I didn’t have many highlighted sentences in this section, perhaps, because it formed the core of his presentation that I heard last week that I felt was totally enlightening and full of common sense.

The section kicks off with McLaren’s search for the really big global issues that he synthesizes, and tries to reduce to their causal core problems.

In the next chapter, he launches into the core explanation, dubbed, the suicidal machine. It is so named for obvious reasons; our present course as humanity is unsustainable. We will use up the earth’s resources, badly damage our environment, kill each other off, and essentially destroy earth and humanity on our present course.

The suicidal machine is illustrated in the book as three interlocking gears or cogs. The first is the prosperity system designed to fulfill our desire for happiness. It’s goal is just to help us survive, but to thrive. Problem: It is very uneven worldwide and people get jealous when then feel deprived. So, a security system has to be developed.

Something that McLaren said at the lecture that stuck with me more than anything was about the way people respond to this inequity and inequity refers not just to wealth, but heath care and quality of life issues. He mentioned how it hits home when being born in North America, essentially gives children a certificate for thirty more years of life than being born in central Africa. He spoke of a mother holding a dying baby who is dying because of the lack of availability of an inexpensive drug.

The responses to the inequity in the prosperity system are a progression: 1) Petty crime 2) Organized crime (an alternate system) 3) Immigration 4)War 5) Terrorism (which is an alternative for those who can not match the raw military might of an enemy, but through ruthlessness and determination can bankrupt an enemy that is sending too much for its security system) It’s crystal clear to me!

The equity system is a way to spread the huge costs of the security system and to support the expansion of the prosperity system. Many things are included in the equity system: obviously, the military, but also public services like transportation, the rule of law, law enforcement, the courts, taxes, and welfare programs.

The next chapter raises the environmental concerns resulting from the suicidal machine.

Now, in the middle of the three cogs (prosperity, security, and equity) is the cog that make the other cogs turn that McLaren calls a framing story. He broaches what he calls an addiction to narratives:

• Violent narratives that keep old memories of past offenses alive (warrior and revolution narratives and domination or imperial narratives)
• Withdrawal or isolation narratives that work on a fear-protection cycle
• Theocapitalist narratives that mythologize markets and their products with a divine power to bring happiness.

Now you can see that things are going to get uncomfortable for some readers. The section closes by suggesting that Jesus is the central cog in the societal machine and he alone can keep it from becoming a suicidal machine. He closes with these words.

For Jesus to save the system, we must, first, in a sense, save Jesus—by reframing him outside the confines of the confines of our dominant and largely unquestioned assumptions. (p.73)

What about it?
These questions seem rather basic, but they are so important.

• Does the societal/suicidal machine make sense to you?
• Do you agree with his explanation of the range of responses to the inequity of the prosperity machine?
• How has the message of Jesus been corrupted by the societal/suicidal machine?