One of the most beautiful parts of the Christian experience comes out of the fact that God wants to have a relationship with us. Through the act of salvation we enter into this relationship and learn that in him “all fullness dwell.” Like all relationships it grows and deepens with time. Yet, as we continue to live in a world where “time is money”, and therefore a commodity to be spent, efficiency has become the name of the game, especially in our relationships. As the world progresses, we find ourselves in a movement that has been described by French sociologist, Jean Baudrillard, as a shift from reality to hyperreality. In this shift the traditional factors that help build a relationship, time and distance, change. In this paper we will examine some of the ways the hyperreal has changed our experience and relationship to God, by looking at ways in which we can move from a full relationship to a hollow relationship, based upon simulated models, and limits within our own cultural environment.
To begin, let us briefly look at the current cultural shift that we find ourselves in. I believe there is no denying that the past thirty years have seen a rapid development in technology, and that this led to a complete restructuring of our society. Marshall McLuhan in his classic work, Understanding Media, put it best when he said that “we shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us.” Thus new technology not only shapes how we work but also how we relate to each other and the world. In the early eighties, Jean Baudrillard began looking at this phenomena, and noticed that not only was our change in technology reshaping our society, but also that this growth, was also leading to a change in the way we perceive reality, to a “blurring of distinctions.” Baudrillard charted this change as a shift from reality to hyperreality.
“The hyperreal for Baudrillard is a condition whereby models replace the real,
as exemplified in such phenomena as the ideal home in women’s or lifestyle
magazines, ideal sex as portrayed in sex manuals or relationship books, ideal
fashion as exemplified in ads or fashion shows, ideal computer skills as set forth
in computer manuals, and so on. In these cases, the model becomes a determinant
of the real, and the boundary between hyperreality and everyday life is erased.”
Thus reality in this sense can be associated with the fullness and presence of a being, while the hyperreal is associated with the hollowness and absence of a model. The hyperreal becomes in essence a simulated environment, and while it is divorced from reality we interact with it in the same way that we might interact with reality. However, while it seems as if our interaction within the hyperreal is the same, in reality it is rather different and not only changes the way we relate to each other but also some of the experiences within our relationships. The deception of the hyperreal lies in thinking that our relationships are based upon reality rather than that of a simulation.
One of the most common new forms of religious experience of our day is seen in what has become known as Prosperity Theology. Preached by televangelists across the nation, prosperity theology has swept America by force, preaching a method of procedure whereby one can measure their blessing by God based upon economic terms. The difference between those who are blessed and those who are not, reduces itself to the common “have and have nots”. In prosperity theology one can tell who has been blessed by God, for it not only shows in their hearts and faces, but also on their mortgages, bank accounts, kid’s college funds, and IRA’s. The have nots, on the other hand, find themselves struggling to live a life of mediocre existence, without the joy of security that the haves have. The path out of mediocre existence, is relatively simple, and can be summed up into one word: Believe. The phrase that best sums up the purpose of this belief, “Your Best Life Now,” also happens to be the book title of one of the leading preachers of prosperity theology.
Like Baudrillard’s hyperreal, prosperity theology finds itself based upon a deception in which what we perceive to be as real is actually simulated. In prosperity theology, this is happens to be the way we view God, who blesses us not according to his own will and love, but rather in direct response to our petty pleas. The God of prosperity theology is based upon a model, and like Santa Claus, a strong belief coupled with good behavior will lead to merry blessings. However, this model inherently places limits on God, for he can only show his favor through blessings, thus those who are out of favor find themselves marginalized. In this model, God’s love is limited in its application, and inherently we place restraints not only him but also upon ourselves and the way we are to receive his blessings. In looking at this even closer we come to realization that even the blessings that we expect are directly related to other ideals we have within the hyperreal, such as the ideal home or the ideal car. Under this type of simulated environment, in which we have not only placed limits upon God but upon ourselves, how can we expect to have a genuine Christian experience? The core of God’s blessings in this theology seems more shallow than full of the rich blessings of his wonder.
There are many ways in which this theology sets us up for a hollow experience with God, but the first and most important lies in the way it treats our relationship to God. To use an example, imagine what would happen if instead of loving my Dad based upon his relation and love for me, I began to measure our relationship in regards to America’s favorite TV Dad: Bill Cosby. While our relationship might last for a period of time, it would not take long for it to fail because first and foremost my dad is not Bill Cosby, and nor should he be. What is great about me and my Dad’s relationship comes not out of the way he treats me like Theo, but out of the way he treats me like me. To base our relationship upon the model of the Cosby’s would be to fake our relationship, and to mistake reality for the simulated reality of the Cosby’s. The great tragedy in this is that not only am I placing unrealistic restraints upon his love through this model, but also that I would never have the chance to actually know who my Dad is, and fully experience his love.
Prosperity theology acts in the same way; it begins when we want our relationship to God to be like the God we see on TV. Thankfully God, unlike many products, is not “As Seen On TV.” To view him as such may be one of the most tragic deceptions of our day. As the theologian Miroslav Volf points out, “There is God. And there are images of God.” Deception lies when we subvert the reality of God, and substitute it for the simulated model of God we find on TV; an image of God, but not God. On TV, God is a God who shows his love like Santa Claus, dropping material blessings for the good from heaven, but only to those who believe. Thus we begin to focus on the gifts that he brings, and like Santa Claus, we only care to have him around when we are most in need of gifts. However, as Kierkegaard points out, “The inward person looks not upon the gifts but upon the Giver. He knows that God not only gives gifts, but gives himself with the gifts. And that alone is what is important.” Like my relationship with my Dad, the tragedy of this simulated version of God is that through it I may never actually get to experience the fullness of a true relationship, based not upon gifts, but upon the giver.
