This is the first of a series of blogs on personal transformation.
American Religion – especially American Protestantism - has a strain in it that runs from Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science in 1800's through people like Norman Vincent Peale, Robert Schuller, and Joel Osteen – the latter preaches in a former pro basketball arena in Houston to some 16,000 people each Sunday - besides the ones watching on TV.
That kind of success is the point of this movement that says that God wants us all to be healthy and prosperous. One of the foundational scriptures for this movement is Romans 12.2:
Don’t be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds so that you can figure out what God’s will is—what is good and pleasing and mature (Common English Bible).
The "prosperity preachers" can say that the Bible makes it clear that we can change our lives just by thinking about it.
The prosperity preachers have done us a favor. They have reminded us that we have both a mind and a body and that they interact with each other. They are correcting the assumption that runs through all of Western Culture that divides mind and body. Indeed, the church that I grew up in taught me that all I had to do was get the right answers on the final Final Exam (aka “the Last Judgment”) and I was in – but woe unto me if I got one wrong.
Thanks, in part to these “positive thinkers” and “prosperity gospel” preachers – and a lot of scientific research – we are all beginning to see that our minds and our bodies really do effect each other for good or ill. If you want to be successful, you really can visualize that BMW, complete with blond in the front seat if you want, and a wallet full of enough cash to actually fill the tank – and you can get it. The power of the human mind to conceive something, then believe something and then achieve something is truly amazing.
This, in fact, is what my Hebrew professor thought the last of the Ten Commandments was about. You remember the one that says, “Thou shalt not covet . . .?”
Most English speakers are told that “covet” means something like “jealous” or “envious”. But the Hebrew word behind it describes this ability that we have to visualize getting something or achieving some kind of goal and then to plan and to make it happen. To catch a cultural wave - it is the SECRET! .
My Hebrew professor said that the commandment, “Thou shalt not steal” probably refers to kidnapping to sell someone into slavery. The Hebrew word that we translate as “steal” probably means something like “manstealing”.
“Thou shalt not covet” probably comes closest to prohibiting stealing as we usually understand it. That is, it's OK to say, “I'm going to marry that girl!” unless she is already married to someone else. It's OK to decide that you want a BMW unless it's the one parked in your neighbor's garage. The Tenth Commandment recognizes this incredible power that we all have to get what we set our minds on getting. It simply says we can't set our minds on getting those things that belong to our neighbor.
Paul's talk about transformation through the renewing of our minds also recognizes this power. The word “transformed” is the Greek word “metamorphosis” - that's how a caterpillar becomes a butterfly. And Paul says our lives can be transformed like that – with the renewing of our minds. “Renewing” translates a Greek word that could be used to describe rehabilitating an old house so that it looks like new.
But Paul isn't saying this so that we can be “successful”. Indeed, his attitude toward the preaching of the Prosperity Gospel preachers would be, “Why would you want to have the fastest wheelchair in the hospital?” “Why would you want to be the Dean of Death Row?” Why would you want to be the editor of the prison newspaper?” Why would you want to be the richest man in the graveyard?”
The point isn't to be the President of the penitentiary, it is to get out of jail. “Success” is all about being conformed to the values of this world. Transformation is about getting out of jail – free.
Next week: The Surprising thing that Transforms Us the Most.
