{"id":16954,"date":"2018-03-08T17:52:18","date_gmt":"2018-03-09T01:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=16954"},"modified":"2018-03-08T17:52:18","modified_gmt":"2018-03-09T01:52:18","slug":"when-does-building-wealth-become-greed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/when-does-building-wealth-become-greed\/","title":{"rendered":"When Does Building Wealth Become Greed?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Max Weber’s\u00a0The\u00a0<\/em>Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism<\/i> proposed that because Calvinists believe in predestination, they developed a deep psychological need for clues about whether a person was actually saved. Therefore, the author asserts Calvinists came to value profit and material success as signs of God’s favor. [1] Supposedly, the Methodists, Baptists and others had similar attitudes, but to a lesser degree. [2]<\/p>\n

Last time I checked, the Methodists weren’t Calvinists, so my critical thinking skills questioned that assertion. Thankfully, Weber emphasized that he was not arguing “Protestantism” caused capitalism (or what he calls the “capitalistic spirit”), rather that it was just one contributing factor. [3]<\/p>\n

Thankfully, the past semester and a half, we have studied capitalism in a variety of forms, and to my knowledge, our two main authors Cavanaugh and Polanyi, have not completely dissed the free market system, although they have certainly highlighted dangers in getting caught up in the excesses. I don’t think Weber is saying we should immediately switch over to socialism, rather it appears he is simply trying to explain how we got here, with the help of good meaning Protestants fueling modern capitalism.<\/p>\n

I choose to focus today on that one line–Calvinists came to value profit and material success as signs of God’s favor<\/strong>–while at the same time connecting to my dissertation topic of relating to Dave Ramsey’s Baby Step #7 in Financial Peace University,\u00a0Build Wealth (and give)<\/strong>. [4]<\/p>\n

\"\"[5]<\/a><\/p>\n

I must admit, I cringe every time I hear Dave Ramsey talk about wealth building. I have NOT started 43 Financial Peace University classes across the country so people can be wealthy, I simply want to disciple Christians to be FAITHFUL STEWARDS of all God has trusted us with–our time, talents and treasures.\u00a0I desire us to hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” from Matthew 25:23. [6]<\/p>\n

Sure, I understand Dave’s highlights of debt elimination and saving\/investing to be Biblical concepts (“The borrower is slave to the lender” from Proverbs 22:7, and “Go to the ant you sluggard…they store up their food during the summer, getting ready for the winter” from Proverbs 6:6-8. However, building wealth for the sake of building wealth reeks of the rich farmer who tore down his barns and silos to build bigger ones so he could eat, drink and be merry. In Luke 12:20\u00a0God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you.” [7]<\/p>\n

The elephant in the room that Weber highlights centers around the words “material success” and “God’s favor” being intertwined. \u00a0I remember Dr. Jason Clark in a previous Zoom meeting discussing Cavanaugh’s Being Consumed:\u00a0<\/em>Economics and Christian Desire,\u00a0<\/em>saying Christians were being misled into believing because we have money, we might falsely think we are blessed. SPOT ON! I immediately recalled a Pastor friend of mine from Kenya who said he was praying for me because I owned so many things that might become snares for my soul…<\/p>\n

Scriptural snapshots arise in my mind saying, “You cannot serve both God and mammon”, “How hard it is for a rich man to enter heaven”, and “the deceitfulness of riches choke out the word that was sowed”. I reject the so-called “prosperity preaching” where I witnessed American “name it and claim it” missionaries telling dirt-poor Africans if they had enough faith, they could have the house of their dreams and never go hungry a single day in their life.<\/p>\n

Now, let’s be clear. I believe God wants to bless his children, but not always in the ways we think. I remember the words from\u00a0James 5:1-3, \u201cNow listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days.\u201d We would be best if we remembered God’s riches actually might include the promises of more love, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (the fruits of the Spirit from Galatians 5:22-23). [8]<\/p>\n

Please Lord, let me not be a hoarder! It’s possible to have life insurance and a retirement fund, while practicing faithful stewardship, but there is a fine line between faithfulness and GREED.\u00a0I Timothy 6:17 gives a warning to the rich: \u201cCommand those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.\u201d [9]<\/p>\n

Thankfully, Dave Ramsey adds these two beautiful bridge words to his plan–AND GIVE. [10] To me, that is the brilliant key. Those two words explain any reasoning for desiring wealth, so that generosity may flow like a river to achieve Godly purposes. Get your butt out of debt, be a good steward, and SHARE your ample resources with a lost and dying world, so they may hear about the love of Jesus Christ! I give Dave Ramsey credit for adding those two words. \u00a0They have not always been a part of Financial Peace University. When re-writting the class, he listened to feedback from a bunch of alumni, including us Pastors, who asked if he would consider, AND GIVE; and I am grateful Dave did.<\/p>\n

You might be wondering how much of Weber’s book I needed to read in order to write this Blog. \u00a0To be honest, at the end of the day, I needed only about\u00a0three paragraphs.<\/em> I am not sure if that makes me a Doctoral candidate, or a intellectual fool. \u00a0But at the very least it helped me connect to my dissertation, which I thought was part of our goal…<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1] Weber, Max, Peter R. Baehr, and Gordon C. Wells. The Protestant Ethic and the “spirit” of Capitalism and Other Writings<\/i>. New York: Penguin Books, 2012. p. xviii.<\/p>\n

[2] Ibid., p. xxi.<\/p>\n

[3] Ibid., p. 87.<\/p>\n

[4] Ramsey, Dave. Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University Member Workbook<\/i>. Lampo Licensing, LLC, 2012. p. 13.<\/p>\n

[5] Ramsey, Dave. The Total Money Makeover<\/i>. Nelson Current, 2010.<\/p>\n

[6] Matthew 25:23. (NIV).<\/p>\n

[7] Proverbs 22:7, Proverbs 6:6-8, Luke 12:20. (NLT).<\/p>\n

[8] James 5:1-3, Galatians 5:22-23. (NIV).<\/p>\n

[9] I Timothy 6:17. (NIV).<\/p>\n

[10] Ramsey, Dave. Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University Member Workbook<\/i>. Lampo Licensing, LLC, 2012. p. 13.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Max Weber’s\u00a0The\u00a0Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism proposed that because Calvinists believe in predestination, they developed a deep psychological need for clues about whether a person was actually saved. Therefore, the author asserts Calvinists came to value profit and material success as signs of God’s favor. [1] Supposedly, the Methodists, Baptists and others had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":96,"featured_media":0,"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":[11],"class_list":["post-16954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-weber","cohort-lgp8"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16954","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\/96"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16954"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16954\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16973,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16954\/revisions\/16973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}