Killing the Religious Sacred Cows (or, was Jesus poor?)
Religion has developed an idea that says, “Spiritual maturity is the result of a decrease in the desires of money or blessings.” Jesus was poor and therefore we need to be “poor and humble” like him.
The early church worshiped God and conducted church correctly; by that I mean according to how Paul spoke of it in his many letters. Prosperity is the will of God and poverty being the opposite must therefore not be the will of God. The spirit of poverty entered the church under the rule of Constantine in the 300 A.D. era who took the Greek mind set and added it to the Jewish or Christian mind set. Eventually this Greek thinking over took the church. The Greeks believed that the whole world was divided into two equal parts; the material world and the spiritual world. They were in balance and if you had more of one then you had less of the other. To “be more spiritual” a person had to give up the material. Therefore, wealth was considered an enemy of the spiritual (i.e. God) world. This false theology was further perpetuated by the monks in the fourteenth century. This has continued into the church right up to today which is why so many Christians think that wealth is a sin.
Today, we still see the remandments of this in our churches. There are still Christians that feel that poverty is next to godliness and that money and wealth is sin. As you will discover, through scriptures and through the renewing of your own mind, nothing could be further from the truth.
In studying the bible, I have come to the conclusion that many practices in the church today and many things that are taught do not line-up with the Word of God! About 90% of what I have learned about biblical economics I did not learn in church. Why? The church does not teach it, or if they do, they teach many things that are incorrect. I learned it from reading books, taking courses and seminars, and mostly through read the bible.
What has the church taught you about money?
This blog post has been adapted from Lesson I of my Biblical Economics 101 course. Learn what the Word of God can teach you about money and wealth with Biblical Economics 101.