The Absurdity of Asceticism

As stated in my last post I'll mention (5) further myths about money pushed by those on other areas different from prosperity preachers. When I say ascetic I mean that a person is somehow closer to God based on how little they have in this life or give up to prove their righteousness or holiness. Avoidance of money and comforts is completely unnecessary and frankly stupid. Living a monk like existence is not necessary as a believer and in truth only amounts to an act of 'works' salvation which is also unbiblical. God came so that we might have life and have life more fully (John 10:10). So, to rob one's self of that life hiding away and not spending hard earned money and living well is foolishness and a squandering of the life God gave. As God has said in the Bible, don’t do things purposely to draw attention to yourself to show what you’ve given up. Jesus also told the parable of the talents which discussed wise use of money also (Matthew 25:14–30).

Matthew 6:16-18 “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

In other words Jesus told us not to be ostentatious about our sacrifices and suffering. This of course is the opposite end of the spectrum from the prosperity pimps like Kenneth Hagan and Joel Osteen. The opposite of greed can also be a sin. To have Christians believe that all Christians should be ascetic and poor, struggling from check to check is not the core message of Scripture. This isn’t true or fair to those who have indeed worked hard to support those they love and care about. At the same time we can’t frivolously spend away money that was likely blessed to us by God for a godly use either. The extreme of budgets and penny-pinching is not where God and God’s word resides on these issues. It’s in the middle most times and it is the ideas of moderation and humility that are the key to God’s economy.

Myth One: Money is the root of all evil, hence the nicknames "filthy lucre" or "unrighteous mammon." Therefore, it's better for Christians simply not to focus on making money, which is at best a necessary evil. What Paul actually says is that the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil. In other words, it is the attitude of one's heart towards money that is being critiqued, which includes the sin of greed. Money in itself is symbolic and just a means of exchange. It is no more inherently evil than any other material thing God created. The warnings in the Bible, however, remind us that fallen human beings find things like money a great temptation and can lead to various and detrimental indulgences. This is why Jesus called such resources "unrighteous mammon". This being the case, a very cautious approach to money is in order; we need to be reflective about how and why we think we need more money or wish to purchase this or that thing. No mindless indulgence but not abstinence in fear either.

Myth Two: Lending money at interest is not a problem for those who see the Bible as the Word of God. There are in fact numerous strictures in the Old Testament that speak to the issue of believers lending money or resources to other believers and charging interest. What the Bible does not say is that it is wrong to charge interest to nonbelievers. The general tone of the Old Testament teaching on this subject suggest that if someone is a member of one's community, even if they are “a stranger in the land, "charging interest is probably disallowed, or at least discouraged. We can also turn this around and ask about the ethics of speculation and trying to procure huge rates of interest or return on one's money.

Is it right for a Christian to play the stock market, buying low and selling high? The Bible says nothing directly about this. There were no stock markets in ancient economies. But the overall impression one gets is that whatever severs the connection between work and reward, between an honest day's pay for an honest day's work, is not a good thing. Speculation is too often an attempt to reap enormous rewards with very little effort or investment of time, money, and skill. This seems to run counter to the ethic of work various parts of the Bible.

Myth Three: As long as I am thankful and know where my blessings come from, maintaining an attitude of gratitude towards God, I can do whatever I please with my money, within certain obvious ethical bounds (e.g., not squandering it on sexually immoral practices). This is profoundly false. The resources we have are indeed blessings from God, thus it is all the more necessary and expected that we treat them as God's resources and ask the question, what would please God in the disposition of the resources I have been given? This is why James and others accused Christians of stealing from the poor, the widow, and the orphan when they engage in conspicuous consumption or an opulent showy lifestyle.

Myth Four: Since we are saved by grace through faith, God will not hold us responsible for what we do with our money. This is false, and a variant of the notion that since salvation is by grace, there is no accountability for deeds of any kind done after conversion. This way of thinking is a direct contradiction of texts like 2 Corinthians 5, which remind us that we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ to give an account of the deeds we have done in the body. This is even more clear in the parable of the sheep and the goats, where Jesus berates his own disciples for not visiting him in prison, feeding him, and the like, and then says, "inasmuch as you have not done it to the least of these, you haven't done it to me." Jesus identifies with the plight of the poor and needy, and expects us to do the same.

Myth Five: As a tithing Christian, I am free to do as I like with the percent I have not given to God. In the first place, the standard is sacrificial giving, which may mean more than a tithe in some cases. In the second place, the 90 percent still belongs to God. We are only its stewards and must use it in accordance with God's will. In the end, it would be wise for us to take to heart and put into practice what Paul says about a 'theology of enough', ...of godliness with contentment, which he calls "great gain.' Philippians 4:11-13 is an excellent guide for the Christian life in this sort of matter. Can we as twenty-first-century Christians learn to be content, whatever our material circumstances? Or will we succumb to the siren song of advertisements that suggest to us all sorts of things we have to have, when in fact they are not necessities of life at all?

The real secret about money and wealth is a simple question. Can we learn the secret of being content whether in plenty or in want? Paul says he learned to be content as a Christian in times of plenty as well as times of want. My prayer is that we too would learn this secret of contentment regardless of how much money we do or don’t have

The Dishonest & Double-Minded Prosperity Gospel

"Name-It-and-Claim-It"

I have to admit that I’m tired of the health and wealth preachers and their greed making a buck of the backs of those weak in faith. I am going to cite ten (4) of their blatant lies in this post and dismantle them. For far too long many have just given these snakes the slide in the Pentecostal/Charismatic faith without rebuking them. This is often because these prosperity peddlers are adept at circling around Scripture wording in a way that seems to justify their unbiblical behavior. They’ll do this while simultaneously keeping their detractors at bay through semantic gymnastics and verbal contortionism. They manipulate Scripture to be interpreted two different ways in parallel by changing the nouns being acted upon. Where a passage is implying a believer will be rich in grace, faith or well-being, they construe it to mean material goods or riches. It’s semantic wordplay that creates a pseudo-truth. It’s true, but used in the wrong context or against the wrong nominative in a statement. In short it’s intellectually dishonest and disgusting.

No more…it’s time to put an end to it at least on my Social Media pages. I hope some that are on my Facebook page actually read this as it is long overdue. I will try and keep these as succinct as possible so not to confuse these statements or go off on lengthy diatribes. The people that push this crooked theology makes all of the goo Christians look like hypocritical greedy idiots. Thanks, but I can mess up the image of myself with non-Christians on my own, I don’t need help doing that.

I will also mention (5) further myths about money pushed by those on the opposite end of the spectrum who will have Christians believe that all Christians should be ascetic and poor struggling from check to check. This is a sin also and isn’t fair to those who have indeed worked hard to support those they love and care about. The gist of this post and the next is that the extremes is not where God and God’s word resides on these issues. It’s in the middle most times and it is moderation and humility that are the key to God’s economy.

Prosperity Lie One: If you just trust and have faith in God, he will give you *all the desires of your heart."

Psalm 37:4-5 Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.

What the Scripture in question actually says is delight yourself in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. This saying has nothing necessarily to do with economic prosperity. The desire of the heart referred to here is God. If you delight in God he will bless you with more of the divine presence is all the psalmist has in view. Will this bring riches? Possibly but unlikely…what does the preponderance of Scripture show about the lives of believers? We see struggling and perseverance in humility. In this misinterpretation of Scripture we see the exchange of the divine proper noun God with an ordinary noun.

Prosperity Lie Two: If you "seek first the kingdom," then God will give you all the things you long for. Again, this is a profound misreading of what the biblical text says. The entire time Jesus in Matthew 6:25-34 has been talking about the basic necessities in life, food, clothing, and the like. He tells his disciples they should not be anxious even about the necessities in life, not least because God knows we need such things to survive. Instead of anxiousness we are to seek first the kingdom, and then these necessities will be added to us. There is nothing in this context pertaining to wealth or anything like it. He refers only to basic food, drink and clothing. In fact if one reads this properly it is obliquely warning the reader that at times…things will be scarce and hard to come by. Just the opposite of prosperity.

Prosperity Lie Three: If you tithe, then God will necessarily bless you far more than you have given. This presumption is usually based on sayings like Matthew’s "Ask and it will be given to you" (Matt. 7:7). Again the context here is that of asking for a basic necessities like bread or a fish to eat! Jesus reassures us that when we seek such things from God, he is able to provide. This does indicate that God enjoys blessing those who seek him and his aid in these matters. It does suggest that God has an infinite store of such things, one that never runs out so there is some truth to the saying, "you have not because you ask not" when it comes to basic necessities. But texts like this say nothing about a quid pro quo, or a reciprocity cycle with God. The proverbial this-for-that or the idea that God is some form of cosmic vending machine.

Besides, blessings of God are generally not material ones in any case. And the notion that we can put God in our debt, so that he is bound by promissory note to give us “this” because we gave him “that” is simply false. God's gifts are free and gracious, not things owed to someone operating out of a misguided theology of reciprocity. That is just idiotic man-made thinking, not divine economy.

Prosperity Lie Four: If we are just sincere enough in our asking, or simply pray long and fervently enough, God is bound to give us what we ask for. This type of statement I find the most disgusting as it leads others to believe they are somehow not praying enough or are somehow inferior to those that are blessed with material goods. The whole approach to prayer as a means of haggling with God who seems somehow reluctant to help is so off base it’s laughable. This is entirely false on both sides of the equation. First of all, we can't make God an offer he can't refuse, no matter how nicely or insistently we ask. God is independent and needs nothing from mankind. Why not? 

Second, God is obligated only to do what he has already promised to do, and even then it will depend on whether or not the thing in question was part of a conditional promise. Only God with His divine word can bind God to a contract/covenant. When God begins a promise along the lines of ‘if my people who are called by my name will repent and turn to me, then...”. Its conditional upon man and man obeying. If we don't fulfill our half of the conditional statement God is under no obligation to fulfill his half. Ever.

Prosperity Lie Five: As the examples of Solomon and others in the old Testament show, God has no problems with a Christian being wealthy. This is just wrong. In the first place, Christians are not under the old covenant, and the New Testament has a much stricter and higher standard for what counts as a godly life when it comes to material things. Secondly, even in Proverbs and elsewhere in the Old Testament critiques of kings like Solomon, who ape the emperors and kings of the ancient Near East with respect to wealth and opulence, indicate that this was never a good thing. It even caused Solomon to compromise his biblical integrity marrying foreign wives and chasing foreign gods. He would later go on to write about these failures and saw them all as vanity, foolishness and chasing the wind (Ecclesiastes).