In a thought-provoking essay by Rev. P. Andrew Sandlin, titled: Economic Atheism, he offers some important challenges to our Christian view of wealth. Within the context of his discussion he makes an assertion that I would hope all evangelical Christians would support. He writes:
"The prosperity Gospel is a travesty of the biblical Gospel."
Now by the prosperity Gospel he means that view whereby "God wants everybody to be healthy, fat, rich and happy -- and if we aren't, it is because we lack faith." I'm not sure that this perversion of the Gospel includes "fatness" but basically he is correct. I would add that usually proponents of this view include the proviso that if you aren't healthy and wealthy, it is either a lack of faith (as he says) or sin in your life (example: Job).
But then Sandlin goes on to touch a nerve. This nerve, I confess, seems to pervade even some of my own favorite preachers and authors. Sandlin writes, "An overreaction to the prosperity Gospel is the poverty Gospel." Here we get this notion that God always sides with the poor; and poverty (if not subsistence living) is to be the norm. We can accidentally fall into the trap that says poor, simple, living receives God's blessing, whereby the pursuit and creation of wealth is an abomination. The reality is that this is not so. More importantly, Sandlin writes,
"When we attack wealth and its creation as such (not its perversion) we are attacking a critical part of the Lord's plan for extending his Kingdom in his world."
The problem among some well-meaning, anti-capitalistic, often "back-to-earth", "back-to-the simple-life" dwellers is that they forget that their choice of minimalist simplicity also diminishes their capacity to further the Lord's work. Thank God for the entrepreneurial profit-seeking Christians who, in good conscience, and with right motives, support the millions of missionaries world-wide in accordance with how the Lord has prospered them.
There are of course a multitude of things that inhibit the expansion of God's kingdom. But in my experience, in relation to money, there are two that stand out. One has to do with Christians who live so beyond their means that their debt-load renders it impossible for them to help others and support the endeavors of the Church. The second has to do with well-meaning Christians who reflect a cynical and judgmental attitude to those who are seeking to work hard, invest well, earn a substantial profit and of course: support the Lord's work both at home and abroad. Both views limit Christian endeavors.
In our abhorrence with the prosperity Gospel, let's not buy into the poverty Gospel.
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