Is the God of our Churches an ATM?
God is a person. But in our churches God is an ATM. Look at how you interact with Him -- or at least how we fool ourselves into thinking that we are interacting with Him.
An ATM is at a certain location. You go to that location to ACCESS your blessing. You are free once it is accessed to go anywhere you like with it. Hmmmm sounds like normal church to me. AND DEFINITELY does not sound like it involves a person.
Look at our language, "Meet us in this place...Bless us here...We come before you to worship you now...Grant your Spirit ot us here..." Ah the addressing of the ATM. You cannot access an ATM without addressing it. Addressing it is putting in the card, the membership card if you will.
Worship -- good the right PIN number must be pressed, otherwise NO BLESSING. And if you don't do it right with enough tries, the card is taken. Fellowship and blessing REVOKED.
Sermon -- ahhh HOW to access the blessings, and for that matter, how to know how much you have access to, and how to manage what you have (what acccount SHOULD it be in), and how much can I attempt to take out now without feeling guilty, i.e. incurring fees and penalties.
Worship Part II -- ahh the physical confirmation of blessing. Now cash in hand aren't the blessing, they are the stuff of the blessing, what you can buy/do is the blessing. So it is with that good feeling you get post instruction/sermon.
Offering -- In order to get further blessings you have to have access to the source of the blessing for later. I cannot stress this enough. If you don't tithe, you've left your card in the ATM, and it won't do you any good next time you come. With some ATMs they may not even dispense the blessing tokens until you take the card.
The Rest of the Week -- using the blessing tokens you've attained HOPING they are still legal tender.
Sure it's tongue and cheek and perhaps a tad harsh. But isn't that more like how we are in church than some truly spiritual exercise?
An ATM is at a certain location. You go to that location to ACCESS your blessing. You are free once it is accessed to go anywhere you like with it. Hmmmm sounds like normal church to me. AND DEFINITELY does not sound like it involves a person.
Look at our language, "Meet us in this place...Bless us here...We come before you to worship you now...Grant your Spirit ot us here..." Ah the addressing of the ATM. You cannot access an ATM without addressing it. Addressing it is putting in the card, the membership card if you will.
Worship -- good the right PIN number must be pressed, otherwise NO BLESSING. And if you don't do it right with enough tries, the card is taken. Fellowship and blessing REVOKED.
Sermon -- ahhh HOW to access the blessings, and for that matter, how to know how much you have access to, and how to manage what you have (what acccount SHOULD it be in), and how much can I attempt to take out now without feeling guilty, i.e. incurring fees and penalties.
Worship Part II -- ahh the physical confirmation of blessing. Now cash in hand aren't the blessing, they are the stuff of the blessing, what you can buy/do is the blessing. So it is with that good feeling you get post instruction/sermon.
Offering -- In order to get further blessings you have to have access to the source of the blessing for later. I cannot stress this enough. If you don't tithe, you've left your card in the ATM, and it won't do you any good next time you come. With some ATMs they may not even dispense the blessing tokens until you take the card.
The Rest of the Week -- using the blessing tokens you've attained HOPING they are still legal tender.
Sure it's tongue and cheek and perhaps a tad harsh. But isn't that more like how we are in church than some truly spiritual exercise?
posted by GBT at
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
