I use here the term “The Religion Industry” (TRI) as an all-encompassing term for (1) self-claimed “Christian” organizations, that (2) create their own agenda and priorities for their activities. The members of such Religion Industry can be characterized by how it is organized, what it claims as its doctrine / foundational truths, and how it frames personal piety. But my purpose here is to look first as what the Religion Industry claims as its mission, its purpose, its reason for being / existence. There are, of course, many other participants in TRI; they are not our focus here. Speaking more broadly than a christian TRI, there has been TRI since the beginning of man; as interesting as that history is, it is not our focus here either, except to note that man is not just sapient (as in homo sapien, meaning man-wise), or man the toolmaker, but at a more fundamental level man has been a creator, promoter, and sustainer of a religion industry everywhere and for all time.
The TRI mission categories and flavors considered below are not exhaustive either in scope or in detail, but are meant only to highlight the contrast with what we find in the exemplar Epistle of Philippians that we have examined here.
1 “The Great Commission”
The (One and Only) Great (Single Most Significant) Commission (Divine Charge of Duty)
And, so, nothing else (really) matters (all that much)
And, whatever can be fit into (apparently) promoting “The Great Commission” is automatically justified, much like a heated political campaign where all things become “fair game” to achieve some all-encompassing “good”
This is the driving energy behind the going forward of all the works and ‘ministries’
2 Growth
Numbers, counts, scores
Big is (inherently, and by definition) better: “Wherever two or three thousand are gathered in My Name, …”
Change and Fame
Essence of “News”
3 “Entertainment”
Condition of (“ment”): “entering” a certain “tenere” (Lat. root, which means “to hold,” grab, even trap / grip),
which like a binary star pair, traps both the provider of “entertainment” and the receiver,
each locked by gripped hands, neither of which can freely let go without consequences.
Amusement(s), feeling good
The Shinny New Thing(s), endless, varied, and necessarily ever increasing in intensity, ever pursuing new horizons / crossing new boundaries
Standard of Value: the world, the uninterested, the immature,
under the a ends justifying warrant for whatever ‘works’
4 Success / Prosperity
Methods / tools for getting what I want (which want is claimed to be real, important “need”)
Affirmations of “goodness”
Me Feel Good (under the guise of “being open,” “welcoming,” “loving,” “inclusive,” …)
Me Feel Good about Me Feel Good
You (you all) Feel Good about Me Feel Good about Me Feel Good
How God’s ‘vending machine’ of goodies works
The ‘cures’ for suffering, and evils of life
How to get the ‘warm fuzzies’
How to avoid the ‘cool pricklies’
How to impress the world with ‘me’
5 Curing the World’s Problems
Using The Relgion Industry to advance a social-economic-polical agenda
Because, after all, any that helps “The Great Commission” must be on mission
How to impress the world with ‘us’
6 Celebrity Focus
Name Fame
Stolen Valor
Titles: Pastor, Father, Reverend, Priest, Bishop, Apostle, Eminence, …
Clergy – Laity Categories
7 Secret Revelation(s)
“God told me that…”
There’s something new to be learned, and it happens ‘here’ by ‘me’
The ‘secret sauce’ of success, by paying the ante of pleasing God
8 Facilities Granduer / Distinctive(s)
The power of The Visible
Centralized Control
9 Ceremonial Significance
Centralized Attention
Calendar Retention
10 Money
Faith pledge
Tithing by Malachi
(Growth feeds the plate, because overhead does not scale one-to-one)
11 Membership
Command and control over who is allowed ‘to belong”
And the conditions / obligations of such membership
12 Explanations for “Evil” / Sorrow in this Life
The longing for explanation in the context of a “Good God” and ever present sorrows and evil
Tools / methods to secure protection against such evil and sorrow
13 Assurances re Death, and the Final Judgment
The longing for life’s meaning (re the passing of others)
Traversing the unknowable Unknown
The fear of finality (for me)
The Keys to Heaven: The modern incarnation of the ancient Egyptian “Book of the Dead”