Church, emotions, and the self-focus of affluence
- How do you help people in an affluent, self-focused culture see that they need Jesus?
Ben revives a question from two or three shows back: are church services and worship tunes postured toward certain personality types — predominantly emotions and dealing with emotions? He argues affluence buys the freedom of inward self-focus ('with affluence comes the freedom of inward and self-focus'), which he thinks is not good for us: emotions are not to be trusted, and getting further from practical, grounded living separates people from what anchors them. Dan pushes back that it's just human nature — always true, always will be: people fill the spiritual void with carnal things, whether 80s wealth empires or bar scenes. The studio sits among affluent upper-management million-dollar homes where 'they don't need God' — until the family fails or health breaks, anything outside their control. The hosts agree people usually have to reach the dead end — 'everything I've tried isn't adding up to the happy or the joy' — before they'll listen, and even then they may just decide to go deeper into the same well.
Clips from this
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Affluence lets us focus on ourselves
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