Danny ChaiI told Henry over the trip that some readers of my blog think he’s a jerk for his abrasive comments. I’m assuming that’s the reason for his oddly positive comment in the last entry. Too little, too late.
We had dinner with my dad on Sunday, and we had an interesting conversation about Prosperity Theology. I don’t really feel like explaining what that is. But in a nutshell, it’s the idea that God wants us to prosper financially, so if we just ask for it, it will happen. That’s probably a superficial take on it, but I don’t think it’s inaccurate.
Anyway, I’m fairly against that idea for many reasons. For one thing, it doesn’t seem to jive with much of Scripture. Also, as it plays out, I think it essentially makes money God, and God is just a means by which we get what we really want, money. And I also think this theology is something that really turns off the world. It just stinks of hucksterism, when televangelists say, if you send me money, God will make your business prosper.
In any case, a recent issue of Christianity Today was really depressing, because the feature story was about how churches that ascribe to Prosperity Theology are exploding in numbers and size throughout Africa. They’re not blatant about it, but I’d say CT’s stance on PT is similar to mine. So it was kind of a sad article. And much of the rest of the issue was about theological and denominational arguments and splits. On the whole, a downer of an issue.
So I mentioned the PT thing to my dad and he said something interesting. As far at the theology goes, he thinks it’s accurate, but incomplete. What they say is not necessarily untrue. But it ignores much of the Gospel and focuses on something that is, in the end, not that important.
Even more interesting, in regards to Africa, he doesn’t think the popularity of PT is necessarily bad. He mentioned David Yonggi Cho, pastor of the biggest church in the world, and apparently an early proponent of PT. He grew up dirt poor. My dad’s take is, Christians from more affluent countries (who may be critical of PT) don’t know what it’s like to be dirt poor. For people in places and situations like these, it’s important for them to know that God will take care of their physical needs. So the message of PT is immediate and important to them. As someone who grew up poor himself, he has no problem with it.
His concern is when pastors/churches/Christians never move from it. For example, Korea isn’t dirt poor anymore. It’s an affluent country. But Rev. Cho hasn’t moved on from his material blessings message, even though it’s not as important anymore for where Korea is at. Africa might be the same way – PT is an appropriate message for them now, and only a concern if, after they become more affluent, they never move on. That’s my dad’s take. I thought that was pretty interesting, and I think I buy it.
We also talked briefly about UBF, which was interesting. The pastor (of the church where my dad was leading the conference) and his wife came from UBF. If I understand correctly, Sarah Berry (sp?) led her to Christ.