prosperity gospel explained

my sunday school is full of some great people, but "bless their heart" they are not the most well rounded theologically. on more than one occasion we have gotten into conversations about the prosperity gospel. we don't always call it that, but it comes up being that.

michael spencer has a great listing of what is prosperity gospel is and isn't. he also diagnoses why americans are drawn to it.

A) is the presumption that God wants us to be rich.

B) is the assumption that the blessings of the Gospel are a guarantee of material and financial blessings now. (The mediation of Jesus makes all blessing possible, but it does not guarantee wealth or health, etc.)

...

Why does the Prosperity Gospel appeal to American Christians?

a) American Christians are focused on money as a symbol of the “good life.”

c) American Christians have a strong preference for legalism and transactionalism.

d) The Prosperity Gospel (or elements of the message) appeals to particular churches:
-Suburban churches stressing the teaching of “life principles.”
-Church growth churches interested in drawing crowds.
-Word-Faith and TBN influenced churches.
-Churches led by faddish pastors.
-Churches that emphasize miracles.

g) American Christians prefer manipulation and transactionalism as ways of dealing with God to confessing dependence on his sovereignty.

m) The teaching of Jesus on material possessions, money and discipleship are generally ignored or reinterpreted in American Christianity.

 

Comments

[David]

great post. Good learnings
Peace,

[Thunder Jones]

Don't forget the subtution of the grace imparted by the sacraments for the grace imparted by a big paycheck and a Lexus.

In the end, I think that the breakdown of what it means to live a life infused with grace through participation in the sacraments is the downfall of low church evangelicalism. I don't know if a church that doesn't understand grace, in a traditional sense, can really stand up to the pressure of the world to conform to its standards of "good".