Myths

When I was much younger I visited a church with my mom and the sermon was so happy and encouraging. We went back a few times and began to realize the sermons were always so happy and encouraging. There was no instruction, no encouragement to do what is right, no mention of sin. My mom talked to the pastor and asked why that was, what his thoughts were about the issue, and he confessed that he’d been told by the Church Board to not talk about sin because when he did the giving went down. People like to give more when they feel happy and encouraged.  

I worked on staff at a mega church years ago and I began to see how circular it was to grow and need to provide services for all of the people there and need to encourage giving so that you could grow, etc. I moved away from the mega church model because it was run on a business model and that seemed to run counter to the model of discipleship we are instructed to use in Scripture. I talked to several people who attended the mega church and their praise for the church was that they could attend, blend in, never be asked to do anything that made them uncomfortable, and they could leave feeling good about themselves — happy and encouraged.

I was associate pastor on staff with a church that was smaller and that didn’t seem afraid to address any issues. I felt free to speak on anything that the Lord impressed. Then there were issues that arose that were not related to me and some of the larger givers were not happy with what was happening. They held back their tithe to express their frustration. As the money receded the problems being faced got larger and it became more urgent to fix things in order to appease the givers who were not giving. And suddenly anything I said that was misunderstood or questioned involved immediate calls at all hours as I tried to explain what I meant in a sermon two weeks earlier when I said X or Y.

This was not the goal of those withholding their finances. These were lovely people who gave greatly in every area of their lives. They were simply not financially supporting something they were not in agreement with at the time. My concern at the time was not with them. Rather, it was with the reaction to their funds not being present when we were already facing a financial challenge. My frustration was with I experienced as the curbing of the teaching to attempt to appease the givers so that their money would flow in again. I question whether they realized no one else was having their questions or concerns answered so immediately and so personally.

This was when I realized that the Business model wasn’t only infecting the mega church model but was a foundational problem in the Christian church.

I don’t believe Scripture instructs us to preach messages that the people with more money want to hear so that we can keep getting their money. I flat out reject the business model of running a church. Business models are inherently hostile to the Gospel — the Gospel is good news for everyone! In a business model the haves are favored over the have nots. Marketing doesn’t try to figure out how to appeal to and draw in the downtrodden who can’t afford a product. The more flashy the product, the more profitable the marketing needs to be.

Mother Theresa is praised because she was willing to give up everything to serve a leper community. Why is that so rare in a community of people who profess faith in Jesus who did not consider it important that he was enthroned in heaven and chose to come to earth to live with and serve . . . lepers, and others, but definitely lepers. He ate with tax collectors, worked alongside prostitutes, lived with fishermen, and generally pissed off the religious establishment.

The religious establishment was invested in selling a message that some are special and others are not — that some are in and most are out. They had moneychangers in the Temple who made sure that the religious establishment got the most money for sacrifices. The religious establishment housed those who plotted to kill Jesus to shut him up. He disrupted their business model.
What makes us think that a business model for church is the best way to share the Gospel? Or maybe no one thinks it is. Maybe that isn’t the purpose of churches anymore and maybe I’m late to the party of leadership that understands that. So I’ve abandoned the business model.

I’ve embraced a discipleship model. It requires more of the one discipling and gives more to the ones being discipled. I love this model. It is consistent with everything God has taught me about mothering. It pours love and care into the next generation of believers while challenging the one discipling to grow and mature and step up in ways that would otherwise never present themselves.

Our community is smaller, and I talk about tithing and giving but don’t pass a plate. i work for God and not the community. I serve the community. I’m also seeing lives changed and people growing in understanding of Scripture and passion for Truth and other people who need love. I’m excited for those who are being discipled by the members of our community. They are getting good news, love and acceptance. They are getting the lives of people who are passionate about them getting to know God.

It’s looking good for the Gospel advancing!

From the popularity of the Prosperity Gospel to the membership of the President’s Evangelical Counsel, from the way that sermon topics are chosen to the way that not so subtle messages about money are communicated to the people sitting in the pews every week, messages about money are  pervasive in our Western culture and more and more people are realizing that the church in the West has an unhealthy relationship with money. We have been taught profit driven doctrine.

The last two days on Twitter, during the tragedy of Hurricane Harvey pummeling Houston and the surrounding area, Joel Osteen has come under fire for refusing to open his mega church for people who need refuge from the storm.  While many can’t imagine a better opportunity to give feet to faith and live out the love Christians claim to have, and while Mosques and atheists are opening their gathering places throughout the area, Osteen relied first on a story about flooding making it impossible for anyone to get to the facility and then, once the truth about the condition of the building was exposed, he announced the building would be opened. Thankfully he has begun welcoming people into his church. This is the official statement they have made in response to the criticism.

Some of the Tweets about this:

Houston mosques open their doors to #HarveyVictims w/o having been shamed n2 it like #JoelOsteen Muslims more Christlike today than Osteen!

— Beth ❤️#Resistance (@ladydragyn) August 29, 2017

One of these guys is helping.

The other one is worth $50M+ and has a 16k seat church that remains closed#Houston Joel Osteen #JoelOsteen pic.twitter.com/UViOBKTAYf

— Hoss Rindman ⚾🏀📈 (@HossRindman) August 29, 2017

You actually thought a guy who preaches hope to those struggling then goes home to this mansion actually gives a damn about u? #JoelOsteen pic.twitter.com/kizxvHj2Xq

— TJ (@That_Guy933) August 29, 2017

#JoelOsteen finally opened his megachurch doors for shelter, it only took a lot of Twitter. https://t.co/98lgQh7y76 pic.twitter.com/9gWNUh4rfo

— The Mary Sue (@TheMarySue) August 30, 2017

One of the most offensive things about the Osteen situation is the millions of dollars that Osteen and his family have profited personally from their “ministry” that is steeped in Prosperity Gospel beliefs and when their community was in very real need they didn’t offer safe haven, or financial assistance, but prayers.   Yes, prayer is powerful. Another thing that is powerful is tangible help when people around you are in need. If we are the Body of Christ it might be good if the body got up and did some help for people! Osteen and his family have profited personally from their “ministry” that is steeped in Prosperity Gospel beliefs. The public image is already that money flows in but nothing flows out and Osteen’s handling of this situation has not done anything to challenge that belief.

Honestly my goal here isn’t to make Osteen look bad. He no doubt has PR people who will handle this situation and he’ll survive just fine. I’ve never met the man and other than posting my own encouragement to him to open the doors of his church on Twitter, figuring some positive peer pressure can’t hurt, I’ve had no personal interaction with the man.

The doctrines about it, the way people are treated, the way the poor are victimized by those who claim to be bringing them the good news…this is what I want to start addressing in a series of posts looking at this from various angles.

My concern is with how the church handles issues of money.  My concern is that we have handled this issue so incredibly poorly that we are distorting the Gospel! The doctrines about it, the way people are treated, the way the poor are victimized by those who claim to be bringing them the good news…this is what I want to start addressing in a series of posts looking at this from various angles.  

To do this I invite guest writers who would like to tackle some aspect of this topic and I welcome personal stories anyone might want to share about how this has impacted them.  I will be sharing stories that have been shared with me, with permission, and I will be sharing my own personal stories from my times dealing with financial challenges as well as my experience with this issue from the role of pastor.  My experience has definitely shaped my position on these things.

I’ve been wanting to do this series on how the church handles money for some time.  Because of the relevance of the Osteen/Lakewood Church/Hurricane Harvey topic I though this would be a good time to start the discussion.

So let’s talk!

When we talk about the context of Scripture there are several things that need to be considered. One is what is behind the text.

This is where the question of cultural context is found.  Many people argue that considering cultural context is nothing more than an effort to dismiss what the Bible teaches. This is a Myth. When done correctly it is the opposite.

The authors of the texts that make up Scripture had reasons for writing what they did.  They had lives, and lived at specific times in history and just like you come to the reading and study of the text with your filter, they had their filter.

All of the questions that we asked in trying to understand your filter in front of the text are valid questions for making about the authors and what was behind the text.

Where did they live? When did they live?  Were they male? Female? Do we know?

Where they a prophet or a historian?  Were they David the shepherd boy turned rebel leader turned king? Were they Solomon the prince born to the woman David took possession of through adultery and plotting murder of her husband?

Did they know the people they were writing about or did they get their information from records?  Were they writing their own letters? Or was someone transcribing for them?

There are a lot of Christian Myths about things found in the Old Testament.  These are things that lots of Christians have been taught about ancient Israel — who they were, how they lived, and what they believed — that just don’t hold up to study of ancient Israel or the archaeological evidence.

There are Christian Myths about the New Testament too.

Many of these will be explored at Thomas Talks and feel free to ask questions about things you’ve learned so we can all consider where those ideas come from and whether or not they are supported by evidence.

All of Scripture comes from someone and somewhere.  It was written to real people who lived at a particular time and understood the text through their filter.  When they were the originally intended audience it is helpful to try and understood who they were, what they were facing, why the information was sent to them and what they understood it to mean.

Many approaches to Scripture elevate the text, the person in front of the text or everything behind the text. Sound study considers these things in tandem.  When all of these things are looked at and considered we have a hope of recognizing our own blind spots and filters and working to engage the text for what it’s really saying and not just what we read into it. There is a place for what it is saying to us as we read it, but this is never adequate for determining doctrine or arguing that the Bible says something.

Sound study will look to the original language and the meaning of words or phrases and ask why something was said this way instead of another way.  Why that word instead of a different one?  It is also important to consider the original audience reading it and why they received it which will help us distinguish between eternal Truths that are being conveyed and the cultural context in which they are being conveyed.

When the goal is sound study and sound doctrine the questions surrounding the text, who and what is in front of the text and behind the text become very important.  When you encounter questionable doctrines it can help you to determine which of these things was elevated above the others in order to reconsider the real message in the text.

This is a series we are starting that introduces and teaches how to use study tools to deepen your study of Scripture.  In this study we talk about online study tools and Bible websites as well as the difference between a concordance and a lexicon. We also talk about the value and limitations of commentaries.  As we continue with this topic we will be exploring different passages and topics in the Bible that thosein our congregation are interested in.

If you have anything you would like to see us explore please let me know.

When we talk about the context of Scripture there are several things that need to be considered.  I want to start with what is in front of the text.  This means you.

Take a few minutes to really think about who you are.

Where did you grow up? What part of the world? What country?  If you grew up in the US, what state? What city?  What neighborhood?

What crowd did you hang out with? Were you a loner? Did you have a lot of friends? Did you play football or some other sport? Did you do theatre or play an instrument in band.  Maybe FBLA.

What socioeconomic class was your family part of when you were growing up?  Are you still part of that socioeconomic class or have you changed your financial reality?  Are you working to change it? Going to college or trade school?

How old are you? What does your life look like now? Do you feel like you purposed to be where you are as a goal you set and reached? Or did life happen to you and you did the best with what you had thrown at you and here you are?

Are you male? Female?Trans? Gay? Heterosexual?  Do these questions make you uncomfortable?

There are just some of the questions about who you are and what defines you that go into the filter through which you engage with life and Scripture.  The answer to each of these questions and so many more influence what you read when you read the text.

This is why the idea of the “plain reading of the text” is impractical as an approach to sound theology.  Everyone’s plain reading of the text is influenced by who they are as the reader.  Trying to defend the plain reading of the text is nothing more than defending your personal opinion about things.  Sound theology needs to be more than this.

We are all products of our experiences and our culture.  We learn as we go through life and the things we learn shape who we are.  Have you ever wondered why you can read something 100 times and then read it that 101st time and suddenly see something you’ve never seen before? The text didn’t change – you did.  You learned something new or had an experience that opened your eyes to something new.  It’s like the phenomenon you experience when you buy a new car and suddenly see that model everywhere on the road. Your eyes are opened to something new.

Men and women are made in the image of God, but we are not God. We are within time and bound by our immediate perspective.

One thing that causes many people to experience a crisis of faith is that they change and they were told their theology was absolute Truth that could never change.  When they change and begin to question, or see things differently, they mistakenly assume they have abandoned Truth.  Some will try to force themselves to continue believing something they can no longer truly believe but more will eventually walk away thinking they have rejected God when they have only rejected a doctrine or denominational teaching.  They aren’t having a crisis of faith so much as a crisis of bad theology!

When doctrines are considered absolute Truth it is time to consider whether the line has been crossed between studying Scripture and idolatry.  The inability to see that theology is man’s best effort to understand God has led to wars and divisions even within the Body of Christ.  Scripture says we are one Body but we end up looking like the Walking Dead when people refuse to connect to this or that body because they disagree on something not even related to salvation.  If you

cannot fellowship with someone who loves God but believes differently about the function or method of baptism it is possible that the issue of baptism has been elevated out of context.  And yet it is unwise to attach to a toxic community.  If someone is elevating something out of context it is not your responsibility to try and change them or stick around to be treated poorly out of a mistaken idea that allowing others to harm you is love.  If you realize the body you have attached to is a Zombie it is wise to detach and seek out a Living Body.

As we study Scripture in order to understand the text, it is helpful to work to overcome our cultural context and become aware of when we are imposing ourselves onto the text or the people behind the text.  Do I read this passage the way I do because it really says that or because it’s comfortable for me to read it that way?  Does it make sense to me because I am reading it through my filter?  Would it say the same thing to someone form a different culture? There is something beautiful and edifying in the practice of learning how various cultures respond to issues within the text.  This is a wonderful way to learn about other cultures and communities and challenge our own reading of the text.

Obviously we cannot remove ourselves from our reading and study.  We are part of the package.  it’s more that awareness of this will minimize how much we impose ourselves on the text.  I am a firm believer in holding my theology firmly enough to allow it to provide structure for my life and loosely enough that God can correct me when I have misunderstood something.

It’s important to be discerning when we seek out teachers and as we involve ourselves in community.  What is in front of the text influences the way the text is studied and understood and determines the fruit that comes from that study.

I have come to realize that misunderstanding Scripture produces toxic fruit and fear. I know I am on the right track for understanding something in the Bible when the fruit of the Spirit are brought about and the presence of love (as defined in ! Corinthians 13) is greater.   Great peace is evidence of connecting to Truth in Scripture.  It brings with it humility and compassion.  Looking for these things in the way teaching is communicated and the way that someone is living have helped me to determine whether  or not an individual or group has something worth learning.

In this study Chloe’s House continues discussing context and considers how what we believe about the Bible and others intersects with how we share our faith.  All Chloe’s House podcasts are raw recordings in order to share exactly how our study went and with the hope that you will feel welcome and involved.  We apologize if anything is hard to hear because of this and we welcome any questions about issues raised in the study.

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