Divine concierge

And what a job he does. Joel Osteen's God really wants you to dress well, stand up straight, and get a convenient parking space

it is, rather, a just-in-time economy's vision of salvation, an eerily collapsible spiritual narcissism that downgrades the divine image into the job description for a lifestyle concierge

Mr. Lehmann hit the nail on the head their. Contrast the health and wealth gospel of Joel Osteen, et all, with the birth of our savior as George Weigel aptly puts it in The God With an Infant's Face.

Because we certainly would have done it differently, wouldn't we? If any of us were God, I doubt we'd have chosen to be born in less-than-optimal obstetrical circumstances in a ramshackle village on the far edge of the civilized world. Indeed, were any of us God, would we have chosen to go through the normal human drill of growing up, with its seemingly endless frustrations and alarums? Why not just arrive on the scene full-grown, at the height of our divine/human powers?

Now that I put those two different views of God side by side, it reminds me of the two diverging views of Christmas. One is about getting stuff, the other about giving of oneself.

Not hard to know which reflects the truth when we remember we are to imitate the life of Jesus. After all, Jesus was driving a brand new Lexus on his 40 day "journey" through the desert.

hat tip to Mark Shea for both of those links.