An Interesting Question–with an Easy Answer

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This issue of Atlantic Monthly has been on newsstands for several weeks, but it asks a very interesting question: did Christianity cause the crash? Here’s the lead article. The basic gist is that the “prosperity gospel” has encouraged profligate spending and irresponsible financial decisions on the part of “Christians” who are told by their pastors that God desires them to have the best of everything.

Except, of course, that the “prosperity gospel”–championed, by the way, by the recently-deceased Oral Roberts–is no gospel at all. It’s not “Christian” in the least; it is a godless aberration, a radical distortion of Christ’s message, a lie from hell. Purveyors of it are leading their followers astray from Jesus–in the name of Jesus. Whatever it is, it ain’t “Christian”.

So to answer the question, did a radical distortion of the Christian gospel contribute to the economic crash? Perhaps! But make no mistake: authentic Christianity is not to blame, for its teachings on money and wealth are effectively diametrically opposed to the bill of goods that the Joel Osteens and the Creflo Dollars preach to their gullible–and now, in many cases, bankrupt–followers.

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