Faith and Prosperity

The prosperity gospel is a subject that often surfaces in the blogosphere and often is accompanied by a lot of vitriol and controversy.. thought that these economic times might be a good time to discuss it here.

Christianity today recently highlighted two preachers who pastor two of the largest churches in America and their views on the subject:

For [Joel] Osteen, Prosperity Gospel isn't a pejorative term:

"Does God want us to be rich?" he asks. "When I hear that word rich, I think people say, 'Well, he's preaching that everybody's going to be a millionaire.' I don't think that's it." Rather, he explains, "I preach that anybody can improve their lives. I think God wants us to be prosperous. I think he wants us to be happy. To me, you need to have money to pay your bills. I think God wants us to send our kids to college. I think he wants us to be a blessing to other people. But I don't think I'd say God wants us to be rich. It's all relative, isn't it?"

On the other side is the guy whose church rounds out the "largest four" list:

"This idea that God wants everybody to be wealthy?", [Rick] Warren snorts. "There is a word for that: baloney. It's creating a false idol. You don't measure your self-worth by your net worth. I can show you millions of faithful followers of Christ who live in poverty. Why isn't everyone in the church a millionaire?"

Two interesting perspectives.. my thinking is somewhere in between.

I agree that God wants us to pay our bills.. also think that He doesn't want us to live above our means.. don't believe that God wants us to be slaves to our credit cards.. this is where many prosperity folks go wrong.

I think that God does want us to be happy.. if that happiness is accompanied by contentment.. really.. money and things can't make you happy.. again the prosperity folks mistakenly define "blessings" narrowly and create an illusion of a "right" to be blessed with things.

I also agree that God wants us to be a blessing to others.. but often money is not what people need most.. many times they need our compassion.. mostly they need us.. they need our presence.. they need the blessing of our time.

I do wonder who Warren is speaking of when he says:

"I can show you millions of faithful followers of Christ who live in poverty."

He is probably not speaking about folks that attend his church in Southern California. He might be speaking about folks who have had troubles.. health issues.. family tragedies.. folks in third world countries.. mostly he speaks the obvious.. the world is full of folks who are poor due to no fault of their own.. but I doubt that he would say "God wants you to be poor" to His church.

So what should a pastor say to the folks who they regularly speak to? Should they say "God wants you to be poor"?.. or "God wants you to be rich"?.. or should they simply offer scriptures that will cause folks to consider how they can best live a contented and responsible life?

Happy 90th Billy

 

This picture is the way that I will always remember Billy Graham. I have been a part of two Billy Graham crusades in my life.. I worked as a counselor at the 1978 Kansas City Crusade and attended another a few years ago at Arrowhead Stadium. I admire Billy for the way that he has lived his life and for his commitment to Christ's ministry. It is an honor to wish him Happy Birthday today.

Stinky Microwaves

This funny cartoon brought back many memories of times gone by when I spent most of my days in Corporate America. Some of the things that people would put in the microwave - yikes!

If it wasn't fish it was something exotic that really offended my sense of smell.

Do you have any stinky stories to share?

And what about those folks who don't clean up after themselves and leave a messy microwave?

Returned to the Sea

My wife shared this wonderful story from World War II with me Saturday morning. Here are a few excerpts from the Associated Press article:

When the submarine USS Ohio surfaced at sea and Machinist Mate 1st Class Jason Witty emerged from the hatch to look around, he saw calm, blue water under a peaceful sky — perfect for the solemn task he was about to perform.

On the map, the Ohio was afloat in just another indistinguishable expanse of the Pacific Ocean. As Witty stood on deck holding a silver pitcher, the vessel was alone.

Just like the ill-fated USS Indianapolis, 63 years earlier.

The pitcher contained the ashes of Witty's grandfather, Boatswain Mate 2nd Class Eugene Morgan, who had survived the sinking of the Indianapolis — one of the worst tragedies for the U.S. Navy in World War II.

Morgan had died of a heart attack in June at age 87, just before Witty went to sea, and among his last wishes was the desire to be rejoined with his shipmates at roughly the same spot in the Pacific where the Indianapolis went down.

Witty went on to recount the story that his grandfather had shared with him of how the USS Indianapolis was sunk by a Japanese submarine and how he survived for four days in shark infested waters. His grandfather held this horrific story in his heart for over 40 years. Once he shared it with his grandson he continued to share the story in schools and with other groups.. and I share it with you today.. check his story out here.

Four Commitments to Barack Obama

Michael Hyatt, CEO of Thomas Nelson publishing, today offers these four commitments to our new president:

1. I will pray for him and our country.
2. I will assume his motives are good, giving him the benefit
   of the doubt.
3. I will not speak ill of him, even if I don’t always agree with him.
4. I will cast off the spirit of cynicism, and be a positive force for good.

I applaud Michael for presenting such great thoughts. I will join him in this commitment and hope that many other people of faith will follow his example.

President Elect Barack Obama

WWW: Bowler Dies After First 300 Game

In this edition of Weird World Wednesday, I submit to you this Associated Press article:

RAVENNA, Mich. — Don Doane belonged to the same team at a Ravenna bowling alley for 45 years.

Just moments after rolling the first perfect 300 game of his life, Doane collapsed onto the floor while high-fiving his Nutt Farm teammates.

The 62-year-old Ravenna resident was taken to a local hospital but couldn't be saved. A medical examiner determined that a heart attack killed Doane.

Jim Nutt spoke with Grand Rapids TV stations WOOD and WZZM about his friend and teammate, who collapsed Oct. 16 at Ravenna Bowl.

Nutt says Doane won't be forgotten by his many friends at the Muskegon County bowling alley. They say it's strange not seeing Doane anymore on league nights.

Happy Election Day

Investing vs Gambling

I thought that this chart was an interesting one because it shows how risky it is to invest in Corporate America. If you are considering investing you might do well to consider lower-risk value-oriented mutual funds and bond funds.

These types of investments take longer to mature and do not earn like riskier growth funds but in the long run shield you a bit from the mega-losses these folks on the left have seen.

Whatever you do remember that investing considers the long term.. anything else is just gambling.

Prayer Blog

I felt a bit inspired this morning watching my wife Ann receiving chemotherapy and decided to create a new blog dedicated to prayer. I am calling it Daily Prayer.. you can find it at http://praying.kansasbob.com. I will be keeping a prayer request list there as well as a list of answered prayers. Feel free to stop by, pray and leave a prayer request.

God and the Election

I received an email message this morning from Chip, my old friend, one-time church history teacher and missionary to Kenya that has some good thoughts about tomorrow's election. Here is the note in part:

Tomorrow is Election Day in the US. Scriptures indicate that God appoints kings, rulers and those in positions of authority in governments. I believe that in a democracy that means that God has appointed the citizens to rule and have authority. I don’t believe that God will get even one vote to cast on Tuesday. He has already made his choice – the citizens of the United States.

Although God does not vote in the election, please do so yourself if you are a US citizen. Chari, Amanda, and I have all voted already via absentee ballot. If we do not exercise our responsibility to vote, we are, in effect, abdicating the authority that God has bestowed upon us. I hope you can join us in praying that:

• God will grant the people of the US, wisdom, insight, and understanding to make good decisions

• The citizens of the USA will take their responsibility seriously to vote for the candidate of their choice

• Both those who are happy and those who are disappointed in the results, will reach out to each other and purposively engage in the process of dialog and collaboration to create policies, programmes, priorities, and procedures that will facilitate the wellbeing of people, both in the USA and around the world.

Please join me in saying an amen to Chip's prayer and making that trip to the voting booth if you have not already.

The Cereal Bar

Do you eat cereal for breakfast.. I don't.. but if you do you might be interested in the Java Break eatery in Lawrence, Kansas. Here is the caption on this photo:

Java Break owner Derek Hogan opened his Cereal Bar in August. The Lawrence eatery offers 32 kinds of cereal and a variety of toppings and milk choices.

Would you frequent a place like this to eat cereal? If so what which cereal would you order?

Lookin Out My Backdoor

Chiefs 27, Bucs 30

I caught the beginning of this game over brunch at a local restaurant.. it started out great with KC's offense looking good in the first half.. newbie quarterback Tyler Thigpen seemed to be throwing the ball well and even caught a pass in the end-zone on a trick play.

Then the second half happened and the Chief's offense just plain faltered and the defense let the Buc's offense score and eventually tie it up at 27 points with seconds remaining on the clock. Tampa Bay kicked a field goal in overtime to win it. Another reason to believe that the Chiefs are well on their way to getting a better draft pick than the Cincinnati Bungals.