Selling Your Soul on Ebay

Now, Religion in the News, a report and comment on religious trends and events being covered by the media.This week’s item is from The Wall Street Journal, March 9, 2006, with a headline:On e-bay, an atheist puts his own soul on the auction block.The following are excerpts: A few weeks ago Haymont Netta posted an unusual item for sale on Ebay, a chance to save his soul. The DePaul university graduate student promised the winner that for each ten dollars of the final bid he would attend an hour of church services.The 23-year old Mr. Matta is an atheist, but he says he suspected he had been missing out on something.Evangelists bid, eager to save a sinner.Atheists bid, hoping to keep Mr. Matta in their fold.When the auction stopped on February 3, after 41 bids, the buyer was Jim Henderson, a former Vineyard pastor from Seattle, whose $504 bid prevailed.Mr. Henderson wasn’t looking for a convert, he wanted Mr. Matta to embark with him on an eccentric experiment in spiritual bridge-building.Mr. Henderson is part of a small but growing branch of the evangelical world that disagrees with the majorities’ conservative political agenda and wants the religion to be more inclusive and help the disadvantaged.Instead of the 50 hours of church attendance that he was entitled to for his $504, Mr. Henderson asked that Mr. Matta attend 10 to 15 services of Mr. Henderson’s choosing, and then write about it.I’m not trying to convert you, Mr. Henderson said as they met, you’re going there almost like a critic.If you happen to get converted, that’s off the clock.For Mr. Matta’s first service the two attended noon mass at old St. Patrick’s, a Catholic church near Mr. Matta’s apartment.Mr. Matta gave the priest a score of 3.More stories in the sermon, Mr. Matta suggested, and less liturgy.He criticized a Protestant preacher for repeatedly referring to a Bible verse without explaining why the passage was relevant to his congregation.Mr. Matta was born in Chicago and raised in Janism, an ancient Indian faith whose followers vow to harm no living thing, not even microbes in the air.He praises famous atheists, but also reads parts of the Bible, loves watching televangelists like Benny Hinn and Joel Osteen, and admires their appeal to congregations.If I could be an atheistic pastor, he says, O, god would that be great.With about half of his obligation to Mr. Henderson fulfilled, Mr. Matta says he’s no closer to believing in God, although he does admire churches for the communities they create.Church, he has decided, is not such a bad place to be.

Tom:

Dave, this is $504 on e-bay, but it doesn’t compare to the $24,000 that was bid on a half-eaten grilled cheese sandwich that looked like the image of Mary, which I think it was a casino paid for.But this is kind of whacko, don’t you think?I can see the interest of this guy to raise some money for his atheist organization, but this is a former pastor, supposedly an evangelical, a pastor of a Vineyard church, who now thinks most of that was wrong, and conservative Christianity is not the way to go, and he’s going to use this guy to prove his point.

Dave:

Tom, it’s just utterly ridiculous!I don’t know where you come up with these things but I guess you’ve cruised the internet and there they are.

Tom:

Dave, I don’t even have to cruise, these things come to me and this is a sign of the times, this is all over the place---sadly.

Dave:

Yeah, well, an atheist, and you’re going to convert him by-----

Tom:

A former Janist, okay, who likes Benny Hinn.

Dave:

I think he still is.You’re going to convert him by having him sit in church services---well, he’s going to sit and watch Benny Hinn pretend to heal people.

Tom:

No, I think he does that on his own, he likes Benny Hinn and Joel Osteen.

Dave:

And listen to Joel Osteen say, Well, I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know.

Tom:

He’s very positive.

Dave:

Yeah, he is very positive--- about what he doesn’t know, about, Well, we gotta be happy, and so forth.I don’t want to criticize him but I don’t hear the gospel.I don’t hear people told that they are sinners and are on their way to hell if they reject Christ.You know, Jesus himself said in John:3:36He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
See All..., “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life:and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life:but the wrath of God abideth onhim.”We need a little fear of God restored, but I don’t think this atheist is going to get it in this manner.

Tom:

Well, the other thing is, Dave, again, this man, as a Janist who, talk about strict religion, they can’t boil water can they if they are---

Dave:

They do, but they’re killing microbes.

Tom:

They’re killing microbes, so you go from that kind of a legalism and now he is trying to find something he is more comfortable with and he thinks atheism is the way to go, but he’s pleased with what he says.Church, he has decided, it’s not such a bad place to be.However, church that teaches conviction of sin, as you mentioned, that demonstrates through the word of God that there is no salvation outside of Jesus because He is the only one that could pay the infinite penalty for our sins.

Dave:

He’s not going to those kinds of churches probably, but Tom, let me just be blunt about it.The man is denying what his own conscience tells him.All the evidence in the universe, all the evidence in his own body in the cell, and he knows that God exists, it didn’t happen by chance and his conscience tells him that he has violated God’s laws and that he is under judgment, and Tom, he had better wake up.I don’t know what of a game he is playing.Maybe he thought he would make more money than that.I mean, $10 an hour is not a bad job.

Tom:

He’s a math major here, Dave.

Dave:

For sitting there and watching, you know, a preacher and listening to the music, and so forth, not a bad job he got, he hired himself actually.

Tom:

Dave, what about this Jim Henderson, really it seems that he has turned his back on God, he has turned his back on, if he ever knew the truth.He was a preacher, according to the article, for 25 years, now he finds conservative Christianity to be too harsh, too restrictive.Did he get that out of the Vineyard?

Dave:

Well, Tom, I won’t be too critical of him, just from what it says here, I didn’t read the whole article.He thinks that we ought to help the disadvantaged, and he’s talking about conservative political agenda.Well, Christianity shouldn’t be involved in politics at all, but to be inclusive sounds pretty ecumenical.In other words, really, truth doesn’t matter anymore, we’re just going to be nice guys and friends with everyone. We’re going to help everyone build a new world.

Tom:

Dave, I’m not going to cut this guy any slack.He says, I’m not trying to convert you, okay, you’re going there almost like a critic.If you happen to get converted that’s off the clock.What is this?

Dave:

Well, apparently he doesn’t feel concern for the soul of this man.He must not believe that people are lost and on their way to hell.Otherwise, he would want this man to be converted, and the very fact that he says that is not going to help this guy.