Prosperity Gospel and Hell

Friday after Pentecost

My apologies for the spacing problems on yesterday's blog. As today's blog will show, I'm still figuring out this format (or is the current term "platform." Print sizes seem to be changing during my writing. I don't know why. 

Friday is Comment and Reply Day. First, thanks to Jennifer for this kind comment:

"A God thing, indeed. I was confirmed at Christ UMC, Greensboro in the early 80’s. When were you there?My favorite memory from Christ UMC, G’boro was going outside to the circular drive one Christmas Eve and singing Silent Night."

I was at Christ UMC, Greensboro from late fall of 1983 till the end of 2004. I was in that circular drive singing Silent Night. It was a beautiful spiritual moment. I also remember it being very cold. 

Second, thanks to Stuart. Here's his comment:

"Christian, you say that you believe there is a hell but the population is small because all non-Christians are not automatically condemned to hell. We Methodists don't believe in purgatory. You said some non-Christians might be in heaven. What causes some non-Christians to be condemned to hell and others not? What criteria is used to determine which non-Christians go to hell and other non-Christians go somewhere else (and where is that somewhere else)? Considering that we don't believe in purgatory, are the two destinations permanent?"

Purgatory solves a lot of theological problems, but I won't go there (neither in the blog nor in the hereafter). I don't like Hell. I don't like the idea of Hell. I'm not sure I believe in Hell. My problem is that Jesus believes in it. There are numerous examples in his sayings and parables. The most extensive is in Luke 16:19-31. I'm hesitant to tell Jesus that he's wrong. Do note that the rich man is not condemned for his lack of faith but for his failure to take care of the poor. Jesus says the same idea in Matthew 25:31-46. In the "I am the Good Shepherd" speech in John 10:1-18, Jesus says, "I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice." Jesus' fold is the Christians. The other sheep not of his fold are people who are not Christians. Jesus will bring them along too. Regardless of what we believe, we are all his sheep. In the teachings of Jesus, what sends people to Hell more than anything else is not caring for the poor. 

The final decision on the two destinations, Heaven or Hell, comes on the last day, the day of resurrection, the day of the last judgment. The key passage is Revelation 20:11-15. In the last part of verse 13 we read, "Also, another book was opened, the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works as recorded in the books" (Italics mine). Judgment is not final till the last day. Even the dead can repent.  I'll deal with universal salvation in tomorrow's Bible study blog. 

Third, thanks to Chris for clarifying my mistaken understanding of his former comment. Here is Chris's comment this week. 

"Christian, my confusing question about differences in interpretations of "wisdom" literature was in reference to your blog "Bible study- Anger". Your discussion included examples of how following certain wisdom sayings could alleviate anger. I wanted to hear your views about how different interpretations of certain wisdom literature have created larger-scale, angry divisions between whole communities; I used the example of divisions resulting from "prosperity gospels". Another example might be the use of certain Bible passages to accuse someone with a deadly illness of not having prayed hard enough. We've had friends who were judged by fundamentalist church leaders and fellow church members for not being able to overcome serious illnesses, leading ultimately to angry separations. I'm curious about the history of such issues as tied to "wisdom literature". Sorry my question is/was hard to fathom (may still be)."

By the term "wisdom literature," scholars are referring specifically to three books in the Old Testament, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job, and two books in the Apocrypha, Wisdom of Solomon and Wisdom of Ben Sira. The latter two books need not detain us, their being no part of fundamentalist conversation.

Proverbs represents conventional Hebrew wisdom. Its theology is Deuteronomistic, which is to say simply, "If you do good in this life, you will be rewarded in this life; if you do badly in this life, you will be punished in this life. Job is a protest against this view. Job does well, but is punished anyway. Job's three friends represent conventional Hebrew wisdom. Job refutes them at every point. The prose ending of Job (Job 42:11-17) is a later addition to the text (the text is poetry). Ecclesiastes is the outlier. Its wisdom is more representative of Greek philosophical Stoicism than of anything Hebrew. 

My knowledge of the Prosperity Gospel comes primarily from the works of Kate Bowler. Many of you have read her best selling book, Everything Happens for a Reason and Other Lies I Have Loved. She gives a more scholarly analysis in her book, Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel.I highly recommend both.

I just did a very quick reread of Proverbs. I find very little in it that could support Prosperity Gospel. Here are a couple of good verses that touch on the topic, "Whoever gives to the poor will lack nothing, but one who turns a blind eye will get many a curse" (Proverbs 29:27), and "House and wealth are inherited from parents, but a prudent wife is from the Lord" (Proverbs 19:14). I find little in Proverbs that would support Prosperity Gospel, but much on care for the poor. I think I could say the same about the entire Bible. 

On the matter of healing, certainly a major part of Jesus' ministry was healing. In a couple of cases, He says to the person healed, "Go in peace, your faith has made you well." But there is another very good example of faith not leading to healing. In 2 Corinthians Paul speaks of a physical ailment he suffers from, what we refer to as his "thorn in the flesh." Paul says that he prayed three times to be healed, but God said to him, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness." I don't recall anywhere in the Bible where it says that someone is not healed because they don't have enough faith.

The appeal of Prosperity Gospel is hope. It is exceedingly materialistic, which Jesus isn't. I did read one of Joel Osteen's books. I was struck by how there was virtually no reference to the Bible and scarcely any mention of Jesus. There were a couple of pages about David and Saul. That was it. I do recall seeing a TV clip of one Prosperity Gospel preacher asking his viewers for more money so that he could buy a new 50 million dollar jet. His old jet was no longer sufficient. He said, "If Jesus came back today, he wouldn't ride on a donkey, he would flying a jet like this."

The Prosperity Gospel does tend to work well for one group of people--Prosperity Gospel preachers. 

Thanks for the comments. Send me more. 

Faithfully,

Christian