prosperity gospel at a new level
today i while i was reading the star online, i saw the headline "Jesus wants you to drive 4x4, says S.African church" and immediately thought - what crap!! i don't normally say/write much about issues or what i think of them but this headline really irked me. i often wonder how Jesus feels when everyone thinks they have the right to use his name to promote whatever gospel they please (not that this is anything new, but it's just disgusting).
the gospel preached by the reported S.African church says God doesn't want you to be poor and ashamed - before adding "he wants you to drive a new car". and if it's a Nissan Navarra, even better. *rolls eyes* the said church even takes to holding special "campaigns" to pray for specific "goals", like a new car, house or even swimming pool. i mean, how can anyone think that this is what Christ truly teaches us to live by? if this is true, there will be no more disciples or followers of Christ in the poor and third world countries - wil there? or is God going to transform things and make all of them millionaires in an instant?
before we can make any conclusions that wealth/prosperity i.e. those that can be found in getting a new car/house/the latest technological gadgets etc is what the 'poor' people want, we'd do well to find out what people in countries and places that are less urbanised and developed really think of as being 'prosperous' or 'wealthy'.
i attended a missions training session once, where i learned about the worldview of the people in Cambodia from Steve Hyde (a missionary to Cambodia). they don't give a hoot about the latest cars or any other new technological advancements - because these things are so far removed from their world. if given a choice, they'd really be delighted at being given cattle or other kinds of livestock, or help to grow their farms and such. the point is not that they are 'ulu' people, but rather that they have lives that are completely different from what we urban so-called middle class people know.
of course, i can see how this prosperity gospel would appeal to people. even if we aren't poor, who would turn down a chance to gain more wealth if given a chance? not many, i think. what more if they are desperately poor. if i had a terribly hard life, most likely, i too would jump at a chance to have a better life. so, people fall for this lie. yet i can't help but feel that when we preach the prosperity gospel we are in fact deceiving people into thinking that God is a Santa Claus, and becoming a Christian is just like winning the lottery. how does that really give any glory to God?
maybe it's just me - but i've never been comfortable with the notion that we give glory to God by getting a lot of money. sure, if we have money, we could do a lot of things for God, or rather, in the name of God. the pragmatic people would say that we can do much more if we had more money in the church. we could build bigger buildings, hold more rallies, buy more Bibles to be given to the poor and so on. but this is hardly what the Bible preaches. or at least, it's not the whole gospel.
the prosperity gospel just does not jive with the God or Christ that i've come to know thru the time that i've journeyed with him. God never promised us a prosperous life, at least not in the sense that the world understands prosperity to be. the more i walk with him, the more he challenges me to live simply. if we acquire so much wealth, and grow so attached to them, it will be so much harder to let go of those things when God calls us to. if we have nothing, and he calls us - i suspect we would readily heed his call.
my fren shared last nite that when God asked her this question "Will you leave everything and follow me?" while she was on her way to work a few weeks back, she was stunned that she could not immediately answer him. because, if God had asked this question 13 years ago, when she had little to hang on to, she would have answered a resounding yes without a second thought. now, happily married with an adorable kid and having some measure of success in her career, she's had to wrestle with the knowledge that she might be reluctant to let go of the blessings, but not the blessor.
which is why God said it's harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God than for a camel to go thru the needle's eye.
who are we kidding?
the gospel preached by the reported S.African church says God doesn't want you to be poor and ashamed - before adding "he wants you to drive a new car". and if it's a Nissan Navarra, even better. *rolls eyes* the said church even takes to holding special "campaigns" to pray for specific "goals", like a new car, house or even swimming pool. i mean, how can anyone think that this is what Christ truly teaches us to live by? if this is true, there will be no more disciples or followers of Christ in the poor and third world countries - wil there? or is God going to transform things and make all of them millionaires in an instant?
before we can make any conclusions that wealth/prosperity i.e. those that can be found in getting a new car/house/the latest technological gadgets etc is what the 'poor' people want, we'd do well to find out what people in countries and places that are less urbanised and developed really think of as being 'prosperous' or 'wealthy'.
i attended a missions training session once, where i learned about the worldview of the people in Cambodia from Steve Hyde (a missionary to Cambodia). they don't give a hoot about the latest cars or any other new technological advancements - because these things are so far removed from their world. if given a choice, they'd really be delighted at being given cattle or other kinds of livestock, or help to grow their farms and such. the point is not that they are 'ulu' people, but rather that they have lives that are completely different from what we urban so-called middle class people know.
of course, i can see how this prosperity gospel would appeal to people. even if we aren't poor, who would turn down a chance to gain more wealth if given a chance? not many, i think. what more if they are desperately poor. if i had a terribly hard life, most likely, i too would jump at a chance to have a better life. so, people fall for this lie. yet i can't help but feel that when we preach the prosperity gospel we are in fact deceiving people into thinking that God is a Santa Claus, and becoming a Christian is just like winning the lottery. how does that really give any glory to God?
maybe it's just me - but i've never been comfortable with the notion that we give glory to God by getting a lot of money. sure, if we have money, we could do a lot of things for God, or rather, in the name of God. the pragmatic people would say that we can do much more if we had more money in the church. we could build bigger buildings, hold more rallies, buy more Bibles to be given to the poor and so on. but this is hardly what the Bible preaches. or at least, it's not the whole gospel.
the prosperity gospel just does not jive with the God or Christ that i've come to know thru the time that i've journeyed with him. God never promised us a prosperous life, at least not in the sense that the world understands prosperity to be. the more i walk with him, the more he challenges me to live simply. if we acquire so much wealth, and grow so attached to them, it will be so much harder to let go of those things when God calls us to. if we have nothing, and he calls us - i suspect we would readily heed his call.
my fren shared last nite that when God asked her this question "Will you leave everything and follow me?" while she was on her way to work a few weeks back, she was stunned that she could not immediately answer him. because, if God had asked this question 13 years ago, when she had little to hang on to, she would have answered a resounding yes without a second thought. now, happily married with an adorable kid and having some measure of success in her career, she's had to wrestle with the knowledge that she might be reluctant to let go of the blessings, but not the blessor.
which is why God said it's harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God than for a camel to go thru the needle's eye.
who are we kidding?
posted by emmyjemmy at 5:41 PM
6 Comments:
wow! never seen you blog with such umph before! can totally feel your emotions as i read this post.
very well said, my friend!
it was a non-christian friend who sent me that link (i had not read the papers yet) and his comments were rather interesting. i am not sure if he was being sarcastic or if it was really genuine. whatever it is, it sure represents the wrong message of the Gospel.
Hi Ev!
Thanks for the encouragement :) I had to spend quite a while on this post, and almost abandoned it. But took it as practice to write something other than just everyday occurrences...hehe...Hopefully, more to come in the future...
I'm officially shocked. Pleasantly though. Well done, wifey.
SK: I like the shock value of this one ;)
I'm stunned too. Speech of conviction. Keep it up.
wow!! *faint*
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