Yesterday I talked about how we place our desire for an end to suffering above our worship of God. Today, I want to talk briefly about a more common false God in America: the two-headed God known as “comfort and happiness.”

One of the things that we Americans have inherited from our enlightenment fathers and mothers is a strong sense of individualism (I’ll talk about individualism more at a future date). This can be seen in our constitution, which secures teh right of the individual–the good of the many can never limit the good of the one. And each individual is free to pursue their own good as best as they see fit (within certain limits, of course).

This sort of thinking is largely beneficial. However, this easily translates into a subordination of all social constructs or groups to the best interests of the individual. This is what consumerism basically is–the individual becomes not only protected, but sovereign–and is free to exercise his/her will in ways that maximize their own comfort and hapiness. All groups and social constructs become subordinated to individual’s desire for comfort and hapiness.

And it is in this way that the church becomes a vehicle for personal self-care, self-healing, and self-enlightenment. Church helps the individual to connect with God–and for what purpose? To promote comfort and happiness. Therapeutic Theism is the offspring of the marriage between religion and individualism. Modern spirituality may seem more healthy than traditional religion, but at least “religion” understood that we all must submit to something greater than ourselves in order to find meaning. Spirituality is a fluid, personalized thing–personalized like the desktop on our computers or the settings on our cell phones. Spirituality today is the subordination of God to something we believe to be a higher good–our own hapiness. This can be seen in literature like the Prayer of Jabez, the Purpose-Driven Life, and anything (and everything) that flows forth from the mouth of Joel Olsteen.

About Mark Van Steenwyk

Mark Van Steenwyk is a member of Missio Dei. He is a speaker, writer, educator, and grassroots organizer. With the support of the Central Plains Mennonite Conference, he travels to radical and intentional communities around the country to help network and offer support.