catapult magazine

You have no idea how much your approval means to me. You really have no idea.

Calvinism is blamed for the rise of capitalism in Western society. Capitalism is blamed for, well, capitalizing on humanity’s greed. We know that greed is wrong, but should Christians feel guilty for having money? It is possible to make money Christianly, right?

Why should christians feel guity about anything that is not sin? We live in an age of guilt manipulators. Loving money is wrong. (idolatry) having money is not. No where does God condemn Abraham or Job for their wealth. In fact he increases Job’s wealth with more than his original amount after he loses it all. If you are faithful to God’s word i.e. you work six days a week, you don’t steal or lie to those you work for, you go to work and while there you work as unto the Lord, if you restrict your self to short term debt 6 years or less, and you don’t spend money you don’t have how can you not prosper and accumulate wealth.

I see it as a command of God (first stated in Genisis and never revoked) that we take dominion over the earth to God’s glory.

My question is , is it possible to be true to God’s word and not make money?

wealth, in and of itself, is not inherently evil. there are many examples in the old testament where God awards obedience with prosperity. but God follows these promises with warnings that disobedience will bring punishment. deuteronomy 28 is a great example this juxtaposition.

but wealth and prosperity do not always indicate obedience. often wealth is accumulated through the oppression of the poor and through societal injustice. God repeatedly warned Israel that it would be destroyed because of its idolatry and mistreatment of the poor (Jeremiah 7:1-15).

so, if we are obedient, wealth is no problem, right?

well, i’m not so sure. when the rich young ruler came to Jesus and asked “what good things must i do to get eternal life?”, Jesus responded by saying “if you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.” (Matthew 19:16-30) the young man went away sad because he couldn’t give up his wealth.

and that, perhaps is the problem. we get so attached to wealth that we can’t let go of it. we become ensnared in greed and in collecting possessions, essentially putting our faith in our abilities instead of in God. if we need any evidence of this greed, we can just look at the folks who drive to church in $70,000 cars. it seems to be very difficult to live modestly and humbly when you are extremely (or even moderately) wealthy.

once again, being wealthy is not a sin. but there must be a reason 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.”

perhaps a good measure of how much is enough is the idea of sufficiency, explained in proverbs 30:8-9: “give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest i be full, and deny thee and say, ‘who is the Lord?’ or lest i be poor, and steal, and profane the name of my God.”

after looking at my really long post, i realized that i hadn’t really answered any of the questions asked. so . . .

no, i don’t think christians need to feel guilty for having money if they are following God’s commandments (love God, love others as yourself, etc.). i think that if you are being obedient and working as unto the Lord, then you are making money “Christianly.” unfortunately, we are not perfect and therefore fall into sin, and therein lie the dangers of wealth.

yes, i do think it is possible to be obedient to God and not make money. Jesus would be the first example that comes to mind.

Part of the difficulty is gluttony. I think most of us, myself definently included, fall into this sin. It isn’t the money, it is what we do with it. I live in a house with at least two rooms I rarely use. I have a cell phone even though I don’t really need one. I have a two-car garage, but wish I had a three-car garage so I could put more stuff in it. I have way more than I need, yet I want more just in case. This really becomes a problem when we start looking at the rest of the world. The fact is, I am consuming more than my fair share and I live in a society that encourages me, every day, to buy more and spend more and never think of the consequesnces because (the world says) I deserve it. No, earning money isn’t wrong, but I am glad I don’t earn any more than I do, because I think if I had more I would want more — and what I do with what I have is not very impressive.

i completely agree and my credit card statements will unfortunately back me up.

I think we may be starting to get at the root of the problem. Gluttony which is a form of Idolatry (looking to something else to meet your need instead of God), and coveteousness are the sins here, not wealth and not having stuff. We need to be careful about this concept of fair though. the idea that everything should be divided equally among the earth is certainly not biblical in origin. In fact scripture says that the wealth of the wicked will be given over to the righteous. We need to remember that God at times deals with nations as a whole and not just individuals and that he deals with nations in his time frame often over centuries. Yes, America is a sinful nation, it deserves to be judged but perhaps it already is being judged but that judgment is moving so slowly that those in the now can’t really see it. Perhaps this great wealth that we’ve been given is just one small piece of our Judgment. Wealth is a test of faith which must be pasted both individually and on a national basis.

i just wanted to share something i found while doing some research for an upcoming church service on marginalized people. it’s from Peter Maurin, a French Catholic philosopher.

What we give to the poor
for Christ’s sake
is what we carry with us
when we die.
As Jean Jacques Rousseau
says:
“When a man dies
he carries
in his clutched hands
only that
which he has given away.”

this makes me think that the issue, when discussing wealth, should not be what we think God would allow us to keep, but rather what He would want us to give away.

I won’t disagree that God calls us to give to the poor, but I don’t want giving to be reduced only to material gifts given to those who lack material things. When Christ teaches in Luke 12:13-34 to “sell your possessions and give to the poor”, he’s trying to stress a definition of wealth that lies in the context of the kingdom.

It is true that we have a greater temptation in our society to place too much value on material possessions, that it is harder (not impossible) to enter the kingdom if you have lots of stuff, but the Christian task is not just helping people without possessions. Our gifts to the poor include systematic change in the environment, the state, rock music, film etc.

I always bristle when people blame Bono for flying around in his private jets and spending all kinds of money on giant video screens and semi trucks to haul light and sound equipment while people are starving around the world. These songs are gifts to the poor, sweet offerings to God and to man, right?

right.