We watched a sobering documentary called “Generation Wealth” last night. It is a follow up to a project done by a photographer where she had photographed some of the wealthy students in Los Angeles in the 80’s, then followed up with them to see what life looks like now. In addition, she follows a few stories of other people who chased after wealth, fame, power and everything that their earthly selves desired.
Literally, everything. There is nudity in this show. Some of it is from strippers who chase loose dollars from strange men so they don’t have to rely on any one man for their comfort. Others are from women who believe life would be better if they got plastic surgery. An adult actress is interviewed and she talks about the fame and fortune that she enjoyed once it became known what she would do.
Many of these people are parents. All of their children are screwed up and some of their children are dead from suicide while others were killed by an abortionist. There is no happiness, no rest, no satisfaction to any of these subjects. The happiest among them are those who rejected the idolatry of self and committed themselves to others. They are closer to the kingdom than they realize, but none of them overtly say that they came to faith in Jesus as their satisfaction.
Seriously. Read from the book of Ecclesiastes. Then modernize the text. That is this movie.
The narrator does mention at several points that this is all due to the capitalist system, though she does not acknowledge her biases based on her worldview. She assumes neutrality of herself and expects the viewer to agree with that assessment. She was raised by parents who were chasing the same dreams, but who lacked the financial means to truly realize these dreams. As a Christian, the problem is not capitalism, but idolatry.
It appears in this movie like the entire country, even the entire world as examples are shown all over the place, is about to collapse under the expectations of oligarchs and those who are chasing the same dream through the literal selling of their very souls. That is because this idolatry is all that they are looking for. But not us. Not those who understand the need for the #ParallelEconomy which is more than a marketplace. It is a #ParallelSociety through and through. And if it is to last, it must be built on the rock of God’s word.
That doesn’t require mandatory church attendance of the population. It does require that all laws, all societal expectations, all currency, be compared to what our creator has expressed to us as good, true and beautiful, rather than the strategies of the thief in John 10:10 who comes only to kill, steal and destroy.
This is worth watching, but not with children around and not without engaging a proper Christian worldview. There is an answer, and his name is Jesus.
