General Discussion

kpete

(72,005 posts) Tue Aug 5, 2014, 08:37 PM Aug 2014

“The fastest growing Protestant movement in North America is referred to as the prosperity gospel"

“I love all fictional presentations of Jesus. I think they are fantastic, whether it is the Last Temptation of Christ or The Passion — both of which are fiction. But — sorry about that, did I break that to you? — but again for me what is fascinating about those is it is just a representation of what I have been talking about all along, which is the incredible malleability of the Christ story, the way that it can become whatever you want it to become.”

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The fastest growing Protestant movement in North America is this movement that is referred to as the prosperity gospel,” he said. “This is the gospel preached by people like Joel Osteen and T.D. Jakes — and when I say people, I mean charlatans. The argument of the prosperity gospel, if I can put it flippantly, is that Jesus wants you to drive a Bentley. That is basically what the argument is. That what Jesus wants for you is material prosperity, and that if you literally give, you will literally be given tenfold. That’s not a metaphor, as it is in most churches. It is literal. You give me $10 and Jesus will give you $100.”

“This is as profoundly an unscriptural interpretation of Jesus that exists,” Aslan remarked. “I mean, if there is one thing that is just so clear cut and just not open to interpretation at all of any kind when it comes to Jesus’s message, it is his condemnation of wealth.”

“And yet, not only does this version of Christianity exist, as I say, it is honestly the fastest growing version of Protestant evangelical Christianity in North America. That’s because Jesus can be whatever you want him to be, and the Christian message can be whatever you want it to be.”

Video & more:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/08/05/religious-scholar-reza-aslan-destroys-charlatan-joel-osteen-jesus-hated-wealth/

5 replies

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“The fastest growing Protestant movement in North America is referred to as the prosperity gospel" (Original Post) kpete Aug 2014 OP

Sadly, I have a friend who believes this. He's pretty damn broke, though trying hard. moriah Aug 2014 #1

My BIL is heavily into this shit... Bigmack Aug 2014 #2

No shit....I have been trying to get people to pay attention to these groups for years VanillaRhapsody Aug 2014 #3

The Family is into this d_r Aug 2014 #4

Thirty years ago this was repeated ad nauseum by televangelists bhikkhu Aug 2014 #5

moriah

(8,311 posts)

1. Sadly, I have a friend who believes this. He's pretty damn broke, though trying hard.

Reply to kpete (Original post)

Tue Aug 5, 2014, 08:56 PM

Aug 2014

I bet his church is doing very well, though.

Bigmack

(8,020 posts)

2. My BIL is heavily into this shit...

Reply to kpete (Original post)

Tue Aug 5, 2014, 08:56 PM

Aug 2014

He and his wife do not believe in luck... it's all Jeeezus.

He loves Osteen and imagines that his own retirement benefits and Medicare and the state-funded care and special education of his two handicapped grandchildren is all because he believed Jeeezus wanted him to be well-off.

I've tried to point out all the stuff about the real Jesus being not all that enthused about the rich, and really digging helping the poor, but it goes right by him.

We are re-living the Gilded Age all over again. Russell
Conwell and "Acres of Diamonds", and Andrew Carnegie "Gospel of Wealth"...

http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5769/

VanillaRhapsody

(21,115 posts)

3. No shit....I have been trying to get people to pay attention to these groups for years

Reply to kpete (Original post)

Tue Aug 5, 2014, 09:01 PM

Aug 2014

and they are starting to become more and more "new age" with rock bands and big shows at local coliseums instead of building churches...

d_r

(6,907 posts)

4. The Family is into this

Reply to kpete (Original post)

Tue Aug 5, 2014, 09:01 PM

Aug 2014

The C-street people. Well, sort of, they believe that God wants *THEM* to be rich. Jeff Sharlot traces the history of this view in his book.

bhikkhu

(10,720 posts)

5. Thirty years ago this was repeated ad nauseum by televangelists

Reply to kpete (Original post)

Tue Aug 5, 2014, 10:52 PM

Aug 2014

I don't even remember their names, but I had a friend who was a recovering (occasionally) alcoholic drug addict, and she watched them all the time. The basic message - give me money and Jesus will give back to you tenfold. I imagine people that fall for that also play the lottery and imagine their rich future...sad.

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