This much should be obvious to anyone attending most big American churches: on Sunday mornings, those lots are covered with expensive vehicles. If you doubt me, just go out and check them; most American churches, any Sunday. Do we need expensive vehicles to get from here to there? Absolutely not.
Is there hypocrisy in the air? Most churches are “country clubs with steeples,” according to a friend of mine who believes deeply in God but deals with his God privately, not as part of an organized religion.
Hey, why am I picking on churches? Well, maybe it’s because church-goers repeatedly claim to me that they are morally superior to me because they are church-goers. They also tell me that it’s the teachings of Jesus that make them morally superior. Now I am quite aware that a teaching often attributed to Jesus is that one needs to first sell all his possessions and give the money to the poor before following Him. This passage makes me think: “Hey, church-goers, if you are all so morally superior, show it.” That’s what I think when I see all those unnecessarily fancy vehicles on the church parking lot.
Where do all those church-goers park those vehicles? Here’s where: in their big garages attached to their expensive houses. Here’s the issue then: these holders of substantial wealth are often the same people who profess to believe literally in Biblical scripture. Yet the New Testament isn’t known for encouraging people to acquire wealth. Or is …