Ravings of a Madman - #2 - What the Bible says about Prosperity

Posted by Mike O on: 02.22.2007 /

I’m going to springboard off of a GREAT post by Siamang earlier this week. As some of you may know, the topic of prosperity and Christianity is a hot spot for me. It’s a topic that polarizes people (even within the realm of christendom, where we should have unity), yet virtually everyone misunderstands (IMO).

Let me start with a general philosophy I have regarding Bible interpretation

Given 20 minutes and a slide-rule, you can support any position you want using Scripture.

Now, I know I’ve just tossed myself as fresh meat before lions with that statement, but my point is that it’s not that hard to support your beliefs given the careful assembly of the right collection of supporting Bible verses. Anybody can do it and, frankly, everybody does. But my question is, what do you do with the verses that don’t support your premise? Ignore them? Discard them? Re-interpret them??

I believe that’s what Prosperity doctrine believers have done.

But before we go bashing the prosperity people, let’s be intellectually honest … we all do it. We all pick and choose the verses we like that support what we already believe. One set of Christians assembles the pieces a certain way to support thier belief structure. Other Christians assemble them differently to support theirs. Atheists even use scripture against itself, thinking it breaks itself down. The Skeptic’s Annotated Bible is a perfect example.

But what all of us generally fail to do is look at the verses that don’t support our position and give them the same level of spiritual authority (or scrutiny) as the ones that do support it. (I’m speaking mostly of Christians here … I understand that atheists regard the Bible with no spiritual authority). And I believe that’s what Prosperity people have done. Just like you and me, they have found a reasonable (to them) concoction of supporting verses upon which they can build their teachings. And what’s more, they can do it in good conscience.

But that doesn’t make them greedy SOBs with an insatiable desire to manipulate others through guilt. That’s merely a cartoon villian that comes in handy when we need one. But as was so nicely illustrated in this post by Helen on CatE,

Once you’ve come to know your adversaries personally, once the cartoon villains are brushed away, the conversation becomes more complicated–and more useful.

And Jim followed it up well when he said

my short version, “when people like each other - the rules change”

I said all of that to say this … I know prosperity people. And having gotten to know them, I am convinced that not all prosperity people are villians. They may be misguided, but they’re not all villians.

I don’t believe God “has a problem” with prosperity. But people do. But at the same time, I also don’t believe it’s His design for everyone to be a millionaire with the universe at their beckoned call.

Here’s what I see in scripture:

I see examples of righteous people who were very wealthy (Abraham, David, Solomon, Job, perhaps Luke and a multitude of others)

I see examples of righteous people who were very poor
- Poor people bringing sacrifices in the Old Testament Leviticus 5:5-11 (When anyone is guilty … he must bring to the LORD a female lamb or goat from the flock as a sin offering … If he cannot afford a lamb, he is to bring two doves or two young pigeons … If, however, he cannot afford two doves or two young pigeons, he is to bring … a tenth of an ephah of fine flour)
- The widow at the temple in the New Testament Mark 12:41-44

I see examples of unrighteous people who prosper (Many of the OT kings, Psalm 73 is a great passage on this topic)

I see examples of unrighteous people who are very poor, or at least lost everything because of their unrighteousness (the Old Testament is rich with stories of God “smiting” people because they were wicked.)

When you take the whole of scripture, I don’t believe you can say with any intellectual integrity that God wants all his people to be millionaires. But neither can you say that He doesn’t want any of them to be millionaires.

People get so caught up in money, but money is SO not the point. The point is, DO GOOD. Minister to the brokenhearted (Christianese, I know). Reconcile the alienated. To quote Jesus himself, Matthew 22:37-40 says

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.

If you’re wealthy, well God bless ya! Use it for good. And if you’re poor, God bless ya! Be grateful for the blessings you have and use it for good!

Here’s one more for the prosperity people to chew on:

Proverbs 22:2 - Rich and poor have this in common: The LORD is the Maker of them all.

And here’s one for all of us here at OTM who seem to have a problem with big (prosperous) churches
Matthew 20:1-16 (esp. verses 13-15)

But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?

Are we envious because God is generous to some other ministry? Are we bothered because we have to scrape and struggle for everything we have, but they they continue to prosper even though they mishandle (IYO) their resources? Surely we’re more righteous than they!

Or are we?

One of my favorite verses on this subject comes from Proverbs 30:8-9

8 Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread.

9 Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
and say, ‘Who is the LORD ?’
Or I may become poor and steal,
and so dishonor the name of my God.

To me, that translates to this personal prayer

God, let me be grateful for what I have and let me not be greedy for more. I just want whatever you have for me, whatever that may be … no more. No less.

Oh, and a new car.

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