WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Adhis
  • Start date Start date
  • Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.

    If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!

    To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.
A

Adhis

Guest
Hi everyone,

I don't know how people will react to this but I am curious to know if I am the only one who has a problem with it.

Ever heard of the prosperity ministry? Well it's not quite a ministry but there is an overwhelming number of churches that only preach of prosperity and only prosperity and how rosy life is with Jesus Christ. The sermon is usually preceded by giving of offering and tithe and I feel like people are being promised wealth in exchange of offering and tithe. It's not uncommon to hear the pastor say "Give that the lord may bless your house, business" and so on or "I see millionaires in this church the Lord will raise you up"

Personally I find this very disturbing, it is one thing to be constantly bombarded with money and wealth and fame by mainstream media, to go and hear about it in church is exhausting. My questions to you are:

  1. Do you want to be a millionaire?
  2. Do you think this type of preaching is misleading?
  3. Is it wrong to be a wealthy Christian or can some one be a wealthy Christian?
  4. What about the 'poor', doesn't this alienate them?
 
Do I want to be rich? I must admit I sometimes wish I had more money than I do, imagine being able to buy a small house without living with debt for the rest of ones life (basically impossible here unless you are a multimillionaire). But I know money does not matter, and it seems the more one has, the more one wants. So I don't want so much money that it would make me focus on that, rather than God.

I think it is possible to be a wealthy christian. There are rich poeple who give huge ammounts of money for charity
And I do believe God wil reward faithful givers


I do however not agree with telling people that "if you give money to the church you will get rich".
Our focus should never be on money, but on how we can serve God. Some might be able to do this by giving money, others by helping with things in church, wheteher it is teaching, sining or cleaning.
 
I think the "prosperity Gospel" is a false and dangerous teaching. Sure it may bring people to Christ, but once they find out hey, Jesus isn't gonna give you a million dollars overnight, there's a high risk of those people abandoning the faith.

To address your questions:

Do you want to be a millionaire? Am I actively seeking to be a millionaire? No. Would I be OK with being a millionaire? Certainly! My intent is to get enough money so that I can finally break free of being lower middle class. I want to have enough money that I can be comfortable and not have to constantly ration money ("If I buy X today, then I can't get Y tomorrow, but if I don't get Z today, I could afford Y tomorrow!").

Do you think this type of preaching is misleading? Very. It makes people think that Christianity is the "easy life." In some ways, it is since it gives a peace beyond all understanding and a contentment from the fact you are in right standing with the Creator and he is taking care of you. But at the same time, that doesn't mean God is guaranteed to provide us with tons of money and all the material desires we want.

Is it wrong to be a wealthy Christian or can some one be a wealthy Christian? Nothing wrong with being wealthy. If it's God's desire for someone to be wealthy, why frown upon that? Obviously, if a person become greedy or in some other manner takes their desires off of God, then the wealth becomes a bad thing.

What about the 'poor', doesn't this alienate them? I think it could attract the attention of poor people, believer and non-believer alike. But when they don't get rich it could make them discouraged and possibly give up the faith.
 
As far as your four questions, i think Shawn did a fine job responding to the first three. In regards to question four, the prosperity preachers explain 'poor Christians' as having a lack of faith. 'You don't receive because you don't believe'. So if you're not rich, its not their faulty formula, its your fault for lacking faith. Some also say sin is a result of your poorness. Sin in your life is blocking Gods blessings, again, no way to blame the preacher of his formula. So that explains how they deal with your question number four.
 
I always taught my children that God will give you what you need, not what you want. Does God want us to be successful, certainly, however, we must remember it's the love of money that can get us into trouble. So, it boils down to a personal choice, chase money or allow God to guide you in a way that will be successful. Mr. Trump, Bill gates and all the other rich and wealthy can not afford a ticket to heaven.. Cheers
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back