Faith makes people poor?
Monday, May 05, 2008
The Bible is holding conservative Protestants back financially. So says Duke University Sociologist Lisa Keister. According to data analyzed by Keister, the median net worth for conservative Protestants in 2000 was $26,000, compared to the national median of $66,200. Keister accounts for the gap by pointing to the nearly 2,000 verses in the New Testament that touch on the topic of money such as Jesus’ injunction to not “store up for yourselves treasures on earth.” For Keister these teachings mean diminished net worth for followers. “The one big difference is the conservative Protestants’ assumption that God is the owner of money and people are managers of it. They are doing with their money what God wants them to do with it, so that does mean that it is not sitting in their bank accounts.”(ht: usatoday.com, 4/24/08 )
What do you think of Keister's conclusions? Should "net worth" be Christian's ultimate goal and end game?
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posted by Bill Reichart at 3:10 PM 
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3 Comments:
Christians may have bought into what some churches have taught from the pulpit. Some believe we have to have a poverty mind set in order to be Christ like.
I don't believe we should focus on net worth but rather teaching responsible financing.
If that happened then every persons net worth would increase, churches could meet their budgets, do more mission work and reach more souls for Christ.
Is the net worth really a result of giving to the kingdom or is it being spent at "stuffmarts" across the nation?
Thanks Diane for getting the comments rolling...more thoughts?
I'm currently reading a sociology of the New Testament that spent a bit of time comparing our social situation with that of the NT world. One of the most telling aspects in that particular chapter was that point that the only binding glue of our culture that remains is economics - whereas in the NT world this glue was kinship.
This post kinda makes hopeful that, while our culture DOES rate how well we're connected to things by our economic presence - maybe we're a little more counter-cultural than I thought.
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