Prosperous Followers of a Humble God

Courtesy hellemanworld.blogspot.com

Although still far from the ideal, when it comes to living simple lives, the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church and their Evangelical counterparts seem to be going in different directions.

An Early Contrast

A favorite story of mine from the Protestant Reformation talks about an anonymous painter who painted what could be considered an early form of a political cartoon. The painting made a comparison between the "Triumphal Entry" of Jesus and a papal procession. As many of you know the "Triumphal Entry" was the time when Jesus entered Jerusalem shortly before his crucifixion. At that time, Jesus rode in on a borrowed donkey wearing his relatively simple clothes while the people honored him by waving palm branches (from where we get the term "Palm Sunday"), and placing some of their clothes on the path in front of Him. Alongside this depiction, the painter showed a customary medieval papal procession with the many cardinals and bishops in their rich robes astride highly-adorned show horses surrounding the pope on a decorative cart wearing his tailor-made robe and golden triple-miter crown.

Papal Reforms

A lot has changed from those days when the papacy seemed quite content to show everyone how much riches and wealth it had acquired. With the installation of the newest pope, the papacy has taken a different tack in appealing to the masses. Much has been written regarding Pope Francis' aversion to pomp and extravagance, so I will not rehash the details other than to say he goes to great lengths to at least appear to be like one of us. The pope strives to apply this philosophy to all levels of Roman Catholic leadership, and led to the resignation of the infamous "Bishop of Bling", as well as an apology from an Atlanta, Georgia archbishop who built a $2.2 million Tudor-style mansion for himself. No such apologies will be coming from Evangelical leaders here in the United States. In fact, one would get quite the opposite response.

Proponents of Private Prosperity

In case you haven't already figured it out, I'm referring to proponent of the so called "Prosperity Gospel" or "Prosperity Theology". Wikipedia defines the belief in this way.

". . . a Christian religious doctrine that financial blessing is the will of God for Christians, and that faith, positive speech, and donations to Christian ministries will always increase one's material wealth. Based on non-traditional interpretations of the Bible, often with emphasis on the Book of Malachi, the doctrine views the Bible as a contract between God and humans: if humans have faith in God, he will deliver his promises of security and prosperity. Confessing these promises to be true is perceived as an act of faith, which God will honor."

What makes this even more interesting is that many of the major organizations that promote such theology are registered in the United States as a "church" which not only gives them tax-free status, but also frees them from any legal obligation to disclose how they use money that they receive. (This is compared to being registered as a "religious organization" which still allows them to be tax-free, but they would have to file an IRS Form 990 to disclose their financial information.) Some Christians went even further and formed the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (EFCA). Accreditation with the EFCA gives a church or non-profit an opportunity to be even more transparent because members are listed on its website. (In case you are wondering which organizations do what, you can view a list of the thirty leading religious broadcasters here.) Sadly the majority of these "churches" shun transparency which leaves many wondering what they have to hide, and which God they truly follow.

A Much Different Picture

More importantly, which God do we follow? The humble itinerant preacher who had no place to call home, or the God who supposedly states that we should get as much wealth on earth as we possibly can? Although we may shake our heads in disbelief at these examples of extravagance, do we secretly wish that we had more money and possessions? Do we strive to be comfortable or seek to sacrifice? If a painter were to paint a picture of our life in comparison to the lives of the majority of today's society, how would we compare?