GOSPEL DELTA

Crossway Community Church | Difficult Issues

// November 6th, 2009 // No Comments » // Doctrine

Here is a great list of resources from Crossway Community Church in Bristol, WI, pastored by Mike Bullmore. This series specifically addresses difficult theological issues, including free will and evil/suffering.

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Why is the Prosperity Gospel so Abominable?

// November 3rd, 2009 // No Comments » // Doctrine

John Piper explains in depth some reasons why the prosperity gospel is an abomination:

The Gospel is Unfashionable

// November 3rd, 2009 // No Comments » // Life

Exporting the Idol of Fashion

I am not a huge fan of the recent trend among pseudo-sustainable clothing companies, in which the companies give away their products for free to children across the globe. On the face of it, it appears incredibly forward-thinking and humanitarian, and it gets a lot of buzz in the sustainable business world. But in the midst of this, something seems a bit fishy to me. One of the things I loved about Nau, the former Portland-based sustainable outdoor clothing company (now out-of-business), was that it was so committed to a new vision for American business, a passion for social responsibility and community involvement that had true potential for cultural transformation, in a way that showed that they genuinely cared about using the business platform to do good in the world. I loved the fact that they gave 10% of every sale to charity, and that the buyer had the option to choose which charity the money went to. The program was called Gifts for Change. Nau’s team of Partners for Change included World Vision, Mercy Corps, Habitat for Humanity and a slew of other great organizations that you could choose to give your money to. I loved that idea, and was sad to see it go as the company lost its funding in the economic downturn.

But what I’m seeing now is another very popular business model that many hipster clothing companies are selling, and it’s come to the forefront because of the propaganda campaigns they are using to back them up. The model goes a little something like this: for every widget that the customer buys, we’re giving away another of the same widget to a child in need. One the surface it looks magnanimous, quite humanitarian, but for the discerning consumer it looks like a blue-washing, self-promoting PR campaign that doesn’t really have the receivers’ true needs in mind. But by leveraging viral marketing and increased consumer sentiment toward social responsibility, these companies end up to looking like the saviors of the world.

My biggest beef here is that I see Americans exporting all kinds of things overseas to third world countries, from capitalism to democracy and even prosperity theology. Some redeemable things, but mostly bad things. Ultimately we’re exporting materialism and greed in some form everywhere. When I look at Americans, I see a radical self-absorption in people, heck ,I see it in the mirror everyday, and an obsession with being fashionable and having the next best thing. For instance: having the next pair of designer jeans, the next new hairdo, having the newest music that no one has heard of, so on and so forth. Hipness is a hugely under-criticized source of contemporary idolatry. So when I see American companies schlepping their over-priced fashion products around the globe (like TOMS $70 pair of shoes – a couple pieces of burlap glued together, or the spoof – DATS $49 hats) and charging the customer at home a premium to appear humanitarian, I don’t buy it. Why should I buy your over-priced hipster status symbol, and then pay a premium for a third world child–who, btw, could make much better use of food/clean water/medicine/education–to get hooked on an American addiction to fashion and novelty, when I could just continue wearing the stuff I have in my closet, stop submitting to the idol of hipness, and instead give to my church or another organization that’s actually meeting the life and death needs of those children overseas and here at home? I’m leaning toward the latter.

Be Unfashionable

Tullian Tchividjian’s latest book Unfashionable, examines how a lot of Christians today are pushing back against this same mentality in the church, they “don’t want a faith community that tries to come off as appealing and trendy. Christ followers are called to embrace a standard that’s ‘out of this world.’ Why? Because the only way to make a difference in the world is by being different.”

“To help his readers re-imagine a radically “unfashionable” lifestyle, Tullian examines what Gospel-infused priorities would look like in relationships, community, work, finances and culture. Readers come away with a clear picture of what it means to live subversively-and redemptively-for God.”