Doghouse

Morford on MegaChurch Madness Part 8

Returning at last to Mr. Morford, here is what he sees potentially in the future:

Maybe megachurches are, in short, an anxious and massively quivering reaction to a hot divine upsurge, one they can't quite comprehend and which makes their eyeballs shudder and their loins burn; their existence is irrefutable proof that something divinely radical is afoot, a massive sea change, a karmic mutiny, with the churches acting merely as a sleek and desperate defense. You think?

In other words, maybe these delirious throngs of blind believers are merely a trembling shield masquerading as a sleek salvation, vainly attempting to protect themselves from the onslaught of, oh I don't know, divine self-definition? An orgasm of radical sticky nontheistic cosmic beauty? A goddess with a bright red tongue and a wry knowing grin and an appetite for destruction? Let us pray.

I'd like to take on some of these notions.

As for the rise of Megachurches as being some cosmic kind of "last defense" I have a much simpler and sociological explanation. They simply are icongraphic of our culture. Should it surprise anyone that a culture marked by Malls and Wal-Marts should grow churches that look the same?

Our entertainment venues are basically live events and televison/film. And we wants "stars". So, does it surpise you that these mega-ministries focus on personalities like Osteen and Dollar, then have extensive television coverage and charismatic live performances?

It has often been so. When Imperialism was the dominant philosophy in Europe, the Church reflected a similar Imperialism, and after that Colonialism and then Capitalism.

Now we seem to be moving toward a form of social Darwinism which the current power-brokers and politians thoroughly embrace despite it's disharmony with their own beliefs.

So should it surprise anyone that real books on theology, spirituality, mysticism and exegesis have been lost in favor of a myriad of self-help books, Jesus baubles, bad Christian music, posters, etc... at the local Christian bookstore?

What Morford fails to see (and again, it is hard to see from the outside and having never visited or tasted it yourself) is that the rise of Megachurches is symptomatic of a final decline of this brand of "Christendom". For every one Megachurch that rises up, there are 50 mainline churches that are dying or dwindling. In fact, in many cases, those who go are simply direct transplants from those churches who wanted more "amenities".

Worse of all though is in the rush to expand, grow in numbers and in media saavy the core "Good News" has largely been replaced with motivational speeches and self-help seminars. Jesus has long since been lost except to be dragged out for commemorative praise or as part of the "formula for salvation". I am sure he is not flattered.

In Morford's article, he points to a shocking and truly frightening article about the Christian Dominionists in Harpers. So it's funny that Morford would miss this sentence by author Chris Hedges (and yes, it supports my point):

Rarely mentioned these days is the Jesus of the four Gospels, the Jesus who speaks of the poor and the marginalized, who taught followers to turn the other cheek and love their enemies, the Jesus who rejected the mantle of secular power.

Megachurches are not about Jesus at all. He is perhaps the single largest threat to their Consumer Christianity. Jesus is the biggest threat to miltarism (Ghandi himself attributed the reading of the gospels to his own views on non-violence). Even Nietzsche saw clearly that Christ present a complete "transvaluation" to the culture, or as my old friend Darrell Johnson says, "the way up is down".

So this is why Jesus has been co-opted, bound and gagged and put away in the closet. Only his cross remains as a commemorative reminder.

If the 20,000 members of one of these Megachurches were to take a month off and just read the gospels, few of them would go back to "the six ways to grow your kids God's way" and the financial seminars and bake sales for new choir robes.

posted by Obi-Mac BakDon @ 4:53 AM