Peter Espeut | Debunking capitalist Christianity

Jamaica prides itself as being a Christian country, although there clearly is no consensus on what that means. Not only do we (allegedly) have more church buildings than any other country in the world, but probably more different Christian denominations than anywhere else! All have conflicting doctrines – some downright antagonistic to others – all derived from the same collection of books called “The Bible”, which means “The Book” in Greek.

Last week I wrote about evangelical market fundamentalists who abound among the high and low in this country; this week I write about Christian fundamentalists, who are even more abundant and evangelical and irrational.

The Bible is divided into two “Testaments”, Latin for “covenant”. The “Old Testament” (for Jews it is the only one) tells the story of the “Old Covenant” with the people of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, signed in the blood of bullocks (See Exodus 24:8). The “New Testament” is the book of the New Covenant – the Christian Covenant (see Luke 22:20, 1 Corinthians 11:25, Hebrews 13:20) in the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God, consumed and taken inside the bodies of those who sign it.

What is ironic is that so many “Christians” have their heads buried in the Old Testament. There is no such thing as an “Old Covenant Christian”! The New Covenant replaces the Old: “You have heard it said … but I say to you …”. Most biblical fundamentalists cannot accept that parts of the Old Testament have been replaced by the teachings of Jesus in the Book of the New Covenant. In a sort of schizophrenia, they try to hold that both the Old Covenant and its replacement are true at the same time.

Those who are not fundamentalists believe the books in the Bible are a record of the gradual appreciation over centuries by the people of God of the depth of the will of God. God, of course, does not change, but his people continue to grow in their appreciation of his truth. Even across the Old Testament the “development of doctrine” is obvious. Let me give one clear example, which is all I can manage in the few words allotted to me.

REWARDS THE GOOD

One teaching in the early Old Testament is that God rewards the good and punishes the wicked in this life. There are many texts which contain this early doctrine which is quite popular among Jamaicans who espouse Christianity. Let us look at Deuteronomy 28:

“If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God: You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock – the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. … You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. The LORD will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven. The LORD will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The LORD your God will bless you in the land he is giving you. … The LORD will grant you abundant prosperity”.

But then it goes on:

“However, if you do not obey the LORD your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come on you and overtake you: You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country. … The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out. The LORD will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him. … The LORD will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew, which will plague you until you perish. The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron. … The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven”.

PROSPERITY GOSPEL

And it goes on and on. My readers will recognise this as the “prosperity gospel”, where wealth is a sign of God’s favour, and poverty is a sign of God’s curse. But this doctrine is not Christian (New Testament) teaching at all! Or even to be found in the later Old Testament. Why do the evil prosper and the good suffer (asks the Book of Job)?

Jesus does not promise prosperity to his followers; he says, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23).

And poverty is not a curse, and riches not a blessing: “Blessed are the poor” (Luke 6:20), and “Woe to you who are rich” (Luke 6:24). Jesus turns that early Old Testament doctrine on its head! Yet so many “Christians” believe it and preach it and live by it. It certainly is compatible with North American capitalism and market fundamentalism, which is where this kind of religious fundamentalism comes from.

Is Jamaica really a Christian country? Or are we stuck in the early Old Testament in an effort to justify Capitalist Christianity? Jamaica is in need of a Saviour!

Rev Peter Espeut is Dean of Studies at St Michael’s Theological College. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com