Inspiration or peddling? ["Who's your daddy?" sermon]
This. video. Right, Here.
This video speech was said to have "broken the internet".
Years ago, I would have hit the thumbs up button, shared it, and cried listening to it. Probably got chills listening to it. Now... it makes me cringe.
This isn't to mock anyone reading this if you found inspiration in this speech. Whatever it is that helps you get through the day.... if you like it, I love it.
Life is hard. I accept that people need to choose from their coping mechanism of choice to make it through and live the best quality of life we can.
With that said, I have a few issues with this sermon, I mean speech:
1. It's annoying that the mainstream, "trendy" christian sector uses self-help inspirational talking points to pander to millions of hurting people. These same christians will poo-poo you for using "secular" ideology but have no issue throwing the same 'humanistic' concepts into a blender with bible verses, God and Jesus and serving up a cocktail of popular culture "feel good" blather. There ARE legitimate concepts about self worth and self improvement that get NEUTRALIZED in the mix of christian talking points and the rising crescendo of emotions they purposely stir up in people. The music and imagery in this video are done to intentionally stir one's emotions. It's easy to get carried away in the music and inspiring slideshows. However, it suppresses critical thought and reflection.
The sober news is that these self-help oriented talking points cloaked in God-speak do not need any christian-deity based beliefs to be true and effective in one's life. If it helps to see self-perseverance over life's obstacles through the lens of a father God who is protecting, providing and giving you the victory, then do what works for you-again, it's about what gets you through the day....what serves your ability to cope with life and have some degree of peace and stability.
2. Excessive pandering. These kinds of sermons do wonders stirring up emotions in people. The comment section of this video has so many individuals overflowing with feel-good emotions. They say they were in a dark place and this video saved their lives. This is typical of the opiate that is the 'shot in the arm' for the feel-good junkies out there. It's manipulative to pander to people's emotions in an era of the greatest social and economic inequality since the gilded age. This rhetoric doesn't deal with real-world issues people are facing, just escapism and a sense of narcissism that it's all about the individual being a child of the almighty God (a Christian)... and the perks that come with it that apparently no one else is going to get, I guess.
This is problematic for political action and dealing with collective injustice and inequality. This kind of thinking presented in this video NEUTRALIZES collective concern, collective politics, and activism-basically participating in the world around us to make it better. How can we do that when our only focus is overcoming our personal problems by 'leaning on God's promises?" And why does God's promises never about eviscerating injustice, racism, sexism, inequality, corruption, white supremacy, etc? (Too much to unpack here on that, but it's a valid question for the woman giving this sermon/speech).
3. A manufactured hero's journey. This sermon/speech does the same old, troupe of the underdog overcoming life's personal problems with faith in "god's word" and God's promises to us in the bible.
Some highlights:
When I face persecution, he heals me
When I face problems, he comforts me
When we face death, he carries us on through
He is everything! For everybody!
I often wondered why most mainstream christian sermons I hear are about overcoming, withstanding the storm, joy comes in the morning, etc. etc. If they're not talking about persevering, they're talking about God's special blessing for christians and how they're going to win and receive prosperity in health, wealth, and relationships.
This speaker in the video is right about one thing: God IS everything for everybody. For athiests God doesn't exist. For agnostics God is a higher power. For feminists, God is a mother, not a father. For a white supremacist, God ordaines slavery, racism, and the like. For child molesters, God is something else. Whoever you are, your orientation will morph God into whatever fits.
I wish christians who are like the woman in this video would listen to their own words and apply them. Instead of holding to the christian belief as the one truth, understand that the bible and your religion is only a reflection of who you already are. Mainstream christianity meshes one's identity with one's belief system, so in this case your identity is in Christ. This means a host of things, according to people like the woman preaching in this video. But I disagree with that concept. I personally tried to embrace my own 'identity' in Christ and 'God's plan' for my life to no real understanding or tangible outcome. This kind of belief turns both the christian God the father entity and the Jesus Christ the son entity into cult leaders who are perfect and demand our full allegiance, no matter the cost. If something goes bad in our lives, if a flood wipes out a school of children, if an earthquake levels a city, if anything bad happens, God is always good, just, and a protector. You don't question this God. This version of God, to be more accurate.
It concerns me that so many people need this kind of rhetoric that presents itself in this video to feel okay. As a mental health professional, I see many hurting people facing challenges that require digging deep, facing pain, acknowledging insecurities, and making hard decisions about their lives which are not based in religion. The inner work of personal development is not 'feel good'- something external that is going to carry you to the finish line. YOU are the one who is capable of doing that. Christian beliefs often hinder self-actualization, ingraining ideas such as, "It is not you but God working in you or through you".
I believe in a higher power. However, my orientation is not anything like the higher power the woman in this video speaks of with such authority. When all the clapping, crying, high-fiving, thumbs-upping, liking, sharing, a-mening, and such is over, all we have is us and who were really are at our core. No more drowning ourselves in a bottle of religion or spirituality to numb the discomfort of our existential crises and everyday life issues in order to make us feel better, to feel that sweet "dopamine hit". Dealing with self and reality is the only way to get free. Christian theology is right about having to go through the dark to get to the light.
This video speech was said to have "broken the internet".
Years ago, I would have hit the thumbs up button, shared it, and cried listening to it. Probably got chills listening to it. Now... it makes me cringe.
This isn't to mock anyone reading this if you found inspiration in this speech. Whatever it is that helps you get through the day.... if you like it, I love it.
Life is hard. I accept that people need to choose from their coping mechanism of choice to make it through and live the best quality of life we can.
With that said, I have a few issues with this sermon, I mean speech:
1. It's annoying that the mainstream, "trendy" christian sector uses self-help inspirational talking points to pander to millions of hurting people. These same christians will poo-poo you for using "secular" ideology but have no issue throwing the same 'humanistic' concepts into a blender with bible verses, God and Jesus and serving up a cocktail of popular culture "feel good" blather. There ARE legitimate concepts about self worth and self improvement that get NEUTRALIZED in the mix of christian talking points and the rising crescendo of emotions they purposely stir up in people. The music and imagery in this video are done to intentionally stir one's emotions. It's easy to get carried away in the music and inspiring slideshows. However, it suppresses critical thought and reflection.
The sober news is that these self-help oriented talking points cloaked in God-speak do not need any christian-deity based beliefs to be true and effective in one's life. If it helps to see self-perseverance over life's obstacles through the lens of a father God who is protecting, providing and giving you the victory, then do what works for you-again, it's about what gets you through the day....what serves your ability to cope with life and have some degree of peace and stability.
2. Excessive pandering. These kinds of sermons do wonders stirring up emotions in people. The comment section of this video has so many individuals overflowing with feel-good emotions. They say they were in a dark place and this video saved their lives. This is typical of the opiate that is the 'shot in the arm' for the feel-good junkies out there. It's manipulative to pander to people's emotions in an era of the greatest social and economic inequality since the gilded age. This rhetoric doesn't deal with real-world issues people are facing, just escapism and a sense of narcissism that it's all about the individual being a child of the almighty God (a Christian)... and the perks that come with it that apparently no one else is going to get, I guess.
This is problematic for political action and dealing with collective injustice and inequality. This kind of thinking presented in this video NEUTRALIZES collective concern, collective politics, and activism-basically participating in the world around us to make it better. How can we do that when our only focus is overcoming our personal problems by 'leaning on God's promises?" And why does God's promises never about eviscerating injustice, racism, sexism, inequality, corruption, white supremacy, etc? (Too much to unpack here on that, but it's a valid question for the woman giving this sermon/speech).
3. A manufactured hero's journey. This sermon/speech does the same old, troupe of the underdog overcoming life's personal problems with faith in "god's word" and God's promises to us in the bible.
Some highlights:
When I face persecution, he heals me
When I face problems, he comforts me
When we face death, he carries us on through
He is everything! For everybody!
I often wondered why most mainstream christian sermons I hear are about overcoming, withstanding the storm, joy comes in the morning, etc. etc. If they're not talking about persevering, they're talking about God's special blessing for christians and how they're going to win and receive prosperity in health, wealth, and relationships.
This speaker in the video is right about one thing: God IS everything for everybody. For athiests God doesn't exist. For agnostics God is a higher power. For feminists, God is a mother, not a father. For a white supremacist, God ordaines slavery, racism, and the like. For child molesters, God is something else. Whoever you are, your orientation will morph God into whatever fits.
I wish christians who are like the woman in this video would listen to their own words and apply them. Instead of holding to the christian belief as the one truth, understand that the bible and your religion is only a reflection of who you already are. Mainstream christianity meshes one's identity with one's belief system, so in this case your identity is in Christ. This means a host of things, according to people like the woman preaching in this video. But I disagree with that concept. I personally tried to embrace my own 'identity' in Christ and 'God's plan' for my life to no real understanding or tangible outcome. This kind of belief turns both the christian God the father entity and the Jesus Christ the son entity into cult leaders who are perfect and demand our full allegiance, no matter the cost. If something goes bad in our lives, if a flood wipes out a school of children, if an earthquake levels a city, if anything bad happens, God is always good, just, and a protector. You don't question this God. This version of God, to be more accurate.
It concerns me that so many people need this kind of rhetoric that presents itself in this video to feel okay. As a mental health professional, I see many hurting people facing challenges that require digging deep, facing pain, acknowledging insecurities, and making hard decisions about their lives which are not based in religion. The inner work of personal development is not 'feel good'- something external that is going to carry you to the finish line. YOU are the one who is capable of doing that. Christian beliefs often hinder self-actualization, ingraining ideas such as, "It is not you but God working in you or through you".
I believe in a higher power. However, my orientation is not anything like the higher power the woman in this video speaks of with such authority. When all the clapping, crying, high-fiving, thumbs-upping, liking, sharing, a-mening, and such is over, all we have is us and who were really are at our core. No more drowning ourselves in a bottle of religion or spirituality to numb the discomfort of our existential crises and everyday life issues in order to make us feel better, to feel that sweet "dopamine hit". Dealing with self and reality is the only way to get free. Christian theology is right about having to go through the dark to get to the light.
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