Is Christianity Just A Network Marketing Scheme?
I recently stumbled across a video of two comedians bemoaning the nature of religion. One said something like, "How do people not see that this is basically just Amway?" Amway is like the Godfather of network marketing. Like it or not many people got into it and felt cheated. After being promised great things they just ended up feeling targeted and used for someone else's gain.
People level this same accusation against religion in general and especially the Christian religion. The other comedian in the video said it something like this: "How convenient for the church to convince all these people that they are in mortal, eternal danger, and then all they need to do to get out of it is to join the church as a paying member."
The sum of the accusation is this: Religion is just a man-made idea designed to scare people into financially advancing the people who are in charge of religion.
Here are a few reasons why this is...how can I say this delicately...just plain dumb.
1. Corrupt religion does not rule out the possibility of true religion
Sure, they have a point. There have been, there are, and there will be more large groups of people who are manipulated into lining the pockets of religious leaders for the (empty) promise of spiritual benefit. But the existence of counterfeits implies that there's such a thing as a "genuine article." We know what a counterfeit dollar is when we compare it to a real one.
Jim Wilson says, "Never let a hypocrite stand between you and God. That just makes him closer to God than you are." It's something to think about before dismissing religion altogether. After all, you don't swear off dollar bills because of the counterfeits.
2. The founders of Christianity had no material advantages in being Christian
Jesus was crucified after having most of his fans abandon him. Most of Jesus' disciples were brutally killed and the one that wasn't spent years on a prison island. The earliest believers were social rejects who were accused of being anti-social (they didn't attend the games at the coliseum), cannibalistic (because of how people misunderstood the Lord's Supper), atheists (because they would not worship the pantheon of Roman gods). And yet, despite this mockery and derision there were faithful worshippers of Jesus who established themselves as a community of faith that loved their neighbors. They would rescue abandoned infants, care for the sick, the elderly and the outcasts of society, and were among the first to actually treat women and slaves as people deserving of equal dignity as everyone else. Being a Christian wasn't about blindly following human leaders and lining their pockets. It was a risk. It was dangerous. A reasonable explanation for this is that, in knowing Jesus and what he revealed, people found something truly life-changing.
3. To accuse religion you have to borrow the standards of religion
The sum of the aforementioned accusations comes down to this: "It's wrong to lie to people in order to get money out of them." Hmmm...that sounds familiar. Where have I heard that before? It sounds a little like, "Thou shall not bear false witness...Thou shall not steal."
So, by what standard can these two men criticize religion? Popular opinion? Well that changes every week. Innate instincts? Those are too often in conflict with one another. The bottom line is that these men have to hop in "the Christian car" before they can even try and drive it off the cliff. They can't try to destroy it without relying on it. They can't criticize it without actually borrowing its standards. Which makes them the dishonest ones.
There must be a reason, a foundation, and source of our moral standards. And the source must be God or man. Christ or chaos.
For more on this final line of argumentation I highly recommend you check out the fascinating documentary Collision. The film documents the debate tour between Atheist Christopher Hitchens and Pastor Douglas Wilson who, aside from being friends, also provide one of the greatest examples of these two views colliding.
People level this same accusation against religion in general and especially the Christian religion. The other comedian in the video said it something like this: "How convenient for the church to convince all these people that they are in mortal, eternal danger, and then all they need to do to get out of it is to join the church as a paying member."
The sum of the accusation is this: Religion is just a man-made idea designed to scare people into financially advancing the people who are in charge of religion.
Here are a few reasons why this is...how can I say this delicately...just plain dumb.
1. Corrupt religion does not rule out the possibility of true religion
Sure, they have a point. There have been, there are, and there will be more large groups of people who are manipulated into lining the pockets of religious leaders for the (empty) promise of spiritual benefit. But the existence of counterfeits implies that there's such a thing as a "genuine article." We know what a counterfeit dollar is when we compare it to a real one.
Jim Wilson says, "Never let a hypocrite stand between you and God. That just makes him closer to God than you are." It's something to think about before dismissing religion altogether. After all, you don't swear off dollar bills because of the counterfeits.
2. The founders of Christianity had no material advantages in being Christian
Jesus was crucified after having most of his fans abandon him. Most of Jesus' disciples were brutally killed and the one that wasn't spent years on a prison island. The earliest believers were social rejects who were accused of being anti-social (they didn't attend the games at the coliseum), cannibalistic (because of how people misunderstood the Lord's Supper), atheists (because they would not worship the pantheon of Roman gods). And yet, despite this mockery and derision there were faithful worshippers of Jesus who established themselves as a community of faith that loved their neighbors. They would rescue abandoned infants, care for the sick, the elderly and the outcasts of society, and were among the first to actually treat women and slaves as people deserving of equal dignity as everyone else. Being a Christian wasn't about blindly following human leaders and lining their pockets. It was a risk. It was dangerous. A reasonable explanation for this is that, in knowing Jesus and what he revealed, people found something truly life-changing.
3. To accuse religion you have to borrow the standards of religion
The sum of the aforementioned accusations comes down to this: "It's wrong to lie to people in order to get money out of them." Hmmm...that sounds familiar. Where have I heard that before? It sounds a little like, "Thou shall not bear false witness...Thou shall not steal."
So, by what standard can these two men criticize religion? Popular opinion? Well that changes every week. Innate instincts? Those are too often in conflict with one another. The bottom line is that these men have to hop in "the Christian car" before they can even try and drive it off the cliff. They can't try to destroy it without relying on it. They can't criticize it without actually borrowing its standards. Which makes them the dishonest ones.
There must be a reason, a foundation, and source of our moral standards. And the source must be God or man. Christ or chaos.
For more on this final line of argumentation I highly recommend you check out the fascinating documentary Collision. The film documents the debate tour between Atheist Christopher Hitchens and Pastor Douglas Wilson who, aside from being friends, also provide one of the greatest examples of these two views colliding.
Recent
Archive
Categories
no categories
No Comments