Another Practical Guide to the Logic, Philosophy, and Thoughts of Christianity

Section 1 - Article 9

Article 9 - Rationalization and the dangers of prosperity gospel

There are many church-goers that lacked rationalization in their understanding of the religion. I believe rationalization is important as it is the key to bringing together everyday living with Christian living, and the lack of it causes people to be 'Sunday Christians'. For example, if one does not rationalize how Jesus lived and apply it in their living in society; as well as the fact that God watches over us all the time, one will unconsciously come to feel that God only sees us on Sunday. For the rest of the week, our hearts, deeds and thoughts go unchecked by Him. Being a proper loving believer is at all times, and not just on Sunday. And to successfully do this, one needs to deal with conflicting philosophies within oneself. One cannot believe that God loves everyone equally, and at the same time believe that wealth is the measure of God's love for any one person.

One dangerous result of using prosperity as a measurement is the judgment of one another based on their wealth. I have witnessed one too many events where the scholar, the rich, and the well-paid were treated differently from those of the other end of the spectrum. When gathering before the Lord God, it is a gathering of God's people. If any distinction is to be made, it would have to be God Himself Who makes distinction. While people of similar social status may have more in common than those of different status, these flawed worldly societal judgments must stay outside the church, if not one's everyday living. Were the poor denied access to God? In the days of the Early Church, the most responsive people to Jesus' and His disciple's teachings were the poor and uneducated. The rich and educated, full of themselves in their worldly gains, often thought themselves to be too good for God's attempts to reach everyone.

Any attempts from any pastor who claims that Jesus was rich to back up the prosperity gospel, should go get their theology and understanding of the Scriptures checked again. It is a very dangerous doctrine and one of the most deadly ones to plague modern churches. Here I will warn why.

First of all, prosperity gospel is the teaching that upon dedication of finances or resources to God, God will bless you with even more. One's faith and God's approval of one was measured by the wealth bestowed. Justification of this doctrine were typically taken from the Old Testament where God told the Israelites that He will bless them bountifully if they keep and obey His commandments. Some examples are Pro 10:22, 13:21, 15:6, 22:4, 24:3-4, Psalms 112:1-8. Wealth was used a measure of God's blessing on a person.

There is an existing interpretation that the wealth mentioned in these verses do not literally mean the wealth in this world, but rather to what Jesus said to store wealth in the Kingdom above (Matthew 6:19-21. Nonetheless, this is not the point of contention here at the moment.

The poison of the prosperity gospel is whether one comes before the Lord with the right heart when one gives to Church expecting to more in return? Is God a very stupid or generous banker? Does God need our money? I'm sure God does not take walks on Earth in human form and use human money. God does not want our money, in fact, it is the need of Christian organizations for works such as to print Bibles, to provide aid to the poor, and so on. If a giver does not come to the Lord or give to God with the right heart, are we "righteous" and therefore worthy of wealth as a blessing? And this point, I refer to the very verses in OT written earlier about riches and wealth being blessings for the righteous. Is one righteous when he gives money only to expect more in return? I suspect that is more of investment, or greed, or financial wisdom, but my current understanding of the word 'righteous' does not allow me to establish this link.

If anything, we ought to look at the prophets of God in the OT. Were all of them wealthy and rich? Surely these prophets, chosen by God to be His mouthpiece, were purified and righteous before God. Yet, certainly, not all were rich. Elijah for one was not, for he lived with a widow and her son, and he certainly did not live in a palace or a mansion. So logically, we can conclude that riches and wealth were not always a measure of one's walk with God or one's righteousness before God. Fair enough that there were clear examples in the Kings of Israel that the country prospered when they obeyed God's commandments, but these are not prophets, but rather Kings and rulers of a country whose wealth reflects the wealth of the nation, and indirectly, the endorsement of God on a nation.