Being Real in a Contrarian and Acquisitive World

by Rev Dr Daniel Koh

This world which God has given us as a home has gone through a few “tsunamic upheavals” in recent years. I am not talking about the natural disasters, which have afflicted our region and brought about destructions to properties and deaths to thousands of people. The convulsions such as the 1997 Asian financial crisis, and the more recent worldwide economic melt-down, were implosions waiting to happen, due to frantic attempts by some unscrupulous CEOs and their finance officers at creative accounting. Before the world’s financial institutions were pulled down by some once-a-upon-a-time “darlings” of Wall Street, there were already hints of impending wider corporate disasters when one-time business giants like Enron, Arthur Anderson and Global Crossings, were brought to their knees because of market manipulations and high levels of corporate greed and scandals.

In some ways, the implosions were inevitable. Taking a detached view, we will be able to discover the fragility and uncover the pretenses of the popular and widely accepted value systems adopted by corporations and countries that are built around and dominated by certain deficient capitalistic economic assumptions. These assumptions are unsustainable.

We need to pay greater attention to the persistent and insidious infiltrations and seamless exchange of values, which are re-orientating our worldview and value system away from the one that is theologically informed and time-tested to the one that surrenders allegiance to mammon. We are often not aware of those subtle transactions taking place in our life and in our world, or have become so accustomed to their intoxicating power and the pleasures, that we end up being “apologetics” for the new social economic order and the resultant culture that worships the god of our time instead of worshipping the timeless God. Perhaps like Aladdin, the old lamp with its trusted provision has been exchanged for the shining new ones that promise so much but delivers nothing of lasting value. It makes one wonder whether we might have been seduced by the glittering promises, seductive power and indulgence pleasures that we are not bothered at all that we have been taken for a ride.

There is a subtle change which has taken place and is still taking place in a post- Enlightenment or a post-modern world, and which has permeated the way Christians view life and embrace the value system. What might that be? If you want to put a stop to the multi-layered sediments of promiscuous influences, how do we go about having recognisable decisive differences that mark us out as REAL Christians, who REALLY loved the Lord and treasures His kingdom’s values?
What does it mean to be a Christian in such a world of competing claims when we go about engaging in what is happening in the wider society, which we should help to foster? What are the virtues required to nurture such a society, the kind of church and the kind of Christians, which we should have? By posting some of these questions, I am assuming that you are interested in the issues raised and we are concerned about how to be the salt and light in this world without losing the brightness and salty quality required of all true disciples of Jesus Christ.

Dealing with gods of this age In his letter to the Christians in Corinth (2 Corinthians 4:4), Paul talks about the god of this age. This is the god that blinds people from seeing the light of the gospel of Christ. The god of this age has continued to do the same thing throughout history - to block the mind of people from the truth of the gospel of Christ. More than that, the god of our age has also diverted Christians to embrace its counterfeit values as if those values are our own. The gods of our age are not just deities - they are idols or ideologies, which draw our attention away from the true God, with their life-controlling lies and means being offered as focus for our attention. There will always be the gods of our age, calling and luring us to worship them. Our Lord Jesus Christ has reminded us that where our treasure is, there our heart will be also. To put it in another way, where you set your sight on, place your allegiance, and invest your treasures, there dwells your god. We may even just dismiss it and protest that it is not so. But really, if that is where you put all your treasures, that is where your true god is located.

In dealing with the gods of our age, we need to name them and point out some of the things that they advocate and propagate. Charles Colson in two of his books identified some of the gods he called lies that go unchallenged. Some of those gods can be found in Vinoth Ramachandra’s book “Subverting Global Myths”. In the context of Singapore, the gods of our age can be found in some of the dominant ideologies under-girding our society which we have come to accept as given and expected and therefore, we do not have to talk about them anymore. But they are ideologies, which have served Singapore well and maybe because they have served us well at least in securing our material comfort, we tend to accept these ideologies without asking hard probing questions about their claims on our lives and their idea of what might constitute societal well-being.

Let me just name two inter-related candidates affecting us, which if we do not take a critical approach to them can easily become our gods. For some people, they are the real gods even though they do not acknowledge that is the case.

1. Market Economy

First is the market economy. The present free market economic system adopted by Singapore has generated much material wealth for many Christians and Singaporeans. It has also increased the gap between the top earners and those in the lower rungs of our society. It is difficult to argue with or against the system, which has multiplied our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and contributed towards making Singapore one of the more successful Asian economic success stories. Of course, we have not always followed the kind of free market system as we have today. In fact in the early days of Singapore independence, the economic system was more a mixed economy with democratic-socialist depth. It was a system, which the government at that time had proudly announced to the world as socialism that works. However, as the free market economics model became the preferred economic system for many countries, it was assumed to be the messianic answer to the world’s economic ills, particularly after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) with their failed experiment with centralised economy. There is no pure and perfect free market economic system in the world even in the United States of America.

Singapore’s economic model is now closer to the Hayekian-Reagan-Thatcherite American-style free market than the kind of democratic-socialist mixed market economy of our early history as an independent state. Let the market decide. Leave it to the market force at work. These are some of the mantras we hear from people, who are sold to the free market approach of organising life and society. Von Hayek says that there is no such thing as social justice. Everything has a price, which is decided by the market and this is something that we happily accept, especially when we benefit most directly from them.

There are areas in life and services, which cannot be and should not be measured in economic terms. There are areas in public service and human lives, which cannot be decided merely by market force or paid for by money. That is the point that Michael Sanders of Harvard University has make. In an article he wrote for the Guardian newspaper, he puts his case across like this: “One of the most striking tendencies of our time is the expansion of markets and market-oriented reasoning into spheres of life traditionally governed by non-market norms. Consider the outsourcing of war to private contractors, rise of global markets for organ sales and commercial surrogate pregnancies, growing use of market incentives to motivate students and teachers, and the advent of “for-profit” reasons. These questions are not about utility or consent but are also about the right ways of valuing key social practices. We have to think through the moral limits of market. We need to recognise that there are some things that money cannot buy and other things that money can buy but should not.
According to Sanders’ assessment, “markets are not mere mechanism. They embodied certain norms; they presuppose and also promote certain ways of valuing the goods being exchanged. Economies often assumed that the markets are inert but they do not touch or taint the goods they regulate bit, is a mistake. Markets leave their marks. Often, market incentives erode or crowd out non-market incentives.”
Of particular importance to Christians is that we cannot allow market forces and market prices to measure human worth or undermine virtues required for societal flourishing. There is also such a thing as vocation, from the Latin word “vocare”, a call from God, and we respond to God’s call to serve Him and humanity, without being unduly distracted by a pay packet. Watch out with regard to the myth of the ideological god of market forces at work. They can be manipulated.

2. Consumerism
The second god of our age is consumerism. It was Rene Descartes who says: “I think therefore I am”. Singaporeans will find it difficult to fit into this view. I suspect that for many of us Singaporeans, we do not think and if we do, we do not think deep enough. In a place where we are spoilt for choice, the better way of describing Singaporeans and people from other affluent countries, maybe is to say: “ I consume therefore I am”. We have to be fair; we all need to consume to meet our basic human needs. What is at stake is not so much whether we consume to live but people who live to consume and in the process, brought themselves into the value system that had been described by a modern-day prophet Lesslie Newbigin. He describes that kind of life as cancer. Let me quote from his book “Foolishness to the Greeks”: “Modern capitalism has created a world totally different from anything known before. Previous ages have assumed that their resources are limited and economics, that is, housekeeping, is about how to distribute them fairly. Since Adam Smith, we have learned to assume that exponential growth is the basic law of economics and no limit can be set to it. The result is increased production, which has become an end to itself. Products are designed to become rapidly obsolete so as to make room for more production. A minority is ceaselessly urged to multiply its wants in order to keep the process going while the majority lacks the basic necessities for existence. The whole eco-system upon which human life depends, is threatened with destruction. Growth is for the sake of growth and is not determined by any over-arching social purpose, and that of course, is an exact account of a phenomena which when it occurs in the human body, is called cancer.”

Another American theologian Rodney Clapp explains the development of a consumerist society in this way: “It was only in the late 1990’s and then the 20th century with the matriculation of the consumer capitalism that the shift was making toward the cultivation of unfounded desires. We must appreciate this to realise that late modern consumption, consumption as we now know it, is not fundamentally about materialism or the consumption of physical goods or wants, as consumer-oriented capitalism has moved us well beyond the undeniable efficiencies and benefits of refrigeration and in-door plumbing. Instead in the fun-house world of ever-perforating wants and exquisitely unsatisfied desires, consumption entails most profoundly the cultivation of pleasures, the pursuit of novelty and the chasing after of illusionary experiences associated with material goods”.
In the face of the ever encroaching pleasure for us to buy and buy, with reminders from ABBA’s “Money, Money, Money” or Sam Hui’s “No Money No Talk” or Jack Neo’s “Money No Enough”, it is difficult not to succumb to and be consumed by such kind of consumeristic life and yet, we do not know such is happening. We have come to define our human worth, find our esteem and measure our success by the size we buy and by our ability to consume. Usually, it is not just being able to consume more than others but the items are marked more expensive than what others can afford to purchase. So we want to outspend others in this way.

Back to Lesley, in his separate book asked us Christians: “The whole attempt to advance the kind of consumer society that depends on its growth on ceaseless stimulation of unlimited covetousness amongst the rich while the poor majority rots in their poverty. This is something surely against which the Christians should be non-conformist.” Isn’t it supposed to be the Singapore dream to have the 5Cs and isn’t this pre-occupation a reflection of how our lives have been caught up in a consumeristic pursuits of material success.

It is difficult to say that we have not endorsed such kind of consumeristic pursuits when we see the kind of cars that Christians drive to the churches every Sunday and also the regular change of cars. I am generalising this, of course, as there are poor people in the church. Or look at the gadgets at our disposal and how often we dispose our gadgets. What Jimmy Carter said of Americans in a speech to the nation in 1979 rang true: “In a nation that was proud of hard work, strong families, close-knit communities and our faith in God, too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption. Human identity is no longer defined by what one does but by what one owns”.
How then are we to deal with the gods of our age? Obviously, it is to cultivate our Christian minds. For a start, there is a need to be able to discern what my former teacher said of our cultural roots versus cultural gods. There are many things in our rich cultural roots which are good and we should not be afraid to keep them, talk about them and use them for the expression of our faith to praise God and so on. Surely, for example, there is something beautiful about “San Ke” (Chinese music), which we can enjoy without looking further south only for the music of Hillsongs. I prefer “San Ke ” than Hillsongs but we tend to be attracted by the other way.

It is well documented that Christians in Singapore are mainly highly educated people. According to the population census, many Christians have gone through universities. But what I found rather disconcerting is that while many of our churchgoers tend to be well educated, they also tend to leave their thinking caps in an obscure corner when it comes to their living the Christian faith. Many Christians, who would have been trained to think in their disciplines or professions whilst in the universities but unfortunately, when it comes to their Christian faith, it would appear to me many of our members are contended to bury their minds somewhere. There is a troubling absence of Christians, who develop their minds for the service of God. If there are such kinds of Christians, they tend to use their minds selectively, perhaps to defend their own narrow interests and also their favourite dogmas or doctrines.
It is true that we should not place too much emphasis on reasons in a post-Enlightenment world. If you have been reading philosophy, political philosophy and philosophical theology in recent years, you would have come across a lot of criticism against the Enlightenment project, which carries the flag of reason. Reason became the god of people, who worship the Enlightenment. So it is true we should not place too much emphasis on reason in a suspicious post-Enlightenment world as my own teacher William Abraham has warned. But I told him when he warned me about not emphasising too much on reason and the use of the mind, that putting too much focus on reason is not a problem in the Singapore context because in the Singapore context, the reverse is true.

If anything in our churches, people tend to be suspicious of using the mind. There is a fear of using our mind even if we say that reason, which comes out of our mind, should not be confused with the agenda of the Enlightenment, which spells reason with a capital “R”. We take a more approach of reason with a small “r”. Maybe, part of the explanation for such a kind of suspicion with regard to using the mind is that the mind has some kind of historical baggage that we carry.
The claim of using reasons or mind in the Singapore context seems to have been associated with liberal theologians and missionaries of yesteryears. When I was growing up as a young Christian, I was warned by good Christians against people, who are associated especially with the mainline churches – the liberals and theologians. Do not go to Trinity Theological College when I was contemplating doing my theological studies. These are all good Bible-believing evangelicals, who should have nothing to do with such kind of people and institutions, where there are old-time liberal theologians and missionaries. But time has changed, time has not stood still. Some of the leaders of the Graduates’ Christian Fellowship and Fellowship of Evangelical Students were principals and staff of Trinity Theological College too. It is not enough to short-circuit arguments by disengaging ourselves from the challenges that we find in the world that we live in or demonising or labelling others.

3. Utilitarian Pragmatic Approach
The other reason why we tend to be lazy when using our mind is perhaps, we might have been sold to the utilitarian pragmatic approach to life, which could be one of our gods too. If I have to name a third god besides market force and consumerism, it is this utilitarian pragmatic approach to life in solving problems. There is nothing wrong with being practical but if that becomes the only way that we approach things in life than something is very wrong. Instead of thinking through issues with care and asking questions and bringing theology to bear on the complex issues of our time, Singaporeans seems happy to be practical and are proud of being expedient. Do not bother me with thinking, just give me the answer. We want instant answers to questions and slick formula for a quick way to wealth and success. You notice how people are attracted to the promise of health and wealth in some of the churches in Singapore.

Conclusion
To be able to identify, divide and take on the challenges and refute the claims of the gods of our time, we need to take deliberate steps in encouraging the development of Christian minds, which are biblically informed and theologically enriched. We need to have more people who are able to do that. If we look around our churches, we have a lot of bright people who love and fear the Lord, who should be encouraged to do that. In recent years, we have seen some interest among a small group of Christians in addressing the problems and issues relating to the affairs and welfare of the wider society. We still have much to do to get more Christians involved in propagating their minds, asking probing questions and exposing the pretenses of the gods of our age besides engaging the challenges of our time.
Of course, we can still choose to play down on the importance of propagation of the Christian mind in the service of God by being contented. While accepting the rules of the market forces and the pleasures provided by a consumeristic world, we could also happily sit down and exchange the teaching of the Christian faith with the doctrines of an acquisitive society. The choice is ours.

(This talk was given at the Graduates’ Christian Fellowship Intersect Conference 2010 “Real World, Real Christian” on 19 March 2010 at the Singapore Bible College)