Finally it's happened, a major Christian publication, Christianity Today, has an article on it's Web Site, Dearth Of Jobs, Death to the Family, with much the same view of the economic crisis that I have of our present economic problems. That the end isn't near it's past.

A subtitle to the Christianity article is: "Where others have failed, the church must meet society's looming challenge." The author's article generates from a cover story in Atlantic Monthly that speculates we are in for a long downturn, and that our economy may never get better. For more background on the economy I invite you to visit gochurch's article links page and read some of the articles in our Economic section.

Briefly I believe that we Americans have abandoned the need culture of our parents  and migrated to a want culture. Instead of working to satisfy our basic life needs, we believe we now need to be entertained in everything we do. This led to a culture which, thanks to easy credit, people spend more than they made. And we pay more than we need to for what we buy because even things we need, like cars, computers, homes, ect, must look and act good enough to entertain us.

This living beyond our means has been possible because countries like China have been loaning us money. All this had led to a bubble economy, where some things like houses and stocks, rise in price because of demand and speculation, well beyond the amount of their actual worth. Economic collapses happen when people start believing they won't get their money back and begin selling, often flooding the market with what was scarce before. If too many people panic at one time the whole economy can collapse and cause a depression like the Great Depression of the 1930s.

At this writing there are probably something like 17 percent of the American population out of work. The situation would be worse if the American government hadn't been pumping free (artificially  low interest rates and targeted cash support for new home and car purchases), money into our system through economic stimulases. The free government money will end in the near future. Another concern is it now seems like that commercial real estate market is collapsing in the same manner as the country's housing market. While the housing bubble was blown by larger banks, many smaller local banks are the ones who will be hit with a commerical real estate downturn. And they are not big enough for the government to worry about. But they are probably more important to their local communities than the franchise branches of the giants.

Another concern is that soon or later our creditors, like China, may lose faith in our ability to repay those loans and demand much higher interest rates. And that, along with the ever expanding number of folks who depend on government social programs, will be an historic iceberg to our nation's Titanic economic engine.

And, of course, there is the looming threat of the growing percentage of Americans moving into retirement age. Most federal expenses for health care go to folks over 60 years old.

Understand that what our government, and both political parties, is doing right now is basically stalling for time.  Our leadership's unstated intention seems to be let the future handle this mess. Hopefully by some yet unthought of answer or technological leap advance. And if that doesn't happen at least it will be some other politician's problem.

To be fair we, the American people, probably would throw anyone out of office who would dared support the cutbacks in services that are already needed to balance our economy. That's why the end is already past.

We are still doing things pretty much the same way we've done them in the past, although nobody with understanding of our economic system believes it works anymore. The truth is it's not really the old system that's the problem it's us and our entertainment morality.

Here's the interesting thing, the Bible in both the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), and New Testament, speaks in many places directly to our present situation. We would think then, that churches and synagogues would be in a great position to offer help in these troubled times. Unfortunately our churches, and we who attend them, are just as caught up in the entertainment trap as everybody else.

So what to do?

How about repenting and returning to that good old time religion. Not the kind practiced by 1950s churches. They were just as caught up in our entertainment culture as we are. And just as guilty for the mess we is in. No I'm talking about the really, really, old time religion advocated by Jesus.

The issues facing Jesus during his earthly ministry were not all that different than we face today. The rich folks, Romans, merchants, temple priests, and local Jewish government were bilking the lower middle class to pay for expensive places for the rich to work and play in. As a result more people were losing their homes and livelihoods, joining the ever growing ranks of the poor.

Jesus responded in two ways, first by joining the Hebrew prophets in condemning the rich for their selfishness and warning of God's impending wrath, and second by helping the poor to see that the best things in life are free.

Jesus condemned the temple priests who demanded ties folks couldn't afford. Ties that had to be paid if one was to remain "clean" and in good standing with society. Because the Temple had been given the power to tax by the Roman government, people were losing property to pay for their debts. Jesus taught that God is more concerned with people loving and taking care of each other (mercy) and fancy building and big celebrations held in his name (sacrifices.)

"For I desire mercy more than sacrifice," Jesus said quoting directly from the Hebrew prophet Micah.

"Consider the lillies of the field, they netiher toil nor spin, I tell you, that Soloman in all his glory was not dressed as fine as one of these," Jesus says during the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus offers a long list of challenges in this section of the Gospel of Matthew. And he ends with a promise that too many preachers have misused to their own advantage because of the way the words read:

"But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteouness, and all these things will be given to you as well."

Or as I understand Jesus teaching in modern speak: "Love God, live to be right in relationships with all people, open your eyes to the glory of God's creation, and all the joy possible in this life will be given to the poorest person."

Now that's entertainment.

In order for us to move towards this kind of life our churches are going to have to get busy. People are now finding that living a culture based on consumerism and entertainment is not really all that much of a joy.

Like us they probably don't realize to what extent we have filled our spiritual hunger for God with the superifical entertainment that our technology makes possible. I really believe that the hearts of most of us are still touched by God. But we have blocked the Lord out of every place else.

For a turnaround, which is what repentance is anyway, we need to first realize our situation, and then try living more out of our Christian spirituality. The only way this can happen is through the support of a group. Sorry, but that almost certainly means getting to like church and religion again.

Churches can improve their status in society by actually being churches again. People gathered together where the rich and the poor bond to improve the lives of both. Places that offer small groups in everything from Bible study, to economic living, to how to save money by using coupons. Churches that understand their local mission field is not limited to the families in their church directory, but especially to the neighborhood around them, and their whole community.