{"id":31185,"date":"2023-02-19T16:18:31","date_gmt":"2023-02-20T00:18:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=31185"},"modified":"2023-02-19T16:18:31","modified_gmt":"2023-02-20T00:18:31","slug":"its-all-about-making-the-bed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/its-all-about-making-the-bed\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s All About Making the Bed"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt\u2019s all about making the bed!\u201d That was my brilliant deduction. It was 2:00am in the morning. I was a college student studying for my midterm on the Protestant Reformation. In my exhausted stupor, I decided that this was the reason for the Protestant Reformation. The Catholic Church was all about making the bed. What I meant was there was no lasting assurance of salvation. Every time you sinned, you had to confess and ask for forgiveness again and reaffirm your faith. Just like making the bed. You make it every morning, but then it gets messed up again when you go to bed at night. It never just stays made. Again, it was two in the morning. Not my most brilliant deduction. I think it has stayed with me because I really hate making my bed.<\/p>\n

This analogy was my first thought when faced with reading Max Weber this week. Probably because that class was the first time I was exposed to Weber. I find German writers difficult on my best days. I am still not completely over my cough, and I have found a knack this week for banging my head on cabinets. The ensuing migraine has made it difficult to make any sense out of Weber.<\/p>\n

While the Protestant Reformation provided for the internal assurance of salvation to converts, some would argue that the reaction was to seek an external validation. This started with the idea of \u2018calling\u2019 which Martin Luther introduced. In his dissertation, Evangelicalism and Capitalism: A Reparative Account and Diagnosis of Pathogeneses in the Relationship<\/em>, Dr. Jason Clark writes, \u201cLuther, in effect, brought ordinary life and worldly affairs within the realm of moral duty, such that the life of ordinary people had to excel the morality of monastic ascension.\u201d[1]<\/a> Weber further argued that what was known as the Protestant Work Ethic contributed to the rise in capitalism. Clark states, \u201cThere is an inner-worldly asceticism to capitalism, the orientation and disciple of life around the material pursuit of wealth\u2026 It is in religion that Weber discerns the stimulus and impetus to overcome these forces.\u201d[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

From the perspective of my admittedly ridiculous analogy, I view the Protestant Work Ethic and views which flowed out of it like this. Everyone has a bed, but the type of bed you have may be an outward sign of God\u2019s favor. What does your bed look like? What kind of sheets and what is their thread count? How many pillows do you have? What kind of blanket? Is the one who owns a high-end bed more assured of God\u2019s favor than the one who sleeps on an IKEA pullout?\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Does your bed look like this:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

or more like this:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

To think in such terms misses the point of grace. It is akin to the song by Genesis, Jesus He Knows Me<\/em><\/a> [3] <\/a>If you have not heard the song (or have not listened to it in a while), click on the link and listen to it. The song is a parody of the televangelists of the 1980s. It highlights the emptiness of seeking materialistic rewards over seeking God. Capitalism is similar. If we are seeking material wealth just for the sake of material wealth or for some assurance of favor with God, all we will find is emptiness. I have lived in both financial struggle and financial surplus. Neither brings me any closer to God or gives me any more assurance of my salvation. I am saved by grace alone. I love how Paul states it:<\/p>\n

I know what it is to live with humble means, and I know what it is to live in prosperity. In any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of contentment\u2014both to be filled and to go hungry, to have abundance and to suffer need.\u00a0I can do all things through Messiah who strengthens me. (Phil. 4:12-13 TLV)<\/p>\n

I still hate making my bed and honestly rarely do it, but that does not change my relationship with my Savior.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Jason Clark, \u201cEvangelicalism and Capitalism: A Reparative Account and Diagnosis of Pathogeneses in the Relationship\u201d (2018). Faculty Publications \u2013 Portland Seminary, 80.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Ibid., 79.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Genesis, \u201cJesus He Knows Me,\u201d music video, https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=70cPSEPH28I<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt\u2019s all about making the bed!\u201d That was my brilliant deduction. It was 2:00am in the morning. I was a college student studying for my midterm on the Protestant Reformation. In my exhausted stupor, I decided that this was the reason for the Protestant Reformation. The Catholic Church was all about making the bed. What […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":155,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2625],"class_list":["post-31185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dlgp01-weber-clark","cohort-dlgp01"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/155"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31185"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31185\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31188,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31185\/revisions\/31188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}