May 4, 2007--Fanaticism LXXX: The Money's All His
There was some good news recently that emerged from one part of the Evangelical community—unlike their premillennialist counterparts who do not see any need to conserve the earth since we’re rapidly headed toward the Apocalypse and the Final Days, this more left-leaning group claims that God wants us to be green since He granted man “dominion” over the earth and called for us to be good “stewards” of that dominion.
And now, since for quite some time Christians have been permitted to engage in finance and usury (since the Renaissance it has not been the exclusive preserve of the Jews), other Evangelical brethren are realizing that many of their congregants are overwhelmed by debt and thus the church has an obligation to help them return to solvency. (See NY Times article linked below.)
The Southeast Christian Church, for example, runs a 13-week debt-reduction program called Financial Peace University. One participant, after just nine sessions got rid of all his credit cards, saying “A big part of [the program] is that it has a faith component. God wants you to be good stewards of your money.” And he added, “The money’s all His.”
Well, not quite. It may be true that there are some passages in the Bible that call on us to be careful about what we have, there is nothing scriptural that says anything about our cash belonging to God. Actually, it appears that most of those who are running these get-out-of-debt workshops see some of that money as not God’s, but theirs.
There is the matter of worshippers having enough money to donate some to the churches themselves--because so many parishioners are mired in debt they do not have as much as in the past to put in the collection baskets. So, though secular financial planners tell you not to spend (or donate) until you are out of debt, the Evangelical version needs to have you donating (to them) all the time—whether in debt or not, and even while in one of their programs.
And just in case you forget to do that on Sundays, or if you do not have the cash to do so, many of these Evangelical-run programs charge participants. One case in point—the Financial Peace Program itself is a for-profit operation run by David Ramsey, he of the widely popular Dave Ramsey Show, which is syndicated across the country. On it, Born-Again Ramsey takes calls about personal finance and, occasionally, money-related Christian philosophy as it pertains to tithing. One notable difference between his and other financial shows such as Suze Orman’s is that Ramsey attempts to go beyond the numbers and tries to reach his callers at an emotional and spiritual level.
And then he offers access to his 13-week program. It has been used by more than 10,000 churches and thus far 350,000 families have completed it. Participation is free, but the required books and audio CDs run each person between $80 and $90. I assume these can be charged to participant's Master Cards.
As we know, nothing is for nothing. Amen.
And now, since for quite some time Christians have been permitted to engage in finance and usury (since the Renaissance it has not been the exclusive preserve of the Jews), other Evangelical brethren are realizing that many of their congregants are overwhelmed by debt and thus the church has an obligation to help them return to solvency. (See NY Times article linked below.)
The Southeast Christian Church, for example, runs a 13-week debt-reduction program called Financial Peace University. One participant, after just nine sessions got rid of all his credit cards, saying “A big part of [the program] is that it has a faith component. God wants you to be good stewards of your money.” And he added, “The money’s all His.”
Well, not quite. It may be true that there are some passages in the Bible that call on us to be careful about what we have, there is nothing scriptural that says anything about our cash belonging to God. Actually, it appears that most of those who are running these get-out-of-debt workshops see some of that money as not God’s, but theirs.
There is the matter of worshippers having enough money to donate some to the churches themselves--because so many parishioners are mired in debt they do not have as much as in the past to put in the collection baskets. So, though secular financial planners tell you not to spend (or donate) until you are out of debt, the Evangelical version needs to have you donating (to them) all the time—whether in debt or not, and even while in one of their programs.
And just in case you forget to do that on Sundays, or if you do not have the cash to do so, many of these Evangelical-run programs charge participants. One case in point—the Financial Peace Program itself is a for-profit operation run by David Ramsey, he of the widely popular Dave Ramsey Show, which is syndicated across the country. On it, Born-Again Ramsey takes calls about personal finance and, occasionally, money-related Christian philosophy as it pertains to tithing. One notable difference between his and other financial shows such as Suze Orman’s is that Ramsey attempts to go beyond the numbers and tries to reach his callers at an emotional and spiritual level.
And then he offers access to his 13-week program. It has been used by more than 10,000 churches and thus far 350,000 families have completed it. Participation is free, but the required books and audio CDs run each person between $80 and $90. I assume these can be charged to participant's Master Cards.
As we know, nothing is for nothing. Amen.
posted by Steven Zwerling at
11:40 AM
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