Prosperity Theology

Do you believe Prosperity Theology is biblical truth? (see original post)


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Stancet

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Hello Christian Forums,

I've been struggling with this doctrine lately because I'm not a rich Christian, nor am I particularly needy. I've always believed prosperity theology to be wrong, but some spiritual leaders whom I respect are making me think otherwise.

What is prosperity theology?

This is the belief that Christians (and Jews) increase in wealth and possessions because God shows his favor upon us when we are faithful. Some Christians believe differently; that we work and earn our money by the same principles as everyone else and the Bible only teaches us how to spend our money wisely.

The replies I am looking for should focus on your own Christian knowledge and have scripture to back them up. Just remember that we are all friends here and don't get into theological hair-splitting if we can't agree to disagree.
 

Doug Melven

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The prosperity Gospel as I've heard it called. The way it is being preached today is wrong.
Some prosperity preachers just say God blesses you so you can be blessed and happy and sit on your butt and do nothing for anybody else.
But I believe God blesses us abundantly that we may bless others.
He told Abraham, "I will bless you and you will be a blessing".
2 Corinthians 9:8
And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:
 
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Gregory Thompson

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Prosperity theology or return investment tithing theology . . . giving so you can get something in return is the opposite of what Jesus taught.
 
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Monksailor

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What you give as "prosperity theology" is a small part of what it REALLY entails and there are several composite ideologies labeled such. This FACT demands that you define your "prosperity theology" much , much better. Otherwise you will get absolutely nowhere here but possibly just generate a whole lot of people addressing one thing to another and it taking 10 posts or so till they find out their definitions are totally different. If you desire to waste every bodies' time go for it but you WILL develop a reputation.
 
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I believe God can give us prosperity but we need to fulfill certain condition.

Deuteronomy 8:18 [But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.]

3 John 2 [Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.]

We need to condition ourselves first so that material prosperity do not destroy us; we need to get our soul right first. Over 3/4 of lottery winners have their life deteriorate in the long run because people whom are not ready to handle money will face problems when they are given large quantity of it.

Rich people also face more temptation. Praying to get rich is unlikely to get answered unless it can give God more glory

Some skeptic will say 'But it is impossible for God to make everyone rich'

1. God has given His believers prosperity before. During the time of Solomon, everyone in the nation of Israel has their own home and garden
1 Kings 4:25
[And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.]

2. When more and more people of the body of Christ awakened to the fuller understanding of the Gospel is in the Protestant Reformation. Believe in the justification of faith that is Christ righteousness instead of work righteousness. Prosperity flourish. In the aftermath of Protestant Reformation, Western civilization has Industrial Revolution. It is the Protestant nations that trigerred the Industrial Revolution. By the standard of income compared to pre-Industrial Revolution, the median income has grown by over 20 times.
Even today, Protestant majority nations are more successful than Catholic majority nations.

In summary, I believe God can intervene to bring prosperity. However the motivation is to bring glory to the LORD first. Seeker-friendly churches are not bringing a good name to 'Biblical prosperity' because their teaching are soft on sin. They do not teach that a believer should have one's soul right first before going after prosperity. Money is a huge enabler. For a person whom is right with God, it can multiply the Kingdom of God faster. For a person whom is still struggling with sin, money will enable him/her to sin even more.
 
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Stancet

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What you give as "prosperity theology" is a small part of what it REALLY entails and there are several composite ideologies labeled such. This FACT demands that you define your "prosperity theology" much , much better. Otherwise you will get absolutely nowhere here but possibly just generate a whole lot of people addressing one thing to another and it taking 10 posts or so till they find out their definitions are totally different. If you desire to waste every bodies' time go for it but you WILL develop a reputation.

I am not worried about any reputation. Nor do I consider it a waste of time to discuss the things of God. Jesus told the little children to come to him and turned no one away. I have a few things I don't like about your post but I would like you to go in depth into your ideological understanding of prosperity theology and help me to learn if you don't mind.
 
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Gregory Thompson

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If anyone believes in true biblical prosperity, give me all of your money and then go and follow Jesus. Apparently, God is supposed to give you 100X more. I'd tell you what I'd do with it, but then I'd get no blessing for being a braggart, and you would get no blessing for Trusting God totally and completely.
Sounds like a great deal right?
 
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bekkilyn

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If the prosperity gospel was truth, then Paul and the apostles would have been some of the most materially wealthy people on earth.

Consider James 1:9-10 (NIV)
"Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. But the rich should take pride in their humiliation since they will pass away like a wild flower."

I like the way the New Century Version paraphrases:

"Believers who are poor should take pride that God has made them spiritually rich. Those who are rich should take pride that God has shown them that they are spiritually poor. The rich will die like a wild flower in the grass."

While I believe that God can and has blessed some people with material riches, I also believe that the expectation is that those same people will use these riches to serve others rather than hoard mansions, expensive cars, and personal airplanes, etc. for themselves in the name of God while the rest of God's creation is starving and struggling.

We need to remember that the material things that we have do not belong to us. They belong to God, and we only have temporary stewardship of them. He expects us to be good stewards of his gifts, whether little or great.
 
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W2L

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If the prosperity gospel was truth, then Paul and the apostles would have been some of the most materially wealthy people on earth.

Consider James 1:9-10 (NIV)
"Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. But the rich should take pride in their humiliation since they will pass away like a wild flower."

I like the way the New Century Version paraphrases:

"Believers who are poor should take pride that God has made them spiritually rich. Those who are rich should take pride that God has shown them that they are spiritually poor. The rich will die like a wild flower in the grass."

While I believe that God can and has blessed some people with material riches, I also believe that the expectation is that those same people will use these riches to serve others rather than hoard mansions, expensive cars, and personal airplanes, etc. for themselves in the name of God while the rest of God's creation is starving and struggling.

We need to remember that the material things that we have do not belong to us. They belong to God, and we only have temporary stewardship of them. He expects us to be good stewards of his gifts, whether little or great.
I agree. Where your treasure is so is your heart.
 
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Monksailor

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I am not worried about any reputation. Nor do I consider it a waste of time to discuss the things of God. Jesus told the little children to come to him and turned no one away. I have a few things I don't like about your post but I would like you to go in depth into your ideological understanding of prosperity theology and help me to learn if you don't mind.
If you don't know what you are talking about just tell us. You don't need to try to connive us into giving your answer for you. You wrote the OP. The responsibility to appropriately and sufficiently communicate to us the parameters is on you, not any of us. There are way too many schools of thought on this for any of us to know how to appropriately respond.
 
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Biblical prosperity is not to be poor and weak.

The first Gentile to be converted is a Roman Centurion.
Also without a Roman centurion intervention in Jerusalem, Apostle Paul would have been killed.

Some people would use the rich young ruler example that is God's will for us to be poor. But it is not so.
If the Holy Spirit actually illuminate the eyes of people whom hold such views. Jesus Christ actually give salvation plan differently to HOW people approaches Him.

To the humble, salvation is easy. To the proud, salvation is impossible and Christ would give impossible command (Be perfect as the Father in Heaven is perfect?)
 
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W2L

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Biblical prosperity is not to be poor and weak.

The first Gentile to be converted is a Roman Centurion.
Also without a Roman centurion intervention in Jerusalem, Apostle Paul would have been killed.

Some people would use the rich young ruler example that is God's will for us to be poor. But it is not so.
If the Holy Spirit actually illuminate the eyes of people whom hold such views. Jesus Christ actually give salvation plan differently to HOW people approaches Him.

To the humble, salvation is easy. To the proud, salvation is impossible and Christ would give impossible command (Be perfect as the Father in Heaven is perfect?)
No one is suggesting poverty. The bible teaches that God will supply our needs if we seek the kingdom. That's not poverty. It also teaches that Christians should share.
 
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Stancet

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Prosperity Gospel only works for those preaching it at a Megachurch filled with believers having the wrong motivations in God's plan for the world.

I don't deny this is true of many televangelists and such, but does it seem possible a faithful Christian could also become prosperous through God's divine favor?
 
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drjean

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As defined prosperity theology (giving so you get something back/because you will get something back) is not Scriptural.

The concept of receiving blessings from God for faithfulness, IS Scriptural. Psalm 101:6-7 "My eyes shall be on the faithful of the land, That they may dwell with me; He who walks in a perfect way, He shall serve me." Prov 28:20 A faithful man will abound with blessings, But he who hastens to be rich will not go unpunished"


The act of believing that God provides is called Faith, and Trust. The attitude of the heart is what counts. When we have the right heart attitude, we desire and enjoy the right things.

(Money is not a root of evil, the LOVE of money is a root of evil)

1 Timothy 6:10 "For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows."

Psalm 37:4 "Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart."

Matthew 6:20 "But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."


I have learned that ALL that I have is God's. HE gave it all to me, I did nothing really. ALL of my money is His (as is everything else, coming from Him, it's His first....) We are stewards, not owners of money and things.

God is FATHER. We do tend to humanize him too much since we are made in His image and forget that we ARE made in HIS image... so any concept of earning a living, gaining good, increasing wealth was, well, HIS idea first.

Hope I'm not babbling it's quite late here. My philosophy is "it isn't WHAT you go through, but HOW and WITH WHOM (GOD) you go through it!" James 1:2 "Count it all joy ..." And in the vernacular: don't sweat the small stuff....and...it's ALL small stuff!


Scripture shows us to be "good stewards" and not hoard, but invest wisely. By invest I believe that isn't just in "the market" but "the marketplace" of humans--doing good for others, giving possessions to those who have less, "paying it forward" as we, ourselves, are blessed.

For me, God always provides. I cannot exist without His provision....everything... from a parking space I need to money to give to charity, from contentment and peace when I really am lacking to being able to forgive those who truly hate me and are vile. I didn't always know this concept, but never felt right about what is now called this "prosperity theology". Sometimes I thought God wasn't providing, but hindsight sure is clear that He was involved (and still is) every step of my path! Sometimes I thought my SO was getting away with stuff and still being blessed, but realized much later that God was blessing me in spite of the other person. For me, it was real, for the other---I doubt it.

Crown Financial Ministries now says that there are actually about 2,350 verses on finances and possessions in the Bible.

(Bible.org) "Now it is required that those who have been given a trust (literally, stewards) must prove faithful” (1 Corinthians 4:2). The Greek term “steward” here includes a form of the word, house. It describes a household manager in the ancient Greek world who handled the finances for the owner. Managers are accountable to owners for how they use their finances or material poss


Stewards think different than owners
What does God want me to do with this paycheck? That’s the real question, because it’s really God’s paycheck. Our budget is His budget. How does God want me to allocate what He has given me? How does God want me to use this house? It’s his house. How should I use extra money? How much should I save, invest, spend or give away? It’s all His. How should I use it? Should I buy this car, this piece of furniture or even this book or candy bar? The size of the purchase isn’t the issue. What matters is that it’s all God’s money and I must decide how He wants me to use it.

Deuteronomy 7:9 Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations.


And of course John 3:16 For GOD SO LOVED...

The trusting believer's reward is in heaven, in spiritual things. This time on earth is truly fleeting...and believing in the millennium as I do, there will be places of authority and governance during that time. Then there is eternity after that momentary 1000 years when we reign with Jesus... I want to hear the words, "Well done thou faithful servant."(Matthew 25:23) I want to please God here and forever... what else is important than that? "Without faith it is impossible to please God. Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

It isn't what is owned that should be important. I'm really experiencing this concept these last 3 years as I give away all my things to go on the road living in a van with my dog. I am prosperous: My Father owns cattle on a thousand hills. Psalm 50:10 For every beast of the forest is Mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. 11 I know every bird of the mountains, and everything that moves in the field is Mine. 12 If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is Mine, and all it contains.. He creates by speaking. Genesis 1:2-3 "The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. 3Then God said,"
He loves me. He promises to provide all I need AND want... He already knows my needs, I don't have to beg, nor try to bribe (prosperity theology?) My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19

Matthew 6:8 So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.

In reality, if I should give too much away (hello?) or not make the right decision on something (any investment whether in a person or item) well, GOD WILL MAKE IT RIGHT. I mean, really, it's not a big deal for Him to provide, and He loves to do so (like any loving father). If we don't lean upon Him, go to Him with our wants, trust Him to protect and provide, how are we treating Him like a Father?

Okay, one last edit :D
Referring back to the first paragraph and the OP: just because I know God will provide isn't going to make Him provide when I do something i demanding it. (Think of a mother of a rambunctious 8 year old going out to play in the rain. She KNOWS that he will jump in mud puddles and come in filthy. Her knowing does not make him do it.)
 
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Yanni depp

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Whenever i hear "prosperity gospel/theology," i tend to think of the pastors that are really abusing their platform and seem to only be concerned with how much their church members tithe and truly neglect to give them any sound, spiritual nourishment.

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