Give me money, Jesus!
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
The cover story of the September 18 issue of TIME Magazine asks, "Does God want you to be rich?" The story looks at that movement in American (Protestant) Christianity that is perhaps best exemplified by Joel Osteen and his Lakewood Church in Houston, TX. It goes by a number of different monikers: the Prosperity Gospel, the Gospel of Health & Wealth, Name It and Claim It, and Prosperity Lite are a few mentioned in the TIME article.
The approach, as I understand it, goes something like this: God is a good and generous God who loves his children. Besides wanting his children to enjoy eternity with him, God also wants his children to enjoy in material abundance here on earth. Besides, isn't that what Jesus means when he says, "I have come that they may have life, and that abundantly" (John 10:10)? So the faithful are called to be grateful for what they have, in the expectation that their gratitude will be met with a showering of material blessings by God. Expecting blessings is the first step to receiving blessings. Wealth is a sign of faithfulness.
I admit that I have a fairly visceral reaction to this approach to the Christian faith when I encounter it, whether in a TV program, in a magazine article, or on the street. I think the Prosperity Gospel is perhaps the most disturbing development of an American Christianity that is rife with disturbing developments over its history. I find myself agreeing with the magazine's comment that, "Most unnerving for [Joel] Osteen's critics is the suspicion that they are fighting not just one idiosyncratic misreading of the gospel but something more daunting: the latest lurch in Protestantism's ongoing descent into full-blown American materialism."
So let me offer a few, completely unscientific observations about the Prosperity approach to the Christian faith:
1. The Prosperity Gospel could only have developed in contemporary America. We live in a land where the good life is seen almost exclusively as the achievement of a certain level of income, a certain size of home, a certain number of vehicles in the garage, a certain level of intelligence and ambition in our children, and the complete avoidance of anything resembling uncomfortability in the ability to satisfy our "felt needs."
2. The Prosperity Gospel points the emphasis of our faith away from Jesus Christ and toward ourselves. In this sense, it encourages a certain idolatrous preoccupation with me and what I think I need.
3. The Prosperity Gospel blames the poor for their poverty, by implying that they simply don't have the proper faith required to become rich.
4. The Prosperity Gospel rejects serious study of the Bible and the Christian tradition. It ignores the story of Israel and the story of the Christian church in favor of a false story concocted to appeal to the very worst in human nature.
5. The Prosperity Gospel knows nothing of Christian discipleship as a call to deny oneself, take up one's cross, and follow Jesus Christ.
(As a sidenote, I think we would do well to ask the converse question of the TIME article: Does God want you to be destitute? I believe the answer to that question is no. God doesn't want us to be either spiritually or materially destitute. Our Savior preached the good news and fed the hungry. We are called into a relationship with him whereby we are fed in both ways, specifically through the church he has established. And when we answer the call to discipleship, we are called to go forth and feed others - both the poor in spirit and the poor in body.)
The very fact that such a movement as the Prosperity Gospel exists is a call for the church to repent and proclaim the evangelical faith passed down to us through the ages. And the truth of the matter is that God is asking us to do exactly what is contrary to human nature: give up what we have to follow Jesus. We begin to know the fullness of salvation at the point where we willingly sacrifice on our own ambitions, treasures, careers, incomes, and yes, even lives.
If the devil is tempting you to seek "Your Best Life Now" as the true path of faith, go read Job. Then read the Sermon on the Mount. And then a life of St. Francis. And then go work amongst Christ's poor and find out what he means when he says, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor" (Luke 4:18).
And never forget that sometimes the devil comes in fancy shoes and slicked back hair, wearing an expensive suit and waving a Bible in the air.
The approach, as I understand it, goes something like this: God is a good and generous God who loves his children. Besides wanting his children to enjoy eternity with him, God also wants his children to enjoy in material abundance here on earth. Besides, isn't that what Jesus means when he says, "I have come that they may have life, and that abundantly" (John 10:10)? So the faithful are called to be grateful for what they have, in the expectation that their gratitude will be met with a showering of material blessings by God. Expecting blessings is the first step to receiving blessings. Wealth is a sign of faithfulness.
I admit that I have a fairly visceral reaction to this approach to the Christian faith when I encounter it, whether in a TV program, in a magazine article, or on the street. I think the Prosperity Gospel is perhaps the most disturbing development of an American Christianity that is rife with disturbing developments over its history. I find myself agreeing with the magazine's comment that, "Most unnerving for [Joel] Osteen's critics is the suspicion that they are fighting not just one idiosyncratic misreading of the gospel but something more daunting: the latest lurch in Protestantism's ongoing descent into full-blown American materialism."
So let me offer a few, completely unscientific observations about the Prosperity approach to the Christian faith:
1. The Prosperity Gospel could only have developed in contemporary America. We live in a land where the good life is seen almost exclusively as the achievement of a certain level of income, a certain size of home, a certain number of vehicles in the garage, a certain level of intelligence and ambition in our children, and the complete avoidance of anything resembling uncomfortability in the ability to satisfy our "felt needs."
2. The Prosperity Gospel points the emphasis of our faith away from Jesus Christ and toward ourselves. In this sense, it encourages a certain idolatrous preoccupation with me and what I think I need.
3. The Prosperity Gospel blames the poor for their poverty, by implying that they simply don't have the proper faith required to become rich.
4. The Prosperity Gospel rejects serious study of the Bible and the Christian tradition. It ignores the story of Israel and the story of the Christian church in favor of a false story concocted to appeal to the very worst in human nature.
5. The Prosperity Gospel knows nothing of Christian discipleship as a call to deny oneself, take up one's cross, and follow Jesus Christ.
(As a sidenote, I think we would do well to ask the converse question of the TIME article: Does God want you to be destitute? I believe the answer to that question is no. God doesn't want us to be either spiritually or materially destitute. Our Savior preached the good news and fed the hungry. We are called into a relationship with him whereby we are fed in both ways, specifically through the church he has established. And when we answer the call to discipleship, we are called to go forth and feed others - both the poor in spirit and the poor in body.)
The very fact that such a movement as the Prosperity Gospel exists is a call for the church to repent and proclaim the evangelical faith passed down to us through the ages. And the truth of the matter is that God is asking us to do exactly what is contrary to human nature: give up what we have to follow Jesus. We begin to know the fullness of salvation at the point where we willingly sacrifice on our own ambitions, treasures, careers, incomes, and yes, even lives.
If the devil is tempting you to seek "Your Best Life Now" as the true path of faith, go read Job. Then read the Sermon on the Mount. And then a life of St. Francis. And then go work amongst Christ's poor and find out what he means when he says, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor" (Luke 4:18).
And never forget that sometimes the devil comes in fancy shoes and slicked back hair, wearing an expensive suit and waving a Bible in the air.
Labels: Megachurches, Prosperity Gospel
posted by Andrew C. Thompson at 11:55 AM
10 Comments:
Ooh, you're PREACHIN', Brother Andrew!
Amen!
(You sending this one in to The Reporter? Give it an overt Gen-X tie-in and you're there...)
While we (American Protestants) may have developed this type "gospel", we are by no means the only ones. Unfortunately this type of thinking has spread to several sects of Latin American protestants also. To me it is even more disturbing to preach this stuff in countries where there is so much poverty.
I've been thinking about this topic frequently lately as I have been reading through the book of Acts and several books for classes. It is amazing, to me, how the people of the early church took everything that they had and brought it together so that there would be no one without need. It is so counter-cultural to today's standards that it is so difficult to see this ever happening today. But... it does. There is hope!The "intentional community" lifestyle seeks to gather all of their resources together in order that they might reach out to their immediate community. This lifestyle has much to teach the church!! (by the way AT you should check this out - I know that there is one near Duke)
My favorite line in the TIME article has to be:
Osteen - "But I don't think I'd say God wants us to be rich. It's all relative, isn't it?" The room's warm lamplight reflects softly off his crocodile shoes.
I really wish they would have asked Osteen in the article what he thinks it means to deny oneself, take up one's cross, and follow Jesus Christ. Great thoughts Andrew. keep it up.
Excellent! I share with you. God already gave everything and it gives day it to day.
Lamentably no understanding of this reality causes that people accept to look for the good of other ways and not understanding look for the first Kingdom of God and His justice and the others will be added
I bought two copies of the magazine. One of my very good friends was quoted in it.
Fear of losing something I think I have or the fear of not getting something I think I want could be the motivation behind prosperity.
Comedian Flip Wilson says "the devil made me do that" and where fear is involved he probably did.
Living life abundantly to me means free from fear.
My wife and I were talking about this earlier today. She said, "If the prosperity gospel is true, then poor people can't be saved."
Wow... God wants us to be prosperous, but at what point does it cross the line and become greed?
All God wants is my Money - Article
Dan
Andrew--
I share your concerns. I cringe when I see some of the huge churches that have sprung up, and, in my humble opinion, become monuments to excess.
NCAA Div II worthy basketball gyms and Las Vegas-style billboards are wonderful, but the funds spent on them could feed a lot of hungry people......just my $.02
Ahh, the American Church, pushing unbelievers further and further away. When are we gonna wake up and see our desperation for Christ. We are nothing without Him.
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