Epistemic Bubbles and Echo Chambers

Yesterday I read, “A Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together,” a joint statement signed by both Pope Francis of the Catholic Church and Sheikh Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar. I found it bold, honest, and hopeful – certainly attributes necessary in our world today. It is the product of inter-faith dialogue between one of Christianity’s senior leaders and one of Islam’s senior leaders and is well worth having a look at. Reading the document, I also found myself reflecting on what sometimes feels like a very fragmented Christianity. 

Someone I was talking to recently mentioned that Rotary International is the largest organisation in the world providing and financing humanitarian services around the globe. I commented, “surely the Christian Church provides more humanitarian services than Rotary?” His response; “Perhaps, but the Church isn’t one organisation.” Touché. Jesus declares that it will be by our love for one another that the world will know the Church to be Christ’s disciples, but the Church often feels very divided.

In our Western context (and elsewhere), for better or worse, we’ve a plethora of options in relation to the local church we choose to attend. Seven or eight Great Traditions have evolved over the centuries and a multiplicity of denominations and non-denominational branches exist within each. Even within denominations there is a wide-range of local church expressions with different churches celebrating different cultural values and methodologies of church. Too often, as folk already thoroughly discipled as consumers, our choice to fellowship in a particular church community can subliminally (though irreverently) feel like a consumer choice that is quickly followed by a form of confirmation bias or post-purchase rationalization. This form of rationalization is the tendency to retroactively ascribe positive attributes to the choice we have made for option A (our church), while simultaneously amplifying the negative attributes of option B that we didn’t opt for (the church down the road). There is no need for us to do that. More, when I do that (or you do that), it has the potential to be a form of anti-Christ. It has the potential to go against the way of being in the world that Jesus calls us into. We need to be careful here.
   

Unchecked, post-purchase rationalization within ‘church world’, especially among pastors and leaders can lead to the development of epistemic bubbles and echo chambers, (something I covered over a few pages in my final doctorate project, which if you like, you can read below and find references for). Epistemic bubbles come about when informational networks form but omit certain voices from the conversation. In my doctorate project, which is contextualized to Pentecostalism, the examples I offer in relation to epistemic bubbles focus on the way in which Pentecostalism has tended towards a relational tribalism that, historically, has omitted conversation partners such as the theological academy, the ever evolving historical and theological perspectives of Church history over the centuries, and current and varied ecumenical points of view. More specifically, as Pentecostalism has evolved as a ‘contemporary’ methodology and expression of church, there tends to be a singular set of voices guiding conversations pertinent to faith and practice – that of the various mega-church pastors who lead relational networks and speak at each other’s conferences, seminars, retreats and events. The conversation is thus very one-dimensional with perspectives, practices and opinions continually recycled and re-enforced rather than challenged to adapt and evolve as might be necessary.
   

More insidious than epistemic bubbles, echo chambers are formed when, in addition to relevant voices being disregarded, potential conversation partners are actively discredited. Whereas an epistemic bubble merely omits contrary views, an echo chamber brings its members to actively distrust outside voices. One shouldn’t be naïve in thinking this is not a reality within church contexts or the Christian community more generally. There are many possible scenarios, you’ll be familiar with some no-doubt; Protestants who are anti-Catholic, ‘small’ church folk who are against mega-churches, pastors with no formal theological training pre-supposing that those with theological training should be viewed with suspicion, charismatics who see deeper teaching as cerebral nonsense, exegetical preachers who see Pentecostalism as hocus-pocus. And each of these could be reversed. More damaging than epistemic bubbles, echo chambers have the potential to become cult-like, with members isolated from outside voices that are labelled as malignant and untrustworthy, with the framework of trust being narrowed to exclusively insider voices.

When this shift to a narrow set of voices occurs, the Church ceases to function as a genuine sub-community (an expression of the Kingdom of God) within the wider society. Rather than existing as a community of peculiar discourse with practices of memory, hope, and pain that keep healthy human life available in the face of all the ‘virtual reality’ now on offer in dominant culture, local churches runs the risk of becoming a separated sphere of existence with their own dominant culture, set of beliefs and behaviours that members must submit to in order to belong. The church thus becomes its own empire rather than a subversion of empire and a prophetic sub-community of alternative consciousness.

All of this being a long-winded preamble from which to note; to the extent that the Church and the Christian community fails to cultivate unity within her own diversity – putting aside such artificial dualisms as faith versus reason, science versus Scripture, intellect verses heart, spiritual verses material, Catholic verse Protestant, contemporary versus traditional, worship versus Word, my local church versus the other church down the road, and a thousand and one other such possibilities – it will also fail to be known by its love for one another. Further, if love for one another is problematic, you can be sure that love of neighbour will be difficult and love of enemy neigh on impossible. Though hoping to exist as a catalyst of healing and a broker of peace in the world, the Church – inappropriately divided rather than beautifully diverse – will likely perpetuate as much brokenness as what it does restoration.

Colossians 3:12-17
¹² Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. ¹³ Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.¹⁴ And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. ¹⁵ Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. ¹⁷ And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

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Below is a ‘cut & paste’ from my final doctorate paper, a couple of pages on epistemic bubbles and echo chambers. It may not make total sense disconnected from the rest of the project, but at the same time, might be of interest.

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The Fruit and Consequences of Relational Tribalism

In the early days of Pentecostalism, relational tribalism was enacted via the voluntary association of faith missions and outreach projects – breakaways from established church structures and traditions. In the current contemporary context, tribalism is evidenced in the voluntary association of various leadership networks that associate around shared cultural values, modes of worship and methodologies of church – creating further insular subsets within and across Pentecostal denominational structures. It is not uncommon for pastors and churches to prefer participation in network events run by the mega-church ministries they aspire to become like, rather than gatherings organized by the official denomination or movement to which they belong.

In terms of fruitfulness, the tendency towards relational tribalism strengthened Pentecostal conviction and focus as the movement emerged and institutionalized in the first half of the twentieth century. Where other traditions viewed Pentecostalism with suspicion, like-minded cohorts allowed Pentecostalism to develop in its own identity while hedging against contrary voices. In a sense relational tribalism allowed Pentecostalism to find its sense of identity.

It must also be acknowledged, however, that relational tribalism is a strong contributing factor to the negative consequences of each of the other defining markers discussed in this paper [you’d have to read the whole paper for this to make sense]. A greater degree of ecumenical association and engagement with the varying perspectives of other Christian traditions in matters of theology and doxology throughout Pentecostalism’s history may have tempered or mitigated these negative outcomes. Foremost among the undesirable characteristics of relational tribalism is a narrow and even insular perspective on matters of faith and praxis that can lead to both arrogance and ignorance.

Echo Chambers and Epistemic Bubbles

In his essay Escape the Echo Chamber, philosopher C. Thi Nguyen suggests two specific ways in which communities wrap themselves within impenetrable networks of intellectual like-mindedness that are ultimately unhealthy: via epistemic bubbles and through the creation of echo chambers.[1] Nguyen defines epistemic bubbles as “informational network[s] from which relevant voices have been excluded by omission.”[2] Within Pentecostalism, relational tribalism fosters an epistemic bubble in which discussions of theology, doxology, ecclesiology, and the like, tend to exclude other relevant and wise voices. Broadly speaking, the theological simplicity inherent in Pentecostalism excludes such conversation partners as the theological academy, evolving historical perspectives of church history and varied ecumenical points of view. More specifically, within the relational networks of contemporary Pentecostalism, there tends to be a singular set of voices guiding conversations pertinent to faith and practice – that of the various mega-church pastors who lead these networks and speak at each other’s conferences, seminars, retreats and events.[3] [The conversation is therefore very one-dimensional].

More insidious than epistemic bubbles, echo chambers are formed when, in addition to relevant voices being disregarded, other conversation partners are actively discredited: “where an epistemic bubble merely omits contrary views, an echo chamber brings its members to actively distrust outsiders.”[4] In their book Echo Chamber, Kathleen Jamieson and Joseph Cappella describe an echo chamber as cult-like, with members isolated from outside voices that are labelled as malignant and untrustworthy, with the framework of trust being narrowed to exclusively insider voices.[5] While Pentecostalism has at times given rise to cult-like movements, it is not the intention of this paper to portray contemporary Pentecostalism as a cult. It should be noted however that, given the need for control embedded within pragmatic methodologies, the general lack of deeper reflection that comes with a bent toward theological simplicity and the propensity towards epistemic bubbles found in relational tribalism [again, you’d need to read the rest of this paper for that to totally make sense], Pentecostalism should be aware of the potential of echo chambers developing and the dangers inherent to such chambers. When the perspective of the mega-church pastor begins to function as the voice shaping faith and practice within contemporary Pentecostalism, it is only a matter of time before other voices begin to be disempowered and discredited to the detriment of Pentecostalism.

When this shift to a narrow set of voices occurs, the church ceases to function as a genuine sub-community (an expression of the Kingdom of God) within the wider society. Rather than existing as “a community of peculiar discourse with practices of memory, hope, and pain that keep healthy human life available in the face of all the ‘virtual reality’ now on offer in dominant culture,”[6] the church runs the risk of becoming a separated sphere of existence with its own dominant culture, set of beliefs and behaviours that members must submit to in order to belong.

In The Prophetic Imagination, Walter Brueggemann likens this establishment of a dominant culture requiring submission, to Israel’s movement away from the radically alternate way of being in the world that had been established under Moses and as a return to the pre-Mosaic imperial paradigm [Egypt], as reinstated under the kings of Israel.[7] This shift began under David but is more clearly evidenced in the life of Solomon: “the entire program of Solomon now appears to have been a self-serving achievement with the sole purpose being the self-securing of the king and dynasty… a program of state-sponsored syncretism, which if course means the steady abandonment of the radicalness of the Mosaic vision.”[8]

Brueggemann refers to this embrace of syncretism as the paganization of Israel, though in the context of a discussion about contemporary Pentecostalism, the metaphor serves to describe the potential for a secularization of the church.[9] In this instance, the size, reach and affluence of a large contemporary church, the culture and routinization of the church (which congregants are expected to buy into),[10] and the manner in which senior leaders are seen as God’s elected officials, serve to create a “controlled static religion in which God and his temple have become part of the royal landscape, in which the sovereignty of God is fully subordinated to the purpose of the king.”[11] The church thus becomes its own empire rather than a subversion of empire and a prophetic sub-community of alternative consciousness.

When the church becomes an empire, the less desirable traits inherent in relational tribalism tend to surface and flourish: theological errancy, ignorance, deception, blind-spots, self-righteousness, over-demanding expectations within the church, defensiveness, divisiveness, and a suspicion of any other opinion of, or expression within, the Body of Christ. All-in-all this amounts to a failure to reflect Christ’s wish in John 17 that his followers would be known by their love for one another. Thus, a re-imagined Pentecostalism needs to be mindful of the paradox that the church is called to difference – to be a peculiar people – at the macro level (i.e. in relation to the empire and the systems of the world) but not to tribalism at the micro level (i.e. within the Body of Christ).

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[1] See “Essays,” on Aeon website, C. Thi Nguyen, “Escape the Echo Chamber” https://aeon.co/essays/why-its-as-hard-to-escape-an-echo-chamber-as-it-is-to-flee-a-cult (accessed July 30, 2018).

[2] Ibid.

[3] This tendency is seen in the work of contemporary Pentecostal pastor Paul de Yong, the pastor of LIFE church in Auckland, New Zealand. His latest book, God, Money and Me, includes ten endorsements of the book, its aims, perspectives, and conclusions. However, they all come from fellow mega-church pastors who are regular speakers at de Yong’s conferences (and him at theirs). There are no endorsements of support from recognized theologians or trained economists. See; Paul de Yong, God, Money and Me, (Auckland, NZ: Life Resource International, 2017), 3-6.

[4] See “Essays,” on Aeon website, C. Thi Nguyen, “Escape the Echo Chamber” https://aeon.co/essays/why-its-as-hard-to-escape-an-echo-chamber-as-it-is-to-flee-a-cult (accessed July 30, 2018).

[5] C. Thi Nguyen, “Escape the Echo Chamber,” refereeing to Kathleen Hall Jamieson and Joseph N. Cappella¸ Echo Chamber; Rush Limbaugh and the Conservative Media Establishment (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010).

[6] Walter Brueggemann, The Prophetic Imagination (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2001), xvii.

[7] Ibid., 24-25.

[8] Ibid., 23.

[9] Ibid., 24.

[10] See discussion in chapter three, Pragmatic Methodologies, in relation to this.

[11] Brueggemann, The Prophetic Imagination, 28.

Doctorate: Done and Dusted

I recently wrapped up my doctorate studies with Fuller Theological Seminary. It is a wonderful feeling to have finished the program and I'm looking forward to a study-free summer! Below are three paragraphs I've plucked out of the introduction to my final paper - Pentecostalism Re-Imagined: Reconfiguring Pentecostalism in Twenty-First Century New Zealand. If you would like a full copy of the paper please e-mail me and I'll send out a PDF copy. 

joseph@stlukeschurch.org.nz

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The late Irish poet and philosopher John O’Donohue once stated, “It is essential for somebody who wants to have a mature, adult, open-ended, good-hearted critical faith, to conduct the most vigorous and relentless conversation that [they] can with [their] own tradition.” This project is an attempt to engage in such a conversation with my tradition(s) – Pentecostalism and the Assemblies of God movement in New Zealand. It is not a project of criticism – nothing life-giving or transformative is achieved by throwing stones. Rather, the aim is a critical-reflection – a careful and prayerful analysis of Pentecostalism in my twenty-first century context. It is an attempt to offer fresh perspectives on Pentecostal ministry that would assist Assemblies of God pastors throughout New Zealand to minister, with increasing fruitfulness, the life of Christ in a postmodern world.

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Three realities within a twenty-first century context that necessitate a process of critical reflection. Firstly, “ministry today takes place in a world that is rapidly changing and extraordinarily multifaceted;” globalization, the information-age, and the progresses of science have awakened in the world a growing appreciation of the complexities inherent to every aspect of human life. This reality demands that the church exhibits a faith that is not only numinous but also rational and intellectual. This does not have to mean academic, nor does it have to be a capitulation to modernist ideals of logical positivism, scientism or some sort of biblical-rationalism. It does, however, ask that while Pentecostalism holds onto the mystery of faith – that God is unknowable in an empirical sense and is fundamentally ineffable – that it also attempts to speak of faith in a manner that is well considered, well formed and well argued. “The world cannot be ignored and isolation – intellectually, physically and spiritually – is not a viable option.”

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The third factor prompting the need for a critical reflection in regard to the theological constructs and ecclesial expressions of Pentecostalism concerns the nature of Pentecostalism and what, in the first place, makes a church Pentecostal. As a younger generation of Assemblies of God pastors are ordained for ministry, appreciation should be given to the fact that they will likely enter ministry with a natural postmodern disposition that will implicitly include a tendency towards deconstruction, institutional suspicion and an incredulity regarding meta-narratives. Whether their points of view are appreciated by older Pentecostal ministers or not, this new generation of pastors is likely to conduct their own evaluations of Pentecostalism and the Assemblies of God as a twenty-first century expression of the Church. Rather than ignore or try and shutdown these postmodern sensibilities, this paper will attempt to create the space required for an honest process of both deconstruction and reconstruction – with the latter being an effort often overlooked in postmodernism. Thus, with Pentecostalism moving into its second century, a critical analysis will consider what should be preserved and what should be discarded; in the first instance, to use the metaphor of 1 Corinthians 3:12, preserving the gold, silver and costly stones of Pentecost and, in the second instance, leaving behind that which might be referred to as the wood, hay and straw of the various Pentecostalisms that have unfolded over time. 

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If you would like to read the entire paper I'm happy to e-mail you a PDF version of the completed document, just send me an e-mail request: joseph@stlukeschurch.org.nz

Money, That’s What I Want – Money: Part 2 of 4

Some reader/viewer discretion is advised in some of what follows. There are a few f-bombs. They are not intended to offend but rather to make a particular point. I think with great clarity. Peace. 

The best things in life are free
But you can keep them for the birds and bees
Now give me money
That's what I want
That's what I want, yeah
That's what I want

You're lovin' gives me a thrill
But you're lovin' don't pay my bills
Now give me money
That's what I want
That's what I want, yeah
That's what I want

Money don't get everything it's true
What it don't get, I can't use
Now give me money
That's what I want
That's what I want, yeah
That's what I want, wah

Well now give me money
A lot of money
Wow, yeah, I wanna be free
Oh I want money
That's what I want
That's what I want, well
Now give me money
A lot of money
Wow, yeah, you need money
Now, give me money
That's what I want, yeah
That's what I want

Artist – The Beatles

Song – Money (That’s What I Want)
Album – With the Beatles
Year –1963

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"You get up two and a half million dollars, any asshole in the world knows what to do: you get a house with a 25 year roof, an indestructible Jap-economy shit box, you put the rest into the system at three to five percent to pay your taxes and that's your base, get me? That's your fortress of f-ing solitude. That puts you, for the rest of your life, at a level of f-you. Somebody wants you to do something, f-you. Boss pisses you off, f-you! A wise man's life is based around f-you."

Frank – The Gambler (2014 movie)

Truthfully, something of an “f-you” attitude is buried away within most of us. For some quite deeply. For other just below the surface. Humans have forever sought to be the lords and masters of their own lives. Humanity grabbed the apple in the garden and said, “we’ll be our own gods.” We still do it today in our lust for power and control, in our desire to be "free."

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Blessing is God’s desire for humanity – that we’d experience a flourishing, whole and right life. Part one unpacks this here. There is an economic component to blessing, but blessing goes beyond economics. It’s a quality of life, a quality of relationship with God and others, it is wholeness in oneself, non-anxious living, a sound sleep, laughter, the giving and receiving of hospitality, breaking bread, drinking wine, friendship.  

Blessing is also God’s loving initiative in creating the conditions in which this sort of life is possible, a blessed life. God’s ongoing desire and ongoing initiative in the human story is in order that humanity might come into fullness of life, wholeness of life, a blessed life.

God works within history to bring about blessing.

Sometimes though, our lives don’t feel all that blessed. Then what? In God we trust? What do we put our trust in? For many people the temptation is to “hedge-their-bets.”

It’s not only in the horse racing industry that we find people hedging their bets. Common practice in the Ancient Near East of the Old Testament and the Grecco-Roman world of the New Testament was essentially to hedge your bets, to have a little both ways. You’d have your own god or handful of gods; Asherah or Baal, or later Zeus and Apollo, and you’d worship them, you’d sacrifice to them, pray to them, burn incense in their name, carry a little image of them with you to protect you.

But, you’d also hedge your bets. If there were other powerful nations nearby, or powerful people next door, then those nations or people obviously have pretty powerful gods. You’d find out who their gods were – maybe Dagon, Tiamat, Moloch, Ra, Set, Horus, Poseidon, Jupitar or Mars – and you’d make sure you had them in your pocket too. You’d sacrifice to and honour these gods as well.

This was problematic for Jews and Christians. The decree of Yahweh, the creator of the universe, of the heavens and the earth, the God of Israel, Isaac and Jacob was that Yahweh alone was to be worshiped. You weren’t to hedge your bets with God, you were to worship him alone.

Exodus 20:2-6

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God.

God alone is the source of life, the one who desires blessing and brings about blessing, the one who leads you out of slavery and into fullness of life – a blessed life. God alone is sovereign in the universe.

The New Testament puts it like this…

Acts 17:24-28

“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’

It is God alone who sustains the world, who holds things together, who makes life, well - the miracle that life is.

We’re too used to life though. It is too everyday ordinary. We forget that this life, in and of itself, is a miracle; a gift from God. There is nothing ordinary about it.

With life a gift from God, our trust in life, is to be in God alone. We’re not to hedge our bets.

This isn’t always easy. Throughout the Old Testament, Israel is continually being rebuked for hedging their bets, for worshiping multiple gods, for making sure they had them all on their side. The bible doesn’t call what Israel is doing “hedging one’s bets” though. The bible refers to Israel’s unfaithfulness as adultery, as fornication, as playing the harlot. Pretty strong language!

In our modern context, not many of us are tempted to cry out to Baal or Jupitar when things around us are a little stormy. Not many of us call on Asherah or Apollo to aid us in our attempts to live the good life. We don’t try to hedge our bets by currying favour with Horus.  

We have a tendency to put our trust in other things, we hedge our bets in other ways. The sweat of our brow, hard work, self-reliance, knuckling down. Our own ability to sort our own life out. Or at the other end of the scale, Lotto, a big win, a quick fix, an rich inheritance coming from Nigeria. We hope we’ll get lucky. Perhaps our trust is in education, science, human evolution, the good will and social conscience of society.

Most commonly, our trust is in money.

Our trust is in our assets, our wealth, our possessions. We trust these things (in case God lets us down) to be the source of the good life, of blessing, of security, of happiness, of contentment, of well being. Our path to freedom. 

Ultimately though, money becomes its own false god. We end up worshiping money, putting our trust in money, and looking to money as the source of true life. We’re still faithful Christians of course, we’re just hedging out bets. That’s wisdom isn’t it? No. The bible calls it playing the harlot.  

Have a look at these passages, try and duck them if you can.

1 Timothy 6:6-10

But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

James 4:13-16

Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. 

Hebrew 13:5-6

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”

The Lord is your helper. Not money. 

Mostly our issue in regard to the love of money isn’t that we love rolls of cash or huge vaults of gold coins to dive into and swim around in like Scrooge McDuck dies in Duck Tails.

The issue is to do with power and control. Money represents power and control in our world.

If you have money you have options, you have choices, you are empowered, you can look after yourself, you don’t have to rely on anyone, you have freedom, no one can tell you what to do, when to do it, or how to do it. You are self-sufficient! You are in charge! The more money you have the more power and control you have.

There is a scene in the 2014 movie The Gambler that highlights this perfectly. Mark Wahlberg plays Jim Bennet, and English Professor and high-stakes gambler. John Goodman plays Frank, a kind of underworld, gambling kingpin. It is full of f-bombs (so viewer discretion is advised if you chose to watch the clip). Jim has got himself into trouble despite once having been $2.5 million up. Frank can’t believe that Jim - when he was up – didn’t use that money to put him in an “f-you!” place of financial security for the rest of his life. A position where he could live as lord and king of his own life – at the beck and call of no-one. 

Jim: I've been up two and a half million dollars.
Frank: What you got on you?
Jim: Nothing.
Frank: What you put away?
Jim: Nothing.
Frank: You get up two and a half million dollars, any asshole in the world knows what to do: you get a house with a 25 year roof, an indestructible Jap-economy shit box, you put the rest into the system at three to five percent to pay your taxes and that's your base, get me? That's your fortress of f-ing solitude. That puts you, for the rest of your life, at a level of f-you. Somebody wants you to do something, f-you. Boss pisses you off, f-you! Own your house. Have a couple bucks in the bank. Don't drink. That's all I have to say to anybody on any social level. Did your grandfather take risks?
Jim: Yes.
Frank: I guarantee he did it from a position of f-you. A wise man's life is based around f-you. The United States of America is based on f-you. You're a king? You have an army? Greatest navy in the history of the world? F-you!

Now, you might not like the language, it might not be something you’d say, or an attitude that you’d like to admit exists beneath the surface in your life. Maybe you prefer the softer imagery seen in movies where the character wins lotto, walks into the office, tells everyone what he/she really thinks of them and then walks out with a smile on his/her face, (see James McAvoy as Wesley in the 2008 movie Wanted). It’s the same thing though.

And our world craves the idea of finding oneself in such a position. 

Truthfully, something of an “f-you” attituded is buried away within most of us. For some quite deeply. For other just below the surface.

Humans have forever sought to be the lords and masters of their own lives. Humanity grabbed the apple in the garden and said, “we’ll be our own gods.” We still do it today in our lust for power and control, in our desire to be free.

And, more often than not, money is seen as the means by which one will find freedom.

This isn’t the freedom Christ calls us into though.

Following Christ, living the life of a disciple, it isn’t a life of power and control. To follow Christ is to explicitly acknowledge that we are not the lords, kings or masters of our own lives. It is to secede all of our lives and everything in our lives to Christ. We’re not called to be a false god sovereign over our own life.

Take these passages scattered throughout the New Testament…

Your life is not your own, it has been bought with a price.
It is no longer I that lives but Christ that lives in me.
Take up your cross and follow Jesus.
Present your bodies as living sacrifices.
If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.
For the sake of those with a weaker conscience, don’t always engage in the freedom you have. 

What's hopeless is that too many Christians live life hoping to one day find themselves in an "f-you" position. This is the very antithesis of what it means to be a Christian! (I apologies for the crass terminology, but i think it makes the point with great clarity). For many, serving two masters, God and mammon is too watered down for it to really sink in though.   

Now, granted that we are to steward our lives, we’re left having to negotiate a pretty finely balanced reality. It is a fine line between faithfully stewarding that which God has graced us with and striving for power and control. Just take the following list of words – stewardship, hording, wisdom, fear, sound planning, playing the harlot, hard work, control, faithfulness, slavery, fruitfulness, trusting, false god, resource, freedom, diligence, security, comfort, power, sacrifice, worry, anxiety, trust – it is so easy to get these things mixed up. Rightly sorted one minute, but all mixed up the next. 

It’s a fine line sometimes.

In Lord of the Rings, Frodo, offered Gandalf the ring of power, offered Gandalf power and control. Gandalf replied… “Don't... tempt me Frodo! I dare not take it. Not even to keep it safe. Understand, Frodo. I would use this ring from a desire to do good... But through me, it would wield a power too great and terrible to imagine.”

Money is like that. “Oh this is just a resource, I’m just a steward. I’m just a channel for God, blessed to be a blessing, building my portfolio in order to do some great good in the world.” It is easy to have the best intentions, the desire to do good, but money is sneaky. Your desire is to do good but you can easily end up searching for power and control – failing to see that you are actually now powerless and being controlled.

It sets you work hours. It sets your calendar. It sets your priorities. It sets your values. It sets the yard stick by which you measure your life, your status, your success. It can easily frame your life more than you allow God to frame your life. More than anything frames your life.

So, the good life. A blessed life. A flourishing, whole and right life, it is God’s will for you but it is found in Jesus, not in your bank balance. We discover a blessed life as we follow Jesus, as we walk a long obedience in the right direction, we find ever increasing measures of wholeness. Life still happens of course, following Jesus offers no immunity card to the heartache that life offers at times – though there is always hope.

To think that following Jesus might somehow be a fast track to millionaire is hopelessly misguided. To follow Jesus is to determine that he’ll forever be Lord and King in your life.

The Bible offers no scheme through which to get rich and instead wisdom and guidance to ensure that money is removed from any position as lord in your life.

What is even more mixed up is the way in which we long to be in a position of total control in our lives and hope that the Bible, that following Jesus, that God might help us get to there. Financially or otherwise. To follow Jesus is to submit our lives to his lordship and authority of all things.

Too easily we're deceived into thinking that money will save us and free us in life. We end up chasing, and fantasizing, and organizing our lives in the pursuit of the power and control that money brings. It’s a false god and we’re playing the harlot, we’re unfaithful. God’s will is no longer framing our life. He wants you to have a blessed life but it is found in him, not in money, or anything else.  

Now the challenge in all of this is to discover what it means to live as careful and wise stewards. Money is a front-and-centre reality of life. We’re not to be careless with money, nor pretend it isn’t an important reality.

Next time. 

Livin’ in Beverly Hills, That’s Where I Want to Be – Money: Part 1 of 4

Where I come from isn't all that great
My automobile is a piece of crap
My fashion sense is a little whack
And my friends are just as screwy as me

I didn't go to boarding schools
Preppie girls never looked at me
Why should they?
I ain't nobody, got nothing in my pocket

Beverly Hills, that's where I want to be
Livin' in Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills, rolling like a celebrity
Livin' in Beverly Hills

Look at all those movie stars
They're all so beautiful and clean
When the housemaids scrub the floors
They get the spaces in between

I want to live a life like that
I want to be just like a king
Take my picture by the pool
'Cause I'm the next big thing

Beverly Hills, that's where I want to be
Livin' in Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills, rolling like a celebrity
Livin' in…

Artist – Weezer
Song – Beverly Hills
Album – Make Believe
Year –2005

_________________

For those who could not yet see prosperity in their own lives, patience became the highest virtue. “Patience! The power twin of faith!” exclaimed Kenneth Copeland.

Kate Bowler – Blessed; A History of the American Prosperity Gospel

“Lol” said I.

Me – when reading above Kenneth Copeland quote in Bowler’s Blessed

_____________

Money: Part 1 of 4

What does it mean to have a “blessed” life? When the Bible talks of “blessing” what is it talking about? Livin’ in Beverly Hills, rolling like a celebrity? Or something else?

Genesis 1:27-28

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

It is in the book of Genesis that we first encounter the Biblical idea of blessing or of being blessed. Essentially blessing or to be blessed refers to God’s desire for humanity to experience life as a flourishing, whole and right reality. Blessing and blessed also refers to God’s initiative in creating the conditions in which this kind of life is possible.

Though God (Father, Son and Spirit) exits perfectly content as God, Trinitarian love overflows and desires always to invite and include “others” in loving relationship. Out of love God creates humankind in order that they might participate in God’s love, not as God, but as God’s image bearers, unique in all of creation.

We should thus understand flourishing, whole and right as follows...

Flourishing – To be fruitful in life, helping to contribute to and ordered creation. To steward and tend to the planet. To produce food, goods and services that provided for one another and make the world even more beautiful. To invent and order, and to continue God’s good work of creation. To have found good work for one's own hands and joy in one's work. To have ready access to the necessities of life.
Whole – To be in a close and healthy relationship with God, self, others and creation.
Right – To live in right step with God’s order of things, in line with God’s way, truth and life. The way of justice, righteousness, mercy, generosity and peace. 

To be blessed is thus to be flourishing, to be whole, and to live in right step with God.

Alternatively, it is to receive something that is a catalyst towards a flourishing, whole or right life.

With this in mind, we see in Deuteronomy the way in which life is used as shorthand for blessing and blessing as shorthand for life. While at the same time death is shorthand for cursing and cursing is shorthand for death.

Deuteronomy 30:19-20

This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him.

Unfortunately, humankind chose death and cursing pretty early on in the piece rather than life and blessing. Rather than live ‘right’ or in ‘right step’ with God’s order of things, humankind chose to do its own thing and sin and death enters the story, things break down; we’re out of step.

And yet God is faithful even when humanity isn’t and works continually that people would be blessed and know life as God intended life to be.

God offers life and blesses Noah and his decedents. God declares he’ll maintain the conditions needed for life to carry on and blesses humanity once again.

Genesis 8:22 – 9:1

“As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.” Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.”

Later on, in order that people might come to know true life, flourishing, whole and right life, God calls Abram and his decedents, promising a special blessing which again, though in different words, speaks of fruitful increase and flourishing.

Genesis 12:1-3

The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. "I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

And of course, if you are familiar with the biblical narrative, you know that in this passage we’ve hints of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God who will give his life in order that humankind would find true life.

Thus this promise of blessing culminates in Jesus Christ and his life as articulated in the gospel narratives and, in a manner helpful to this discussion, in Romans 4. Remember that blessed is shorthand for a flourishing, whole and right life.

Romans 4:7-8

“Blessed are those
    whose transgressions are forgiven,
    whose sins are covered.Blessed is the one
    whose sin the Lord will never count against them.”

You’re on your way to true life, a flourishing, whole and right life – you’re blessed – when you find grace and reconciliation and forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ.

We see this in John 10 as well.

John 10:10
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Jesus came that you might be blessed, that you might find true life, and that you might come into right relationship with God and from here into right relationship with self, others and the rest of creation and into a flourishing, whole and right life. A blessed life. 

In this age, we’ll only ever experience this in part. We’ll all face highs and lows, have victories and defeats, know health and sickness, provision and lack at times. While in the age to come this will be known in full.  

In saying that though, as we follow Jesus, as we continue a long obedience in the right direction, we do discover increasing measures of wholeness, we do flourish in new and unexpected ways. We discover Godly wisdom that does serve as a catalyst towards blessing though not as an immunity card that protects us from the heartache and pain of life.

Psalm 1 is a fine example of the blessing that God’s wisdom brings.

Psalm 1:1-6

Blessed is the one
    who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
    or sit in the company of mockers,but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and who meditates on his law day and night.That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
    which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
    whatever they do prospers.

Now, hopefully, in all of the above you will have noticed we’ve NOT once mentioned money.

The Western Christian tendency to define blessing in economic, materialistic and consumer driven terms is so far off the mark that it isn’t funny. Bank balances are not a biblical definition of blessing.

Certainly the concept of a blessed life in the Bible assumes an economic component (job security, a fair income, basic financial wisdom and a reasonably just society). But, BUT, BUT!!! – a flourishing, whole and right life goes far beyond economics and is not contingent on personal wealth.

The prosperity gospel is a sham, and more often than not a scam as well!

A blessed life is a certain quality of life, not quantity of wealth.  

These are the sorts of qualities found in a blessed life...

Right relationship and connection with the creator of the universe, the God of heaven and earth.

Non-anxious living, with storms on the horizon, in storms, beyond storms.

A deep set sense of peace, of hope, of being loved. 

A secure sense of value and dignity and place in life. 

Unencumbered in being the person God called you to be. 

Sleeping soundly, laughing lots, enjoying simple pleasures, sharing meals with friends.

Breaking bread and wine. 

Restored and healthy relationships – within yourself, with others and with the rest of creation.

The ability to be present in life. Present with yourself, but also present and connected with family and friends. 

Plenty of people have lots of money but lack most of the above. At the same time, plenty of people have only a little money but despite that their lives overflow with the aforementioned. Who do you think is more blessed!?!

There is way more to a flourishing, whole and right life than one’s bank balance, than living in Beverly Hills.

More needs to be said in regard to money, of course, and hopefully I can share a few more thoughts soon. That said, we need to zoom out before we can zoom in. We need a more biblical concept of blessing before we start talking about money. Otherwise, we’ll struggle to talk about money in its right place; money has a way of becoming the thing rather than a thing. We have to be mindful of this.

So…

·        In considering money we need to keep in mind that when we read words in the bible like blessed, favoured, prosperous, abundant etc, we should think of a flourishing, whole and right life. There is an economic component to the whole deal for sure, but we shouldn’t misinterpret these words through Western lenses infatuated with economics, materialism, consumerism, status, power and bank balances.

·        I absolutely believe God’s heart for people is that they would experience a blessed life – but this means a flourishing, whole and right life. The term has been corrupted by prosperity preaching to the point that it almost needs to be thrown out. Instead though, we’ll try and redeem the term; blessing and prosperity relates to a flourishing, whole, right life. God is and always has been working towards this, the climactic reality of this being the coming of Jesus and His promised return. 

·        Following Jesus won’t result in you becoming a millionaire. Mostly Jesus’ financial advice, if properly followed, will result in bank withdrawals not deposits. Keep that in mind.

·        In economic terms, most of you reading this, with your current wealth, assets and income are already flourishing financially. From a global perspective the medium gross household income in New Zealand, with purchasing power parity taken into account, is about $47,100. That puts you in the wealthiest 4.5% in the world. You’re better off financially than more than 6.3 billion people on our globe. 

A blessed life is a gift from God and is found in Jesus. It can’t be bought. You can’t buy a blessed life.

All too often we give intellectual assent to this but put our hope is in our finances. Money will look after us, keep us secure, give us peace, help us to enjoy life, protect us from storms. That’s often why we are so quick to measure blessing and economic terms, we see money as power, and the power to attain a certain kind of life. This is a lie that the bible warns us against again and again… but that’s a whole different post…