Response:Should you blame God for the Subprime Crisis?

As I get older, I find myself looking more into the news and current events. I am not sure how many of you have seen this article. (http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1847053,00.html?cnn=yes) . The time magazine website has an article discussing the mortgage crisis blaming preachers that are preaching and teaching the prosperity gospel. First, I would like to say that I don’t really care for the title of this article, “Maybe you should blame God for the Subprime Mess”. This is crazy. Everyone is trying to point fingers except to the people that actually desire the blame, but why God. I have an issue with people blaming God for random things. In “Skinny Dipping with the Savior”, I discuss that just because a person (or group of people) in the church does something wrong, that does not mean that you blame God. Personally, I would like to blame the people that want God out of the picture. Have you noticed that it has been a degradation of our prosperity as a nation since we started taken God out of the picture? Think about when we took prayer out of school and we took the power for parents to properly discipline their children. Since then, there has been a major problem with our children, but….that is a different blog entry. Back to the actual article that I read. David Van Biema highlighted some very interesting things in this article. I have been having issues with this doctrine for awhile. Now, I have been at churches that have definitely made statements similar to those that are in the article, however I do believe that God can bless this way. There are two main thoughts of the blessings of God that I have seen within the church. One, is that if you believe God and have faith, then ask, he will give it to you. That is the doctrine that is in the article, the other is that God is complete Sovereign and he is going to do whatever he chooses. I see both of these doctrines as one sided. God is Sovereign (Acts 4:24) and His thoughts are higher than ours (Isaiah 55:9), there are going to be things that you ask for and God is going to tell you NO. He is going to say that you can’t have certain things. You have to be mature and be able to handle the no. God is also a Father that want to have His children ask for things (Mark 11:23-25). There is definitely truth to this doctrine, but the doctrine is not completely true. There is a level of maturity that the church needs to have concerning this. For example, is God going to get the glory and is it going to help people to know (or trust) him more. Are you seeking the gift or the gift giver? God can bless you with anything that is in this world. Houses, Cars, Money, etc….but these things are extra things. God did not call his people to drive around in luxury cars and live in big houses. That is extra! He called us so that we can tell others about Him and disciple them. Christians should be praying for and telling people about Jesus wherever they are. The BIG issue with the prosperity doctrine is that it takes the focus off of God and onto self. Some people grab a hold of this and do not think about how they can bless God, but how God can bless them. Another thing is that Christians should not abandon basic biblical principles, such as being a good steward with what He has given us. God can bless those with poor credit with a house; however they must be good stewards with their money. The American way is to borrow to get whatever you want, but that is not the Godly way. Please do not use God’s grace, mercy and blessings as an excuse to against other financial principles that the bible established.