by mr palmAccording to
this recent Time article, several experts on the Prosperity Gospel believe that the movement led followers into the trap that has ensnared the American economy: buying a house that you can't afford.
The Prosperity Gospel preaches that God wants to bless his children with riches on earth. When mortgage loans were being approved nearly regardless of credit rating, followers may have seen it as God opening the door to their dream home. Perhaps the common thinking of "God will increase my wealth" led to people to purchase a home that was beyond their means.
As we sorely know, the American housing market collapsed, and many dreams have been shattered.
Do you think that the Prosperity Gospel influenced its followers to buy homes that they couldn't afford?
Comments (74)
No, Americans being absolutely retarded with their money did that. You can prosper when you LIVE WITHIN YOUR MEANS. Good Lord, are we really this idiotic as a nation?
Oh wait, we started the reality tv craze...so yes, we are.
Oh jeez. I heard about that. Didn't it have something to do with giving a certain percentage to your church and you will receive a certain amount more? And then it got dragged into the house thing?
...
I could be totally off.
joel osteen and his ilk are phonies.
did their version of the gospel cause the mortgage crisis? i'm sure it had an effect.
This is REALLY interesting. I had never looked at it like this....definitely gives me a lot to chew on.
@xthexTruthxisxoutxtherex@xanga - Osteen irks me...probably b/c he's on Fox News saying that Mormons are Christians, and even after the interviewer looks all confused, and gives him a chance to "clarify" his statement, he doesn't recant it...he simply says that Mitt Romney said that he believes in Jesus, and that he (Osteen) doesn't worry about "the details."
He's a great motivational speaker and all, but I don't see how anything that he does fits what the NT says that a pastor is to do.
It probably did. Sure, you should trust God to help you with your finances, but He wants us to be good stewards of what He has given us. The Bible also teaches that we should "owe no man any thing". We should not buy something unless we can afford it.
Seriously? Is this even a valid argument? If one person chooses to blame a teaching or doctrine for their own mistakes, then they have more problems then they're even aware of! READ THE BIBLE! It talks about testing what we hear from the pulpits and "holding fast to that which is true". The "Prosperity Doctrine" is not a well-balanced teaching, and any person who has spent more than a breath in the Word knows this.
Osteen says some really good things, and some not so-good things...as does every single human ever to walk this earth with the exception of Jesus. We can't blame certain pastors for the current economic crisis. Be humble, except your share of the blame, repent, then make strides to not make the same mistake again. If you're honest in that...then I'm sure God will help you.
That has to be the most ridiculous thing I have heard today. People living beyond their means are what caused them to lose their homes. My husband and I delayed purchasing a home during the "get it while it's hot" phase because those terms scared us.
I am a Christian woman raised believing that tithing was a positive thing. Never did I tithe expecting anything. God had already saved my soul, what more did I need? Yes, it says in the bible that what you give you will see returned tenfold. I tend to believe that it was not to be taken literally. God saw fit to heal my daughter when she was born with very serious health issues. I believe that was my tenfold.
It's not the Prosperity Gospel. It's the peoples' lack of judgment and common sense that led them to this crisis. People aren't smart with their money until it's too late.
No one can blame anyone for his/her own dumb decisions. Money can be part of a prosperous life but why would a loving Abba, Father give something to us when the Fruits of the Spirit barely operate in us: not to mention the Gifts of the Spirit. Although I don't really view the letters to the churches in Revelation as a dispensational thing, Laodicea seems to be an awful lot like the pathetic state of the "Spirit-filled" arena here in the end (and it is the end). Their confession was wrong according to Jesus, himself. They were confessing to be rich and in need of nothing: sounds very familiar. I don't hold any of the "prosperity" teachers to blame. Most of the followers spend very little one-on-one time with God and His Word for the selves.
The Prosperity Gospel is the "tickle me elmo" of Christianity and is a sad and dangerous heresy. But to say it caused the current economic downturn is very sketchy. I'm sure though that many of the movement's followers were persuaded to dive in over their heads financially. The Church as a whole needs to step in and right this wrong turn this movement has taken. We all need to let go of the "American Dream" and cling to the "Kingdom Reality".
yup i believe so. apparently everything is God's will, so if you were meant to get that house, then so be it, but he wants you to lose your money because you did something wrong. He probably is giving you a sign or punishing you. It's God's will. Period.
@desperate4mySavior@xanga wrote, We all need to let go of the "American Dream" and cling to the "Kingdom Reality". Right. Luke 9:57-58.
I can certainly see how this is a valid argument, as I've heard people in my own realm repeat those very words. I do believe God will provide, but I know some people have been quick to overlook the ways in which God will provide. Most of the people I know who relied on this expected a check to arrive in the mail or a surprise financial windfall to arrive in their lap, and totally missed an opportunity at second income (a second job) or other ways to increase income. God will provide, but sometimes he expects us to meet him halfway (at least).
@naphtali_deer@xanga - Wait, does that mean you agree with him, or disagree? I didn't see the correlation between the verse and the issues...
Do you think that the Prosperity Gospel influenced its followers to buy homes that they couldn't afford?
Maybe, but you can't blame it on that. I know of Christians that aren't part of the P.G. and they also lost their homes.
This society is all about placing blame on someone else or something else and not taking responsibility for your own actions and decisions. I'm so tired of it! No one is to blame except the people who made the decision to buy a house they had to know they could not afford. I don't blame the mortgage companies who approved them for the loans either, although they are paying their own price for doing that! Everyone needs to take responsibility for themselves. If you don't know you can't afford a house that cost $400,000 when you only make $20,000 a year or if you decide to take a chance and sign on the dotted line to an interest only loan because your credit is so bad you can't get the house any other way, no one is to blame but YOU!
Responsibility is something each individual has for their own actions. Another may encourage us to think or act in a certain way, but the choice to do so or not is with ourselves alone.
Yes, no, Who cares?
The issue with the Prosperity Gospel is that its teaching is wrong, not whether it makes people lose their homes as a result.
The issue with the financial crisis is that people are losing their homes from it, not who might have a role in leading to it.
Your question is irrelevant to dealing with either of these issues. It's fruitless speculation and a waste of time.
@death_by_chocolat@xanga - I'm agreeing with @desperate4mySavior@xanga 's distinction between the American dream and Kingdom reality. We get so focused on earthly things that we forget that earth is not our home. We don't look to the heavenly city. We are only pilgrims here, strangers and aliens. But too often we get so enamored with earthly trinkets and trivialities that we miss out on the exceeding greatness of the treasure of the pearl of great price. We don't treasure Christ as we ought. Our minds and our affections are to be fixed on things above but our greed and lust, the world's bombardments and Satan's schemes all battle against that so we might focus on the here and now, of accumulating more and more stuff to put in our barns...things that have no eternal value and in the end will be burned up.
As they were going along the road, someone said to him, I will follow you wherever you go. And Jesus said to him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. Luke 9:57-58.
"God will provide" is one of those moronic sayings designed to remove blame from oneself. In other words, it's bull.
@captain_jaq@xanga - Agreed.
No, God had nothing to do with it. Excessive greed however did...
People are losing their homes because the banks loaned them too much money in the first place...that, AND the economy is so bad that everything else has gone way, way up and eaten into the mortgage payment that they could previously afford. I know - I experience it. Gas is way up. Energy and utilities are way up. Food is way up. It wasn't like this when I bought my house. It really sucks when you have to choose between paying a utility bill or feeding the kids/having enough gas to get to work, and then the mortgage falls behind, too. You can't just shut off hungry children and quit driving to your job.
People are responsible for their own actions, period. If God provided for a person to get a home, He would also provide the means with which to pay for it. God doesn't put people in a bind; they do that themselves.