Buying into the Prosperity Gospel
Last week’s blog, “Does Everything Happen for a Reason?” was prompted by an article in America magazine by Eloise Blondiau called “The Gospel According to Goop.”
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….
The Best Deals
“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.”
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.”
