Brian Maclaren’s Christmas message begins with four bullet points, the first two of which are a pitch for his new book, and the CD that accompanies it with helpful links to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and the CD project website.
He then goes on to say this:
Consumerism is the notion that the more we consume the better off we will be. As I explain in the book..
In order to reach Brian’s Christmas themed informercial, one must pass through the storefront for the book that is entitled, um… ah… oh yes – “Everything Must Change”. On that page one can also access the site for the conference series (tickets $109 a pop) complete with links to the corporate sponsors.
More at Today at the Mission. Many people have left the evangelical church to save their faith, not because they’ve lost it. Change for a Christian comes when we are silent, repentant, seeking God, laying down our rights, listening, praying, obeying and loving, not consuming.
I’m not sure ‘sold out’ is the right expression and certainly don’t want to suggest he’s become some kind of new age Gordon Gekko. I’m more inclined to say ‘lost his way’. It’s all so very judgemental of me, but there you go.
Just giving readers a friendly nudge your way, what you wrote is so good it be a shame if interested readers missed it.
You can handle the discussion, I’m away for a few days.
It’s so very mean of me, but there you go.;^)
I would venture to guess that the corporate links have more to do with the aspirations of one’s publisher than the author himself.
I just got his new book from the library, and so far so good. If you don’t care for the consumerism, try your local library.
Calvin – Iit’s really not the consumerism I’m wound up about – it’s using a Christmas message to hawk one’s goods while, in the next breath, decrying consumerism. It seems more than a little hypocritical to make the first bullet point a suggestion to buy the cd and give it to everyone you know and then take a stand against consumerism. That is a little off, isn’t it?
He’s just beginning to look like all those other big business, big money preachers. I was rather hoping that wouldn’t happen.
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