Buying into the Prosperity Gospel
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Goop, in case you’re as clueless as I was, is a company
owned by actress Gwyneth Paltrow that sells upscale clothing, cosmetics and
advice about “wellness.”
Its website offers such indispensable articles as “The
Science – and Magic – of Forest Bathing” and “Is There an Upside to
Narcissistic Parenting?” The company has been criticized by health-care
professionals for offering products whose usefulness is questionable. In June 2017, for instance, “a Goop blog post promoted
Body Vibes, wearable stickers that ‘re-balance the energy frequency in our bodies,’”
according to Wikipedia.
A Vague Spirituality
But Blondiau’s problem with Goop runs deeper. The company
promotes the idea that “we have power over our health that Goop can help us to
harness,” and promotes a “vague spirituality, telling Goopies (yes, that’s what
her followers call themselves): It is faith in yourself, in love and in
positivity that can cure.”
The implication is not lost on people who through no fault
of their own suffer disease or whose lives are filled with suffering: They may
be responsible for their situation.
Blondiau compares the Goop pitch to that of Joel Osteen, the
multi-millionaire evangelist. It is promoted in his books and his 16,000-seat
Houston church. She quotes his book, Your Best Life Now: “If you will dare to
take a step of faith and start honoring God in your finances, He’ll start
increasing your supply in supernatural ways….
“He’ll cause you to get the best deals in life. Sometimes,
He’ll keep you from sickness, accidents and harm that might cause unnecessary
expenses.”
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These ideas, she writes, constitute “the prosperity gospel.”
I am unfamiliar with both Goop and, apart from knowing his
name and what he does, Osteen, so in fairness, I can’t characterize their views
with the kind of confidence Blondiau displays.
I do know, however, that the prosperity gospel – the idea
that God rewards faithfulness in this world and by implication, punishes
unfaithfulness – is an absolute distortion of the gospel of Jesus. But it has a
strong following in American religious traditions and I believe it is one
reason the poor, immigrants and minorities are disparaged and the rich and
well-healed are admired.
Many Americans have bought into the prosperity gospel, even
those who have what I may consider to be a good idea of who Jesus is and what
he means. That viewpoint helps in judging ourselves and others by criteria that
are inimical to the gospel. How many of us, undergoing some hardship, ask
ourselves if God is punishing us? How many, when going through a period of
prosperity, wonder if it’s because we’ve “been good” or have done something
especially unselfish? And how many believe their good fortune and that of
others results solely from their own efforts.
Aren't Doled Out in This World
People searching for God in the Christian tradition should
know that God “makes the rain fall on the just and the unjust” and that in a
parable, Jesus has a farmer refrain from pulling up the weeds in his field
“lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them.” The weeds
obviously refer to “bad” people and the wheat to “good.” The message: Rewards
and punishment aren’t doled out in this world.
On the contrary, the gospel considers the poor and the
suffering “blessed,” and urges Jesus’ followers to have compassion on people
undergoing hardship, despite their abundance or lack of personal virtue. Jesus
says that prosperity, in fact, may be an obstacle to finding God, as it was in
the story of the “rich young man” who Jesus knew needed detachment from his
wealth.
Finally, people searching for God should remember the
insight of theologian and philosopher Tomás Halik: “God doesn’t love us because
we are good. God loves us because God is good.”
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