Deity For Hire
My local newspaper comes out once a week and, even on a fat news cycle, still numbers less than twenty pages. The pages include headlines, local sports, police blotter, scouting news, school awards, obituaries, classifieds, and a colorful array of opinions. This past week, with Easter on the horizon, the local churches were out in full force.
A full-page ad appeared by a group that touted a Leadership Training seminar. The viewer seems to loom over a picture of the Leadership Strategist. I see a cross-wait, those are intersecting I-beams being hauled into place on the new building. If the word Easter hadn’t been mentioned, I wouldn’t have known it was Christian. Turns out the Leadership Strategist is also the pastor.
Oh, it’s a church.
Hmmm.
So I went to the website. When I finally found the statement of beliefs I found a charismatic church with many beliefs to which I say, “Amen!” and many with which I shall agree to disagree. I have asked God to reveal Charismatic principals to me, if they were of him, and if they were for me. Since I haven’t been given such knowledge, I’m confident in not pursuing a church with that theological bent.
Some of the Core Values of the church I found disturbing. Valuing such intangibles as Biblical Success or
Biblical Prosperity. These terms leave me vaguely uncomfortable. I have a corporate history, success is measureable in Leadership-ease, otherwise, how do I know when I’ve achieved it?
Do I have to set Biblical Success goals? Biblical Prosperity goals? If so what do these look like? I’m guessing it’s not how many bible verses I can utter on cue. As one of my favorite bible teachers said, we Christians tend to form our firing squads in a circle. I don’t want to be the first to pull that trigger.
If Jesus is happy, I’m happy. I have enough of my own to answer for, I don’t need someone else’s baggage. But as an outsider, it seems to focus less on our Lord and more on what I get from my deity.