At church we heard about God's teaching on money, i can't remember the exact passage but basically God said not to worship money etc and my pastor was explaining that God saw money as a negative thing and to give away as much of it as possible or only do with it things that praise God. This has just totally confused me. I want to live my life like God and i do try but now i just feel totally guilty. I am doing a degree to hopefully better myself and get a good job but now i feel guilty for wanting to have better life. I understand that it's not the material things that matter i do get that but i would still like to have nice things. For example clothes i love clothes and am very into them but now i feel guilty for wanting to look nice and have nice things. Surely i can wish for nice things but know that overall they belong to God - I am still worshipping God- not money as i know the money has come from God. I am just confused about the whole thing would love someone to shine some light on it for me
God's teaching about money
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Joshua Howard
Life, Liberty, And The Pursuit of Happiness
If God saw money as a negative thing, why would he WANT all of yours? lol. If you want "God's attitude toward money", read the parable of the talents. According to that, he's a heartless, greedy miser.
God put three different fund managers in charge of investing his assets, went on vacation, and pretty much said "I reap where I don't sow, and if you don't give me double digit returns I'll make your life hell."
God put three different fund managers in charge of investing his assets, went on vacation, and pretty much said "I reap where I don't sow, and if you don't give me double digit returns I'll make your life hell."
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Sketcher
Born Imperishable
Money isn't a bad thing at all. If it were, why would God teach us in Proverbs how to slowly but surely acquire more of it?
It can be an idol when pursued to the exclusion of all else. But believers are supposed to have a healthy perspective of money.
- All of the money we have and will ever earn belongs to God. When we became Christians, we signed our whole lives over to him. This includes our money.
- He has blessed us with whatever money we have for a reason, and we are trustees over it. Trustees don't have rights to the money they manage.
- We must therefore earn it diligently, give it generously, save it wisely, spend it prudently, and if we have to go into debt, we should do so cautiously with a plan for repaying it ASAP.
It can be an idol when pursued to the exclusion of all else. But believers are supposed to have a healthy perspective of money.
- All of the money we have and will ever earn belongs to God. When we became Christians, we signed our whole lives over to him. This includes our money.
- He has blessed us with whatever money we have for a reason, and we are trustees over it. Trustees don't have rights to the money they manage.
- We must therefore earn it diligently, give it generously, save it wisely, spend it prudently, and if we have to go into debt, we should do so cautiously with a plan for repaying it ASAP.
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MacFall
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Your pastor is a fallible human being, and if he indeed says that money is evil, then he is wrong.
Money is a tool. Like any tool, it can be used for good or evil. Money is a good which people choose to use as a medium of exchange, to allow indirect exchange to occur. This enables a division of labor to occur, without which society's technological and capital structure would collapse, leaving everyone to scratch in the dirt for a living. Such a world would support no more than a few million people, each having a lifespan of around 40 years.
Money, when acquired justly, reflects the diligence and creativity to which we, God's creatures, should aspire. In a society characterized by voluntary exchange, money can only be acquired when people fill the needs and wants of others.
The problem is that we have a society characterized at least as much, if not more, by political association than by voluntary exchange. The quickest way to get rich, for a privileged few, is to exploit the political process in order to get other people's money through the threat of violence, and to suppress competition so that people have to settle for a monopolistic price. The rest of us get stuck with the scraps and the high prices. This is not the fault of money, nor is it the fault of "capitalism" or "free markets" or any other of the strawmen that anti-market bigots love to trot out. The problem is not money; it is greed and violence and disrespect for people's individual rights, perpetrated in a vast majority of cases by the government and the government's favored persons and organizations.
Money is a tool. Like any tool, it can be used for good or evil. Money is a good which people choose to use as a medium of exchange, to allow indirect exchange to occur. This enables a division of labor to occur, without which society's technological and capital structure would collapse, leaving everyone to scratch in the dirt for a living. Such a world would support no more than a few million people, each having a lifespan of around 40 years.
Money, when acquired justly, reflects the diligence and creativity to which we, God's creatures, should aspire. In a society characterized by voluntary exchange, money can only be acquired when people fill the needs and wants of others.
The problem is that we have a society characterized at least as much, if not more, by political association than by voluntary exchange. The quickest way to get rich, for a privileged few, is to exploit the political process in order to get other people's money through the threat of violence, and to suppress competition so that people have to settle for a monopolistic price. The rest of us get stuck with the scraps and the high prices. This is not the fault of money, nor is it the fault of "capitalism" or "free markets" or any other of the strawmen that anti-market bigots love to trot out. The problem is not money; it is greed and violence and disrespect for people's individual rights, perpetrated in a vast majority of cases by the government and the government's favored persons and organizations.
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WiredSpirit
and all God's people said... meh
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Matt. 19:21-22 NRSV
Jesus said to him, ‘If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions.
Jesus said to him, ‘If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions.
I believe God wants us to find our needs met through him, and he does not want us to prioritize becoming wealthy. You can see in Matthew 6 starting in verse 25 what I mean. For those of us that have been blessed we should be willing to give generously when called and not attached to our belongings.
Just something to think about, did you decide to get a degree to better your own life or did God call you to do that? I believe we should make every decision to please God, in consideration of what he wants. Jeremiah 29:11 says that God has plans to prosper you and give you a hope and a future. Just make sure you're following God's plans and not your own.
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