sixtyseven

THOUGHTFULLY DRIVING THE PORCELAIN BUS

A Column by John S Schroeder

June 8, 2002

OK, OK – I am a little late in posting this weekend. My birthday was Friday; I had better things to do….

Twice in the last week I have heard someone in "authority" posit the thesis that the accumulation of wealth brings glory to God. For lack of a better term, I will call this "Trickle-down Theology." The basic idea is that by accumulating wealth one causes the economy to function that then in turn enriches others. If ever I heard of a hands-off mission, this is it. This has to qualify as one of the most idiotic ideas I have ever heard tossed around church circles.

Now, before I get too far into this, a couple of caveats. I really do buy into trickle-down economics. The accumulation of wealth, in a free market economy (and that is a big if) really is the primary engine of economic growth and economic growth really does in turn benefit virtually everyone in society. No my problem is not with trickle-down economics, just with the co-opting it for theological purposes.

I also do not believe that God has called us to poverty. Yes, Jesus did tell the rich man to sell all his possessions, but that was not because wealth is de facto bad, it is because the rich man valued his wealth more than a relationship with Jesus. (Pardon me when I make an aside here. If you are one of those non-Calvinist types out there because you cannot deal with ‘election,’ ask yourself this – why did Jesus ask this man to do something he clearly was unwilling to do in order to be His disciple? Seems to me Jesus knew all along that the rich guy wasn’t going to cut it in the Kingdom. But, I digress.) The accumulation of wealth is a morally neutral thing.

Let me repeat that, the accumulation of wealth is morally neutral. That is why Jesus was able to say "render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's and render unto God that which is God’s." It is what we do with the wealth and what our priorities are that render having wealth either good or bad. Now, before you jump to the conclusion that I think we should all ‘share’ all our money, I refer you to the piece I wrote a while back on socialism.

Finally we can get to the place where I really have a problem with this idea of Trickle-down Theology. It is entirely too self-serving. The idea makes it seem like to be a good Christian all I have to do is go about my regular business. Where is the sacrifice? Where is the transformation? This is just too easy. This is one of those bits of theology that pastors think up so their church is not too challenging and people will want to come more and more, and contribute more and more, and their salaries will go up more and more. Which is of course, right in line with this idea, but certainly makes me questions motives.

The fact remains, being a Christian is in large part about sacrifice. We must offer our sins to the cross. We must "present our bodies as a living sacrifice." We must "take up our cross" and follow Jesus. We must cast off the old and become "new creations." I do not think we can get very far as followers of Jesus simply by accumulating wealth.

Trickle-down theology originally appeared, at least as far as I know, from Pat Robertson and his ilk back in the 80’s. Most of mainstream Christianity debunked the idea then. Now it is back and I find much of mainstream Christianity embracing it. This is not a good development.

With Love,