I surprise myself while I ask myself this question, is Christianity a rich man's religion. It might sound like a controversial question and it is not my desire to offend anyone out there who has more money than I do. But I must be honest with my readers, I have very little money and I am reminded of the words of Jesus that you can't serve God and money. When I became a born again Christian, I was a 21 year old middle class man. I had my health and I had a job. I wasn't rich, and I felt that I was an adult. It was in 1999 that I lost my health and my relationship with God changed forever. I was no longer dependent upon myself and God to meet my needs, I was disabled now, and meeting my own needs became very difficult. That is why I am asking myself, what is the real essence of faith and Christianity.
I like being a Catholic right now because the Universal church has a big heart for the poor and the downtrodden. When you read the gospels in a Catholic mass, we remember the poor quite often, and not just in thought. When I became a born again Christian I wasn't married (and I'm still not!) and I was living at home. I had a sense of my spiritual poverty and the importance of having my sins forgiven. I had a passing thought that now that I was going to Heaven when I die, God was going to meet all my needs now and possibly more in the future. My mind and soul had never felt so healthy, and I was happy for the first time in my life.
As I have watched the Christian church over the years, I have seen how the church is constantly working on how to build their lives. There is talk about God providing an abundant life, the kind of life that I thought that God was going to give me when I repented. Being poor now myself, I have never felt the presence of God and appreciated the beauty of faith like I do in my brokenness. Even though my relationship with God began in a relatively comfortable place in my life, I was never given the abundant life that the Christians now are talking about. I see the great wealth that the professing church has, but in my current journey of faith, I have seen a different kind of abundant life. A life that includes God as my Provider and Sustainer. I believe God has a heart for the poor, and when you are poor and disabled like me, you don't look to God to see how He can improve your stock market portfolio or how to discipline your children. You pray to God to survive everyday.
While the church has it's own culture on how to better their already prosperous lives, there are real people who are homeless and hurting and are outcasts from society, the very ones that Jesus came to die for. I am not saying that the church is failing to help the poor, but being on both sides of this conversation, I can honestly say that their is an imbalance in the way the church is reaching out to their own, who are poor and hurting. There is a sense that the church like the world wants to empower the poor, but when the poor are excluded or worse still disciplined in some of the richest Christian communities, it makes me wonder if my brothers and sisters are actually living out their faith, when I myself feel somewhat excluded from being part of the church that I belong to. Read James 2:5-6 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? 6But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? One of the things that the church was not trying to forget was the poor in their congregations. My catholic faith is helping me to see that God loves the poor just as much as He loves the rich, and Jesus really reached out to the poor that had nothing. There are more blessings in the bible about the poor, than you see God blessing the rich. Jesus said that it would be very hard for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God, (Mark 10:25) It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God." While it might seem that in our days Christianity has become a rich man's religion, this was and is not the purpose of the Lord who promises to bless those who consider the poor (Psalm 41:1-3). This is Mike.
I like being a Catholic right now because the Universal church has a big heart for the poor and the downtrodden. When you read the gospels in a Catholic mass, we remember the poor quite often, and not just in thought. When I became a born again Christian I wasn't married (and I'm still not!) and I was living at home. I had a sense of my spiritual poverty and the importance of having my sins forgiven. I had a passing thought that now that I was going to Heaven when I die, God was going to meet all my needs now and possibly more in the future. My mind and soul had never felt so healthy, and I was happy for the first time in my life.
As I have watched the Christian church over the years, I have seen how the church is constantly working on how to build their lives. There is talk about God providing an abundant life, the kind of life that I thought that God was going to give me when I repented. Being poor now myself, I have never felt the presence of God and appreciated the beauty of faith like I do in my brokenness. Even though my relationship with God began in a relatively comfortable place in my life, I was never given the abundant life that the Christians now are talking about. I see the great wealth that the professing church has, but in my current journey of faith, I have seen a different kind of abundant life. A life that includes God as my Provider and Sustainer. I believe God has a heart for the poor, and when you are poor and disabled like me, you don't look to God to see how He can improve your stock market portfolio or how to discipline your children. You pray to God to survive everyday.
While the church has it's own culture on how to better their already prosperous lives, there are real people who are homeless and hurting and are outcasts from society, the very ones that Jesus came to die for. I am not saying that the church is failing to help the poor, but being on both sides of this conversation, I can honestly say that their is an imbalance in the way the church is reaching out to their own, who are poor and hurting. There is a sense that the church like the world wants to empower the poor, but when the poor are excluded or worse still disciplined in some of the richest Christian communities, it makes me wonder if my brothers and sisters are actually living out their faith, when I myself feel somewhat excluded from being part of the church that I belong to. Read James 2:5-6 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? 6But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? One of the things that the church was not trying to forget was the poor in their congregations. My catholic faith is helping me to see that God loves the poor just as much as He loves the rich, and Jesus really reached out to the poor that had nothing. There are more blessings in the bible about the poor, than you see God blessing the rich. Jesus said that it would be very hard for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God, (Mark 10:25) It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God." While it might seem that in our days Christianity has become a rich man's religion, this was and is not the purpose of the Lord who promises to bless those who consider the poor (Psalm 41:1-3). This is Mike.
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