"Prosperity" Gospel

I was asked recently about the so-called prosperity-based movement in religion today, and what, if any, impact it's had on Holy Allegory.

Short answer: Quite a bit.

Long Answer: There's ample evidence in the Bible to believe strongly the God wants His people to prosper, both directly and indirectly. There's also ample evidence that God does not want us to fall to the corruption of overabundance. The allegorical truth of so many short passages, parables, and comments is often difficult to ascertain, and can seem quite contradictory. I may launch a long series of posts on that someday, but not today. Today I will try and keep it more practical.

Power Corrupts. Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely.

The same is true of wealth. Having all that we need is not the same as being filthy rich. That's why the colloquial "filthy rich" exists - when you grow so wealthy you lose all care and perspective, you lose touch with Christ. You lose touch with His message. You lose touch with His path for you. How many of the incredibly wealthy have fallen publicly? How many have been found corrupt? Now it's true that there are some who don't make a big public fall, some who find their roots again even, but by and large, having too much makes you forget about the truly important things - love of God, prayer, and even charity.

On the other side, the poor are blessed, because they have so few distractions from that spirituality. However, they contend with other difficulties - food, clothing, utilities, and the basic needs of human life in the 21st century. It's easy for them to see the filthy rich, and fall into envy. It's easy for that envy to lead to crime. Crime of necessity, perhaps, but crime nonetheless. And for those who commit crime out of greed, the loss of faith is as pronounced as it is in the most wealthy of us.

Then there is the middle class - the people who can afford to keep the lights on, but are, these days, struggling to keep the house, or pay for their children's education, or pay for retirement or healthcare costs, or any of the other worries that beset a class of people when they move from needing income to survive and needing income to provide.

So, is it ok to pray for prosperity?

Yes. It's OK to want a better life, to ask God to deliver you from difficulty, to ask Him to help your spouse and children, or ease your burdens. If you need a new car because you're family has grown, it's OK to pray for one. If you need a bigger house for the same reason, it's OK to pray for it. It goes into the realm of envy and covetousness when you stop praying for prosperity and start praying for overabundance. If you pray for a new car because you want to upgrade something that suits you perfectly well (say, you want to trade your Subaru for a Lexus), that's greed. That's covetousness, and covetousness is a sin.

It's perfectly fine to ask for God's help in making you successful so that you can afford to do wonderful things with your family, like praying for hep with the college fund so that little Susie can grow up to be whatever she wants. It's over the top to pray for a vacation to Tahiti.

It does not mean you can focus on yourself only... praying for your own prosperity is acceptable for the right reasons, but forgetting to pray for others at the cost of praying for oneself is also covetousness. We must always remember to pray for others, for there are always others more in need that ourselves. Look at it this way - God gave His Son to His people, why can't we give prayers for others? For that matter, isn't praying for another a form of charity? It also doesn't mean that you can forget to be thankful. But that, that's another post I've already made.

So, yes, I will be preaching something of a Prosperity-Lite message. I really do believe that God wants His people to prosper, to not worry about things like putting our kids through college, paying the mortgage, having shelter in the first place, etc. I also believe that reasonable prosperity can increase one's charity, and that's one of the core tenets of Christianity.

I think the important thing is to know where to draw the line in prayer, and I think just about everyone knows where that line is in their hearts.

I'll blog more on the subject of prosperity preachers another time... some truly are good, honest people, while others... well, they wear their sheep's clothing well, but we can still hear them howling at the moon. Until then, may God bless you, and deliver you in this life and the next. Pray for yourself, for others, and be thankful.