{"id":11539,"date":"2017-02-09T15:15:39","date_gmt":"2017-02-09T23:15:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dminlgp.com\/?p=11539"},"modified":"2017-02-09T15:15:39","modified_gmt":"2017-02-09T23:15:39","slug":"god-loves-you-and-wants-you-to-be-rich","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/god-loves-you-and-wants-you-to-be-rich\/","title":{"rendered":"God Loves You and Wants You to Be Rich"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The earning of more and more money, combined with the strict avoidance of all spontaneous enjoyment of life, \u2026 is thought of so purely as an end in itself. (15)<\/em><\/strong><\/div>\n
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\u00a0.<\/div>\n
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Labor must, on the contrary, be performed as if it were an absolute end in itself, a calling. But such an attitude is by no means a product of nature. It cannot be evoked by low wages or high ones alone, but can only be the product of a long and arduous process of education. (22)<\/em><\/strong><\/div>\n
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Wealth is thus bad ethically only in so far as it is a temptation to idleness and sinful enjoyment of life, and its acquisition is bad only when it is with the purpose of later living merrily and without care. (94)<\/em><\/strong><\/div>\n
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To wish to be poor (is)\u2026 the same as wishing to be unhealthy. (94)<\/em><\/strong><\/div>\n
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The above statements were not penned by a sucessful CEO or self help guru.\u00a0 These were published in Germany in 1905 by Max Weber in the landmark sociology text,\u00a0The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism<\/em>.\u00a0 This groundbreaking sociology text, translated into English in 1930, drew a connection between the theology of the Protestant reformers, especially Calvin, and the development of capitalism in the West.<\/div>\n
\u00a0.<\/div>\n
Weber does a thorough job of examining the aspects of early Protestant theology, especially the\u00a0doctrines of election, assurance of salvation, and the glorification of God.\u00a0 Each of these doctrines end up forming a symbiotic relationship with seeds of capitalism that grew in Europe and North America.<\/div>\n
\u00a0.<\/div>\n
St. Paul\u2019s \u201cHe who will not work shall not eat\u201d holds unconditionally for everyone. Unwillingness to work is symptomatic of the lack of grace. (92)<\/em><\/strong><\/div>\n
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Calvinists who placed a high priority on election, but who did not believe that you could be positive that you were elect, saw capitalistic success as a clue that God was content with you as one of the predestined elect. \u00a0The above statement seems to tie human works to God\u2019s grace. \u00a0In the Calvinist view, good works never save anyone,\u00a0but works are viewed as possible evidence of the redeemed.<\/div>\n
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The world exists to serve the glorification of God and for that purpose alone. The elected Christian is in the world only to increase this glory of God by fulfilling His commandments to the best of his ability. (54)<\/em><\/strong><\/div>\n
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This statement by Weber highlights the Protestant conviction that the entirety of Christian theology and practice can be boiled down to one question\u2026 \u201cdoes this glorify God?\u201d\u00a0 Popular author John Piper is a contemporary proponent of this conviction.<\/div>\n
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Man is only a trustee of the goods which \u201chave come to him through God\u2019s grace. He must, like the servant in the parable, give an account of every penny entrusted to him, and it is at least hazardous to spend any of it for a purpose which does not serve the glory of God but only one\u2019s own enjoyment. (100)<\/em><\/strong><\/div>\n
\u00a0.<\/div>\n
In this statement from the book, you can identify the connection between capitalism and piety.\u00a0 The Puritans and modern Christian groups whose identity is to flee \u201cworldliness\u201d are examples of this type of doctrine.<\/div>\n
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I am still processing\u00a0 The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism<\/em>.\u00a0 My initial thoughts are to examine these doctrines of the reformers in the light of modern prosperity theologians.\u00a0\u00a0 I can see how those who see prosperity as a sign of God\u2019s blessings could be in agreement with some of the early protestant teachings identified in this book.<\/div>\n
\u00a0.<\/div>\n
Having said that, the aesthetic attitude displayed by some of the early protestant groups do seem alien when looking at some of the prosperity theology proponents who live lives of total extravagance.<\/div>\n
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Weber, Max. The Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism. Los Angeles, CA: Roxbury Pub. Co., 1996.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

. The earning of more and more money, combined with the strict avoidance of all spontaneous enjoyment of life, \u2026 is thought of so purely as an end in itself. (15) \u00a0. Labor must, on the contrary, be performed as if it were an absolute end in itself, a calling. But such an attitude is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":87,"featured_media":11562,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[388,747],"class_list":["post-11539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-capitalism","tag-cocanougher","cohort-lgp7"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/87"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11539\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}