Prosperity Gospel

The older I get, the more I realize that the message of the gospel is a tough sell. This message will likely cost you your wealth, your security, and possibly your life. This message led Jesus and 11 of his 12 closest followers to the grave. I don't know about you, but that's certainly not a path I want to go down.

A much easier message to sell is to give away 10% of your earnings and the Lord will pay you back and then some; giving money to God is an investment. This is the message of the prosperity gospel and here is a great ESPN piece on high profile athletes and their high profile churches.



If you want my humble opinion, there's probably a special place in the afterlife for men like Creflo Dollar. I hate to say it, but I think my heightened image of Kurt Warner just fell a bit. Not to be too hard on the guy, but I honestly think that he is more comfortable getting involved with ministers who are wealthy. It would probably make him feel very uncomfortable dropping by Joyce Meyer's house if she lived in a modest home, or heaven forbid in the ghetto. What we have here are prosperity ministers who tell the rich exactly what they want to here: God loves you and has blessed you and will continue to bless you abundantly as long as you do a list of things. And I think it's safe to assume the list includes tithing 10% and the blessing includes personal achievement and wealth.

Messages like this make me want to rip out the Old Testament of my bible and throw it in the trash. That or steal a bunch of money from people I consider my enemies and take it back to my giant home full of wives and slaves, as I could make a pretty good biblical case for that. Giving away money is NOT an investment, it's a way of life that shows that your values are greater than money. I don't get how these preachers read the same bible I read and live such different lives. The message of prosperity and even security died with Jesus. Am I missing something here? What scares me is that I actually think Creflo Dollar believes what he preaches and is justified in acting the way that he does. What's scarier is that more Christians probably agree with him than me.

A message to Kurt Warner, if this ever finds you, please stop giving your money to a mega church and just give it to the poor.

Okay, someone I actually admire

Despite my firm belief not to turn athletes into hero's, I can't deny my admiration for Cardinal Quarterback Kurt Warner. Despite losing, his performance in the Super Bowl surely solidified his induction into the Hall of Fame. Personally, I thought his 377 yards, 3 TDs and clutch 4th Quarter play was good enough to receive the award for MVP, but I can't argue giving it to a player from the winning team. After the game, a reporter went to the losing team's locker room for the always awkward post game interviews. Even though Warner had just experienced one of the most disappointing losses of his career, he managed to put a smile on his face and talk about how proud he was of his teammates. Rather than give the Jesus shout out, or just pout, Warner showed love and appreciation to his team with sincerity and pride. Maybe I'm giving the guy too much credit, but it's just one example of the many things I admire about him. Here's a decent story about him if you're not familiar with his family background. I believe he is one of the best human interest stories of our generation. I try not to put athletes up on a pedestal, but it's hard not to with this guy.