumper crop.

We have had several generations that have produced crops of consumerism, materialism, and narcissism in the past, but nothing like today. The branches are laden with fruit, so heavy that they are struggling to stay upright. The fruit of our society is not goodness, love, or mercy, for these are the poisons in our capitalist system. They will kill it, and the prosperity with it, and so we do all we can to extinguish them.

For 2,000 years, the good news is the same

While organized religion has altered the tone, substance, and certainty of the message of the good news, the actual, original message is the same. The essence of it remains the same. The fundamentals remain intact. This message is usually no longer presented, proclaimed, or defended. Most churches today no longer proclaim the good news.

The three kingdoms of the internet: politics, propaganda and pornography

The human condition is the same. We have not changed, and indeed, the baser side of our human condition is more apparent in capitalism, more attuned to the tenors and tones of our age, and more open in its boldness and aggression.

The internet has changed the way we view the world, the way we assess information, and the way we discern truthfulness. Online life has transformed and weaponized many pre-existing dynamics and forces in our world, such as propaganda, pornography, and politics. These are the three kingdoms of the internet.

On one level, the internet is just another platform for the dissemination of information, and another place to craft a message, and a medium to transfer values. Many see the internet as the first vehicle or transmitter in history to do this, but it is just the latest, and one day, the internet itself will be obsolete and overtaken, perhaps because of WW3 and coming censorship wars.

While Christians were masters of radio and TV, they have failed to reign on the internet and this reflects not so much the medium itself, but the changing role of organized religion in our society. It has, certainly in Protestant circles, lost its sense of authority, but lingers on in orthodoxy due to cultural ties, and in some places thrives in Catholicism for various, often local reasons, such as the tireless work of the local priest or a good local school.

The West is a spiritual desert

But we do not live in an age where the good news of Jesus will find fertile soil. We live in a barren land. We live in an age of repudiated, rejected, and regressive spiritualities.

This is, most likely, the visible fruit of our materialism, in that our wealth has so lifted us from death, at least for a while, so we have the luxury, if we can call it that, of spitting in the face of God, showing defiance to the divine order, flying up to the sun, at least in our youth, until the rigors of life bring us down to earth, to hospices, hospitals, and heart trouble.

Why do you think atheism flourished in the world in the twentieth century in China and Russia? There were few atheists before 1917 in Russia and few in China before 1949. The Communist system, for a few decades, worked quite well, and lifted millions out of poverty, misery, and death, and several generations could get a little taste of ‘heaven on earth,’ before the inevitability of personal demise.

Atheism was the ideology of communism and, that system worked for a while, and in our part of the world, the ideology of capitalism is, essentially, individualism. For a while, this seemed to fit nicely with a basic Christian message.

This was the message of Billy Sunday in the 1920s and Billy Graham in the 1950s, men called to preach the gospel to Americans at different stages of industrial change, first from the rural to urban shift and then to the rise of the middle class in the postwar era. This dynamic was reflected in other places as well, such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Western Europe.

Prosperity poisons faith

We live in an age of incredible prosperity, and during such times, it is usually the case that true spirituality, true faith, and true faithfulness to God takes a big hit.

Wealth was for Jesus a warning sign of the potential for spiritual apostasy (Matthew 6: 24). His brother, James, devotes much of his letter taking on the wealthy in Christian communities. The teachings of Jesus and James, as well as Paul, John and Peter, echo the prophets of the Hebrew Bible and their teachings on wealth, such as Amos, and Malachi.

It is not a surprise that in the chaos of the fall of the Soviet Union, we see a rise in spirituality, and in China, following the collapse of the Maoist regime. It is not a surprise that faith thrives in poor nations, but in ours it is but a trickle in a long, dry riverbed, at the end of a long drought.

We must return to the only message of God, Jesus

We must return to the only message of God, Jesus. The message of God is the same, the presence, the person, and the power of God, Jesus. In our prosperity, we have distracted ourselves from the inevitability of eternity.

Remember, freedom matters today, because you matter to God.

Michael J. Sutton