July 8-9, 2006, weekend
July 11, 2006

July 10, 2006

HEALTHY, WEALTHY AND SAVED?

One of the debates within African-American Christianity is whether churches should be preaching what's sometimes called the "Gospel of Prosperity." That's the teaching that Christians should be prospering financially because God, essentially, wants them to be wealthy. For some evidence of where this approach is leading, click here for a Boston Globe story. And then let me know what your own experience is with prosperity gospel preaching.

* * *

A CORRIE TEN BOOM SITE TO VISIT

In the current issue of the magazine Christian History & Biography (if you're Christian and not reading this, you're really missing good stuff), there's a short item about Corrie Ten Boom, the Dutch woman in whose house Jews were hidden in the Shoah. (She's pictured here.)

CorrietenboomI'm familiar with the Ten Boom story, as you may be, but what the magazine pointed me to is a Web site I didn't know about, sponsored by the Corrie Ten Boom House Foundation, which has turned that famous house in Haarlem, Holland, into a museum. To explore that site -- read, especially, the history section and visit the exhibition section -- click here.

As some of you know, I'm at work with a rabbi on a book project that has to do with Jews who were hidden in the Shoah by Polish Gentiles. But every story of such survival, no matter where it took place, is fascinating. Though the work of such people as Corrie Ten Boom and her family is to be celebrated, in the end it cannot redeem the Holocaust or infuse it with redemptive meaning. The losses and the evil of all of that simply overwhelm such good deeds.

To read my latest Kansas City Star work, click here.

Comments

Kansas Bob

Regarding ...

"Though the work of such people as Corrie Ten Boom and her family is to be celebrated, in the end it cannot redeem the Holocaust or infuse it with redemptive meaning."

... maybe not but Corrie's work can help others understand the difference that Christ can make on a personal basis. Maybe that is the real message ... religious institutions are impotent because they become political and lose their connection with God ... individuals are powerful when they have a personal relationship with God.

Joe Barone

To me, the term "Gospel of Prosperity," implies wrong values. It implies a selifsh kind of wealth. God gives us all different gifts. It took me forty years to decide that the ability to generate wealth was one of the gifts God gives some people in cultures such as this. To me, it is not unChristian to be wealthy if the wealth is earned in a fair and honest way. It is unChristian to be wealthy and selfish, to use your wealth to increase the gap between the rich and poor (abused, etc.). In Jesus' terms, it is unChristian to ignore the poor and abused lying at your gate (which today is the wole world). Those who are wealthy and selfish ignore the Scripture and the prophets, and they will ignore even someone who has been raised from the dead.

scansion

It appears that personal prosperty is not being preached, but the collective prosperity of the Church. They have Christian bookstores, shops, entertainment, and even record labels. Gosh, it's hard to see how God would not want His Church to prosper. (I'm still a little undecided on that John 10:10 quote, though.)

Christian jobs, Christian records, Christian entertainment, and even a Christian economy all seems nice to me--maybe we'd stop pumping up communist, atheist nations in the name of bottom-line. "The want of mney is the root of all corporate policy," is our newest slogan.

I don't see them preaching personal prosperity as a message, but it's worth checking into a little more.

SC in KC

Wow, what an amazing day! I actually agreed with Kansas Bob and Joe Barone, all at the same time! Well, with nothing to disagree about, I will just offer you all my prayers for a blessed Monday and leave it at that.

DG

I think that God has blessings in escrow for believers, that is to say that He has blessings in time and in eternity that wait for us. As we grow in the spiritual life, He is free to bless us. For some it is material wealth, but only to the extent that we as believers have the capacity to possess that wealth. The key is to keep our focus on Him and not worship the wealth we have been given. Realizing that all we have comes from Him is the key. When Jesus said it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God, I think He was talking of that very thing. It is very hard to keep God at the center of your life when you are wealthy. When you look at Abraham and Job, both of whom possessed great wealth, you see mature believers who handle the prosperity test.

SC in KC

Wealth is a gift, and like all gifts it is only truly appreciated when we share it in God's service. Bill, for instance, was given a wonderful gift of writing talent (yes, Bill, an actual compliment). His choice to use that talent to explore and inspire exploration of our faith is an investment of those gifts in God's great work on earth.

We all have gifts to share. When we share those gifts with others as an act of worship and service in God's name we are doubly blessed. When we claim those gifts for ourselves, we are doubly cursed, for gifts cannot truly be enjoyed until they are shared, and making idols of our gifts draws us away from God.

Corrie Ten Boom's story is an excellent example of what some would consider a small gift, the gift of courage, being multiplied in God's service. I would say that her "Gospel of Prosperity" was truly fulfilled, as no amount of wealth could ever buy what she now possesses.

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