Friday, September 15, 2006
Bling Bling!... From the King?
"The idea that God wants everybody to be wealthy? he snorts. "there is a word for that: baloney. It's creating a false idol. You don't measure your self-worth by your net worth. I can show you millions of faithful followers of Christ who live in poverty. Why isn't everyone in the church a millionaire?"
-Rick Warren
"For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?"
- Jesus
"But for a growing number of Christians like George Adams, the question is better restated, "Why not gain the whole world, PLUS my soul?"
- Time Article
So this is the cover of this week's Time Magazine and so obviously it sparked my interest and i went out and bought a copy. After reading the article i am left with thoughts that go in every direction... They don't necessarily all fall in the same camp or go together...
Rich: of great value or worth; valuable...
The article showed two sides of the argument of whether God wants believer's to be rich... One side you have well known and respected guys like Rick Warren and Ron Sider...The other side shows other well known and popular people like Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyer, and Creflo Dollar... Does God want us to be rich is the question at hand... My thoughts after reading this article have me frustrated, hopeful and sad... Sad because issues like this can kind of portray Christians who are "fighting" to the rest of the world... In Corinthians Paul talks about believer's settling disputes among themselves and not going to the world...I hear that loud and clear, but is this a dispute that will only be settled before the world and to possibly HELP people see the True Gospel? Is this a fight worth fighting for the Lord???... Im not going to answer those questions, i'll just let you think about that...
... I was frustrated by this article because i find the "Prosperity" side way too "individualistic". Christianity is never meant to be a "Me first" faith, but focusing on getting rich and prosperous can only lead a person that way, even if they try to deny it... Christianity isn't about us, it's about Jesus and loving others...I used to fight ALOT about how much i disagree with "Prosperity Gospel".. one look at the third world poverty in which believers live in puts a serious end to the argument, if we choose not to be ignorant... But as someone has said and this is also true of me, this type of fighting about this doctrine with others only ended in using the Bible as a weapon to prove my points and caused further division... My final comments here is that if we really look at what Jesus had to say about money, we would most likely become very uncomfortable... and we'd live to give... "Prosperity" is very popular here in North america because we live in a prosperous place and this Gospel can make us feel good as we get rich and neglect some of Jesus' teachings about the poor etc... This gospel can even be very attractive to people in need... "Read what you believe or believe what you read?" Each time we read the bible we must ask ourselves whether we are reading the truth afresh, or putting our beliefs that may have been taught to us by our culture into the reading of the text... The Bible surpasses all culture and is Final Truth and we must not read our own agendas and wants into it's message, Lord help me to never do that...
... And finally i was left feeling a little hopeful, because i came to an answer to the question "Does God want you to be rich?" and that answer i believe is yes (with a little bit of no lol)... I truly believe God wants us to be rich in love, rich in giving, rich in sacrifice, rich in relationships, rich in outreach, rich in that unselfish giving love that Jesus came and gave to all of us... I think Jesus is less concerned about our pocket books , than He is about lost souls who may face eternal consequences... I believe the material world should be enjoyed to an extent, but is never our reason for living here and isn't our first priority as followers of Christ... I'd hate the site of getting to judgment day (Hebrews 9:27) and saying" look at all my nice stuff God, my bank account is LOADED." Are we living to be Rich in the areas that really matter to God? The article ends with talking about one pastor who overseen a building project for people to live in and that if God does wants us to be rich in this life, it's this richness of spirit that he is most eager for us to have... I won't so much end by fighting against "Prosperity Gospel" so much as i'll just say, What matters most to Jesus? and What are your priorities in this life? Interesting article by Time and it was actually fair to all sides, check it out if you get a chance... until then keep being Rich in the spirit of love, I'd think God wants that for us... and be BLESSED!
// posted by Jordan Mc @ 12:31 PM 
Comments:
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Dude man,good teaching. Christians in general (me in cluded) are getting way to caught up in the meterial world, wasting time and money that could be better used to reach the unbleivers and the lost souls who dont even know about Christ. Instead of trying to love these people, to show people why Christ came to this earth (to die for us so that we could be in relationship with Him)we do great things...? like read books, listen to music, and attend mid week small group stuff (all great ministry's... to reach the beleavers!!!? What do any of these do to reach the unbeleaver). This all comes back to our leaders wasting time arguing about money when some of the greatest chruch leaders in the world are not even on a pay roll. Just my thoughts.... This is Trav singing out!
My point...
I think Mid week programs are great, get plugged in to one, we all need a litle spiritual nourishment is the midst of our lives. Just remember when we are fattening our selves with the fruits of Gods vines, there are people out there who are starving for the same food, they just dont know it exists for them to eat. Thanx Jordo fro the blog, sory if anyone was offended, I was thinking about all this as I was working this evening. God Bless.
I think Mid week programs are great, get plugged in to one, we all need a litle spiritual nourishment is the midst of our lives. Just remember when we are fattening our selves with the fruits of Gods vines, there are people out there who are starving for the same food, they just dont know it exists for them to eat. Thanx Jordo fro the blog, sory if anyone was offended, I was thinking about all this as I was working this evening. God Bless.
Reminds me of a paper I wrote for Mr. Glubish on Spiritual Obesity...
I should borrow that copy of Time off of you...
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I should borrow that copy of Time off of you...
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