Volume 28, No. 24                      
July 6, 2003                       

Truth Decay
 
  Toothpaste makers go to a lot of trouble to make sure you put your money where your mouth is.  But once you know what’s in those glistening gels and pastes, you might bristle at the notion of putting that stuff on your brush!
 
 The ingredient list begins tamely enough.  Water makes up 30-45 per cent of the product, which means we’re paying about $2 a pound for the same stuff that comes out of the tap!  Then comes chalk, which is essentially the remains of ancient sea creatures.  Since those tiny skeletons keep their sharpness even when buried for centuries, they’re one of the few natural materials tough, yet gentle enough, to clean tooth enamel, the hardest part of the human body.
 
  Toothpaste also contains titanium dioxide, the same material that goes into white paint to make it bright. On your teeth, it whitens the yellowing for a few hours until the chemical dissolves and you swallow it.  To keep the toothpaste from drying out, manufacturers whip in glycol glycerin, commonly used in antifreeze.

   Another essential element is a seaweed compound which oozes and stretches in all directions, holding the paste together.  The petroleum product paraffin is added to keep the mixture smooth.

   Though toothpaste would work just fine without foam and bubbles, consumers expect them, so detergent is added.  The soapy taste is masked by peppermint oil, menthol and the sugar substitute saccharin.  Lastly, toothpaste contains the same formaldehyde used to pickle lab specimens.  It kills the bacteria that gets into your toothpaste tube from your brush, but its germ-killing ability is very limited.  In fact, studies show that brushing your teeth with just water is almost as effective as using the fanciest dental hygiene products.

   Just as toothpaste is more soft-sell than substance, so is what our culture likes to call spirituality.  That’s the catch-all phrase widely applied to almost anything substituted for the traditional faith so many have forsaken.  >From new-age crystals to age-old angel worship, this spirituality that offers love, learning and enlightenment to all — all who have the money — is little more than marketing.

   Yes, there are some good reasons to reject much of organized religion which, for the most part, isn’t very organized at all.  Christian credibility has been shredded by sexual and financial abuse, religious extremism and hypocrisy posing in the robes of holiness.  But those very real failings are used by many as an excuse to spurn a faith they’d never follow anyway because it would interfere with what they want. Still, we each have a deep-seated need for purpose and direction, so many people turn to sugarcoated convictions that offer fulfillment without all that pesky responsibility and accountability that comes with being part of a church family.

   At first, each substitute appears appealing enough.  But take a close look and it’s a different story.  Like the ordinary water in toothpaste, common sense and Christian principles are simply repackaged by those who manufacture spirituality.  There’s usually enough grit to promise cleansing of some sort, but nothing strong enough to demand the spiritual scrubbing that would truly whiten the soul.  Instead, spirituality merely brightens whatever is dingy and decaying with a thin coating of platitudes and positive thinking that leaves no room for reflection on unpleasant personal realities.  An aura of mystery is always injected to keep the formula from getting dry.

   Best of all, spirituality is smooth, pliable and fluid enough to move in all directions.  It’s perfect for those who place tolerance above truth, and equality of all ideas above objective evidence.  But the cleansing action is just for show.  This spirituality can’t foam away the stains of pride and pain or battle back the bacteria of sin.  The only thing that can do that is the grace of Jesus and his call to selfless, sacrificial service that flows out of profoundly-felt gratitude.  “Don’t let anyone lead you astray with empty philosophy and high-sounding nonsense that comes from human thinking and the evil powers of this world,” Paul warns (Col. 2:8)  They lead only to a brush with futility and leave a big cavity in your heart

By Rick Gamble, published in Cross Current, the weekly newsletter of the Followers of Christ congregation in Brantford, Ontario, Canada.  Reprint at will in not-for-profit publications.  To subscribe, contact sgamble@bfree.on.ca