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Prosperity theology and the mortgage crisis
This piece in Time is interesting. The basic premise is that the "prosperity gospel" of many Pentacostal/Assemblies of God style churches convinced people that God would make it possible for them to buy a house, in spite of their lack of savings, poor credit, etc.
Maybe it's my strict Catholic upbringing, but I've always found these churches a little bizarre, I've watched some of their services on TV and it's all about God giving you wealth and riches, but nothing about scripture, nothing about service or even hard work, just getting what you rightly deserve because God wants you to have it. They certainly don't preach Proverbs 22:7 (the borrower will be servent to the lender).
But on the whole I'm pretty ignorant about the whole movement. What can you tell me?
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1847053,00.html?cnn=yes
Re: Prosperity theology and the mortgage crisis
I don't have much to add except that that article was very interesting and I think it makes an excellent point.
I'm no expert, but I've always thought the whole 'prosperity gospel' went pretty much counter to the main teachings of Christianity. I find it incredibly distasteful.
My church believes in the prosperity message, based on Luke 6:38 as well as other new and old testament scriptures. BUT, not in the sense that God is going to make up for you being an idiot and buying a house you can't afford, or that God is going to make everyone millionaires. Basically, we believe that God wants us to prosper in all areas of our life, including but not limited to financially. Marriage, family, health, income- all of these areas are things that we believe God wants us to prosper in.
Now, it is also true that my pastor bluntly states that God isn't going to magically fix your bad financial decisions, whether it is living above your means or what. As a matter of fact, there are budgeting classes available at our church occasionally, and when we go through pre-marriage councelling there is a section about having a budget and discussing finances so that everything is out in the open.