Genetically Modified Gospel

Today riding back home from Atlanta we passed a church with a catchy "you are a winner" slogan, which my husband read out loud. I can't remember what the slogan was exactly but I remember exactly how hearing the slogan read made me feel -  irritated. And a phrase came to me about the slogan - "genetically modified gospel". And as I frequently do, I began to think about writing something about that phrase/title that had come to me. You see, we were coming home from a business trip and a visit with a family member and as family members do, we laughed a lot and discussed all manor of topics - but life is not all laughs and many times life is very hard. We had also shared some struggles. I guess I had been internalizing this part of our conversation and then the church marketing on the sign entered the picture...when we returned home I went to the internet to look up articles and information on genetically modified food so I could write this with a little bit of knowledge of the process to genetically modify something. I can't say that I really understand all that goes into the process where our food has been altered but I did discover a few things, so here goes.

Genetically modified foods have been genetically engineered by the direct manipulation of it's genome using biotechnology to increase crop yields. Genome is the entirety of an organism's heredity information. Heredity information. Sounds to me that means as it was and is, naturally. Increasing crop yields is a good thing, right? I mean after all, what's wrong with increasing a farmer's yield and increasing the plant's resistance to pests? Sounds good. We should be grateful and happy regarding man's efforts to make something "better" and "more". Yet I can't help wondering (and do believe that) the food we eat is making us sicker and sicker and fatter and fatter, and so "more" is not "better", in my opinion, in regards to what has been done and is still being done to our food supply. But on to the modified gospel...

Why would it be that there is so much suffering in the world if God really meant following Jesus was to bring health, wealth and prosperity in all forms? If these wonderful promises don't happen to you, does that mean you are in the group that gets picked last for kickball? The news regarding Syria - one million Syrian children are refugees, over 3,000 people in Syria recently victims of what looks like their own government using chemical weapons on them, Christians in Sudan being airlifted out to save their lives, children in Haiti dying of hunger...

To swallow the tainted gospel message of personal achievement and self satisfaction can only be believed in while an individual would be willingly living in a culture of have and have nots, and participating in. How else could you possibly believe that is what the gospel is all about?  Happy, happy, happy? Maybe the have nots are just simply out of luck because they can't read, or they don't have access to the internet to hear that they should be healthy, wealthy and prosperous? Maybe they will never be picked for kick ball?

I know this is a bit of a rant but I had to. In closing I have included a video that sums up what I'm feeling right now - link is below. I hope that what started with irritation earlier today for me will be motivation to: For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. I needed clothes and you clothed me. I was sick and you looked after me. I was in prison and you came to visit me. Matthew 25: 35-36

www.youtube.com/watch?autoplay=1&v=PTc_FoELt8s&desktop_uri=%252Fwatch%253Fv%253DPTc_FoELt8s%2526autoplay%253D1&nomobile=1