Jarrod McKenna‘s Wednesday’s with Gandhi:
“It is my firm opinion that [the West] today represents not the spirit of God or Christianity but the spirit of Satan. And Satan’s successes are the greatest, when he appears with the
name of God on his lips. [The West] today is only nominally Christian. In reality, it is worshipping Mammon. ‘It’s easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle that for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Thus really spoke Jesus Christ. His so-called followers measure their moral progress by their material possessions.”
-Gandhi (Speeches & Writings of M. Gandhi: p.336, Feb. 14, 1916)
- Would you agree with Gandhi that society at large worships Mammon (money)?
- Even more so today then in Gandhi’s time society seems possessed with a way of life that feeds on domination, silent oppression and exploits God’s good earth. Is this the spirit of God? Is this the spirit of Christianity? Is this as Gandhi says ‘the spirit of satan’?
- Have you heard ‘It’s easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle that for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven’ taught about the dangers of Mammon? Have you heard it taught the dangers of a wrong attitude while you hoard? What do you think about how Gandhi uses the text?
What about Gandhi’s comments about “His so-called followers measure their moral progress by their material possessions.” Gandhi’s comments where even before ‘prosperity gospel’ was popular. Is it more true now?
Going Deeper:
Consider spending sometime meditating on Luke 18: 18-29 simply asking God ‘how can I witness to your love in what I do with what you have given me’
I’m looking forward to my radio segment with Ross Clifford next Wednesday. We’ll be looking at the prosperity gospel.
I imagine that some people won’t like what they hear.
I was watching a YouTube video with Creflo Dollar a few days ago. Scary stuff. Apparently, not only should all Christians be rich but Jesus was a rich man when he was on earth. I’m not sure how he backs up his theories.
Amen. The prosperity gospel is an invention of sinful man. In no way is it reflected in the gospels or even the OT. Look a Solomon’s warrnings against wealth. Still a large amount of people follow this thinking.
The West is not only nominally Christian it is post Christian. We have further degenerated since Mahatma’s day. I don’t think the attitude of exploitation is any worse, technology has just made the same zeal for wealth better at it.
Australia is post Christian as much as anywhere.
Is the western church post-christian too?
“Only a fool doesn’t give up what he can’t keep to recieve what he can’t lose” Jim Elliot
I agree with his quote completely. When are we going to stop trying to invent bogus theologies that support wayward lifestyles.
It’s a great name for a tv evangelist isn’t it?
“Creflo Dollar” not a bad name if for a prosperity preacher. 😉 Looking forward to the interview Rodney. It’s funny most “rich men” have a place to lay their head… humm…
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Jarrod,
Last night in our family Bible time (me, my wife, and our children ages 14, 12 and 9), we read Mary’s Song from Luke 1. (Borrowing from Scot McKnight) I asked why Mary’s version of “the gospel” differs from what people normally say “the gospel” is. We started talking about how harsh it sounds towards those in wealth and power. We started talking about “can you serve God and love money?” So right there, at our dinner table, I brought out my laptop and came to this posting. I showed them the photo above, read them the Gandhi quote, and closed with a prayer.
So thank you, you were part of our family devotions last night.
Thanks so much for sharing Jon, and thank you so much for the formation you are doing with your kids. Surely the kingdom belongs to these little ones. 🙂
I love you man, don’t see how we can continue the deception, but I might make an observation, the prosperity gospel didn’t really exist when Gandhi was on this earth. He wasn’t talking about the penty’s with their particular blend of opulence, he was talking about us. It is easy to condemn “those people” it is a bit harder when we realize, Gandhi was talking about us. Where do we find our security? Is it in Christ and the body of Christ, or is it in our income, our investments, and our retirement funds? Where do we buy our houses, or rent? What cars do we drive? No, Gandhi wasn’t talking about the extremes, he was talking about the main stream. The worst thing these extremes have done to me personally, is made it easy to justify myself. But the, “gee God, I ain’t as bad as those fellas” doesn’t seem to carry any weight.
rev
Amen to that John.
Yeah, as I wrote, “Gandhi’s comments where even before ‘prosperity gospel’ was popular.”
Ouch…
it’s burning…
…what is that?
Compunction I think. 😉