Return to trevor

What Would Jesus Buy?

While it is hard to think of yourself as such, when you are living overseas, you are the foreigner and as such the dominant culture lumps you with people from other lands outside their borders. You suddenly realize what it is to be the outsider. It is why one of my best friends in the world was a South Korean young man named David Kim, who was studying to be a minister. A little over 23 percent of the South Korean population is Christian. He liked me because I was an American, and in his country it was the Americans who introduced the gospel to his people. Because of the history of how Christianity was introduced in that country, it is associated with freedom. David dreamed of returning to his country and starting a school for missionaries. These missionaries he would train would not go to third world countries, old Europe, or even the rough intercities of his home country. Rather, these men and women were to head to the suburbs and mega-churches of America with their message. Strange dream, sending missionaries to those who already count themselves among the saved. Still, when I asked him why, he would reply, “You gave us the gospel. Now I want to return the favor by telling your people what it means.” David died of cancer before he was able to achieve his vision, leaving behind a wife and a number of beautiful children.

I think of David a lot these days, especially as scandal after scandal rocks Christianity lately. I am not taking about ministers who cannot keep their pants on. That is nothing new. The Apostle Paul had to deal with that stuff. What is making waves in Christendom is how much Christian paraphernalia is being made in sweatshop conditions by children in Communist China. For example, a few months ago it came out that crucifixes sold in Christian bookstores across America that were labeled as being made in Italy, were really being made in the Junxingye factory in China, by child labor that was being forced to work seven days a week for 14 hours a day. Some of the workers were forced to work shifts as long as 25 hours. These workers are paid 26.5 cents an hour, half the legal minimum wage in the country, minus a $10.61 deduction for room and board. When everything is said and done, the kids get a huge $3.70 a week. Bet you are proud of that cross around your neck right now. Feels a little tight doesn’t it. I’ll bet little Li would love to hear the Gospel, as he works his fingers to the bone and watches his childhood disappear in filthy conditions, making religious knickknacks for rich Americans. It is not just crucifixes, but a whole host of Christian merchandise, from Bible action figures, to Bibles, to bracelets. There is something ironically sad about it all. Yet, where is the Christian witness in the face of such injustice. Where are the mega churches and pastors standing with Jesus on such matters? If you listen, you can hear… cricket, cricket, cricket. Where are the David Kims when you need them?

If America goes under, it will not be because a couple of gay guys are wearing matching sweaters for their Christmas card photo, and want to reference each other as husband. It will be because we cannot get our rampant consumerism under control. While President George W. Bush wants us to fight terrorism by shop, shop, shopping, our Christian nation’s consumption could be our Waterloo. In the Book of Genesis, the first command that God gave humanity is to be stewards, caretakers, of the earth. If that is the case the Big Guy should have fired us a few years ago. As much as wild-eyed preachers, oil company lackeys, and Fox News pundits love to blabber about liberal scientists, when it comes to their work, scientists are extremely conservative. They don’t buy into a theory until a preponderance of evidence points to their conclusion as the answer. Global warming has gone from a fringe theory in the 1960s, as evidence has come in, to an almost universally accepted conclusion today. There is not one peer reviewed study that contradicts man’s involvement in today’s climate change. In other words, the jury is in. The earth is an easy bake oven, we are the melting green army men inside it, and we caused it. If the rapture is coming on, it is us that have poured hemlock into our drink.

Yet, even if we skip past the chewing up of the ozone layer like gum, there are still economic injustices that the mega church pastor is not going to mention to his flock. He might thank Jesus for saving them from the liberals, feminists, and homosexuals but he is not going to point out that most members of the congregation are the rich man in the Bible, and the poor of humanity are Lazarus. We Americans could care less about third world injustices, because we can skip over that stuff while we watch our 42 inch HD Chinese slave labor television. “Those 12-year-olds need to stop whining about their filthy working conditions, and listen to a little Tony Robbins, praise Jesus.” We have been running a trade deficit since the 1970s, but it has clicked into overdrive since 1997. In 2006 alone, we hit a record high 763.6 billion. We can ignore third world women and children and global warming, if we just crank the air conditioner. It is a little harder to ignore its effects on your friends and neighbors. Tumbleweeds blow down what used to be cities’ main streets. Finding the American made label on merchandise is getting harder each day. Blue collar jobs, like meat cutting that paid up to $25 an hour plus benefits in the 1970s, are now just a couple of dollars above minimum wage today, with no bennies. White collar jobs are being outsourced and some of the big box stores are talking about having car dealerships and medical clinics under their roofs. The middle class is beginning to wash out, and if that happens, our Democracy will so follow.

This is why I would encourage everyone to rent on DVD, Morgan Spurlock’s latest documentary What Would Jesus Buy?, which follows Reverend Billy, and the Church of Stop Shopping gospel choir, as they preach their message at such places as Disneyland, the Mall of America, Starbucks, and one of the big box store’s headquarters. Rev. Billy’s message is simple, our massive materialism and consumerism is taking us further away from God and His grace. Our cheap bargains are built on the bones of others. He is asking Americans to take a moment and ask what Jesus would buy. Preaching his message of the Shopocalypse, with a John Brown wild look in his eyes, the good pastor is arrested and ejected from almost every establishment he enters and has been banned for life from several of those.

One of the most hurtful things that I am often told, is that I like controversy and that is why I write what I write. It is not true. But when you challenge people’s assumptions, ask them to examine their attitudes and opinions, it makes them very uncomfortable. It is easier to shoot the messenger, name call, and retreat back to our comfortable habits. If you have a cross around your neck, attend church every Sunday, look in the mirror and ask yourself honestly if you have been a good steward of God’s creation and if you have loved your neighbor, the guy who owns a store on main street, the illegal immigrant, the American factory worker who is about to lose his job, and the dirty faced twelve year old making your crosses. Maybe, I am just being controversial, but I join a long line of such individuals with names like Reverend Billy, Jesus, and David Kim. Maybe you should ask them what the Gospel means…

Verdict: An interesting documentary