aquascoot wrote on Feb 23
rd, 2013 at 7:02am:
aquascoot wrote on Feb 22
nd, 2013 at 3:54pm:
i'm quite interested in this if someone has a rational view.
sure you can take individual quotes out of the bible to say just about anything , but my reading of it would seem to reflect that the bible is really a story of
1 suffering
2 triumph through love
3 getting priorities right in that love is more important than possessions.
now the whole message of hillsong and many of the new pentecostal churches isnt prosperity but a significant part of it is.
i find little evidence for this in their doctrinal texts.
have i misinterpreted what i have read or are people rationalising to try and make themselves "have their cake and eat it too"
re the allegation that the dalai llama is not holy or likes his goodies as well , i reject that.
i think you will find that the buddhist monks take their belief in simple living very seriously.
if anyone has any evidence that the dalai has a massive trust fund or share portfolio, post away but i doubt you will find one
i very rarely bump my own posts, always seemed a weird thing to do.
i have put this question to a lot of evangelicals and as is the case here, am met with deafening silence.
i think the idea of whether christianity is to be aligned with a life of consumerism or a life of charity is at the core of where christianity (and maybe the world) is to head.
from my talks to evangelicals, they see the earthly satisfaction of desires
consumerism
materialism
sex
fame
waelth
as part of their religious creed.
the buddha and jesus, seemed to teach the exact opposite
that consumerism, wealth and ego were all potent blockers to forward movement on a spiritual journey.
i think this is something that not just hillsong but all the new materialistic religions need to reflect on.
it seems that all the great divine teachers of the past, taught a very different message. not hard to hoodwink the congregation when you are selling a message like this. martin luther would be rolling in his grave.
A lot of this prosperity doctrine is overrated, and I think Hillsong has stepped back from it somewhat.
When Brian Huston released a book about wealth a few years back, Tim Costello contacted him and expressed his views. I’ve heard Brian Huston agreed and came around to the belief that Christianity is not about wealth at all.
At one point, Huston was very taken with Amerikan evangelism - much of it based on the black churches and their faith in the church to pull people out of poverty. During the 1980s and 90s, this belief spread through the white televised ministries and formed much of what we understand as mass pentacostalism today.
However, the essence of their teachings is that the Holy Spirit works miracles - just as it did on the day of Pentacost when the early Christian Jews started speaking in their different respective languages, or "tongues".
Many converts to Hillsong are, however, what we understand as "aspirational". It’s a middle class suburban movement with a lot of first generation immigrants. The church has its biggest growth not in poor communities, but countries with an expanding middle class, like China and Eastern European and Latin American countries.
Like the blacks in the early Pentacostal movement, and like the Chinese and Eastern Europeans today, respectability, material and social aspiration are extremely important.
Hillsong does not preach overt consumerism, but yes, it does practice it. The fashions, the cars people drive to "church", and the focus on fundraising - a focus in most growing religious movements - are all there. They just don’t preach it anymore.
But they sure as hell practice it.
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