United Methodeviations

Highlighting books, films, television, and music of special merit (in my humble opinion…)

Few things are more annoying to intelligent, critically astute, rational Christians than sloppy, superficial, and simplistic thinking paraded out as “gospel.”  Such irredeemably dumb notions as “the power of positive thinking,” “the be happy attitudes,” “what would Jesus do?” and myriad other similar reductionisms make the modern Christian faith an easy (and willing) target for cranks, critics, and curmudgeons.  Our faith isn’t all happiness and light, merriment and good times.  Christianity comes with a cost.  Turning it into consolation, comfort, cash, and a course in miracles cheapens it for everyone and undermines the fundamental credibility of an otherwise demanding faith.  While Barbara Ehrenreich’s book isn’t specifically about the Christian faith, it is about simplistic thinking, irrationality, the emptiness of most pop-psychology/self-help/how-to-win-friends-and-influence-people, and self-delusion that is bedrock in modern American culture.  There is great learning in this book for anyone who wants to lead in a church.  It is painful to note all the ways that P.T. Barnum-style hucksterism lies at the heart of much of our contemporary mainline church life.  This is a book that will embarrass all but the most dishonest among us.  Every effort to make the gospel more “accessible” by watering, dumbing, toning, and turning it down is revealed by the parallels Ehrenreich draws.

The real challenge in this book is to separate the wheat from the chaff — what constitutes optimism and what constitutes delusion?  What is the difference between honest motivation and unscrupulous manipulation?  When are rewards appropriate and when are they merely behavior modification?  When can positive thinking help and when does it hurt?  What are the implications of a “can do” attitude for people who can’t, don’t, or won’t?

People gravitate toward what they want to hear.  We like sugar better than brussels sprouts.  We love the idea that we’re good, and we hate it when others think we’re not.  We want the prosperity gospel to be true, because rich is better than poor, comfortable is better than struggling, warm and full is better than cold and hungry, and we want our God to be the God that only gives good things.  At the very least, we want our God to be able to beat up everybody else’s God.  We toss realism out the door for optimism.  We castigate caution as pessimism.  We confuse being Christian with being “nice.”  We want all the benefits, but with none of the costs.  Ehrenreich points out that this simply isn’t the way the world works, and we try to remake the world to suit our own selfish desires at our own peril.  I echo her caution.  We remake the Christian faith to be a fun, happy, sweet, problem free, nice, paradise at our own peril as well — especially when people don’t need coddling, but transformation.