The Treasure Principle
My husband and I just finished reading The Treasure Principle by Randy Alcorn. It's one of those "mini books" but with big ideas I would say. Randy Alcorn is a Pastor in Oregon (I think) who has written one or two fictional books but is mostly known for his books about moral issues of our time. He writes from a Christian/Biblical view point. I'm sure there are others who also write from a Christian/Biblical viewpoint who wouldn't agree with everything he says.
I have also read his book where he defends the pro-life view point and I thought it was excellent.
We found The Treasure Principle interesting. I think the best notion in the book is to really question Christians defending living like Kings (if you believe that this isn't your "real home" then why live like it is) when there are plenty of people out there they/we could be sharing our abundance with. It has provoked some good conversations about how do we/should we view money. I thought he made some good points about possessions but am left wondering what he would say about things not as shallow as that but not "necessary". Things like music and the arts... Surely you could make an argument that while new carpeting or a trip to Disney World is totally un-necessary, there is something more to things like concerts, learning to play an instrument, or taking a class to increase your knowledge about a subject. These things cost money , they don't' have eternal consequences, and yet in a way they do seem more "necessary" than a trip to Disney...More justifiable anyway.
I have also read his book where he defends the pro-life view point and I thought it was excellent.
We found The Treasure Principle interesting. I think the best notion in the book is to really question Christians defending living like Kings (if you believe that this isn't your "real home" then why live like it is) when there are plenty of people out there they/we could be sharing our abundance with. It has provoked some good conversations about how do we/should we view money. I thought he made some good points about possessions but am left wondering what he would say about things not as shallow as that but not "necessary". Things like music and the arts... Surely you could make an argument that while new carpeting or a trip to Disney World is totally un-necessary, there is something more to things like concerts, learning to play an instrument, or taking a class to increase your knowledge about a subject. These things cost money , they don't' have eternal consequences, and yet in a way they do seem more "necessary" than a trip to Disney...More justifiable anyway.
posted by bfoxy37 @ 9:29 PM
5 Comments:
At 2:39 PM,
Blogball said…
bfoxy, I think about this often. Christians seem to have a different views and opinions on how much is too much and when does too much become greed and a sin. We see so many evangelists with fancy cars and houses and right away we tend to think of hypocrisy. I look at pictures of the Vatican and I think good grief why can’t they live modest lives and spend more of that money on the unprivileged. I have also wondered how we should interpret (Mark 10:25).It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God” Does this make the pope the biggest hypocrite and other Christians like the Amish the least hypocritical and the rest of Christians in-between? I don’t really have any answers but I was wondering if maybe you have some thoughts on this.
At 8:57 AM,
Rob said…
hey, look at you, ms. blogadero!
this is a great question, and i don't have an answer for it. but you can be assured i will blog about it in the future because i never let ignorance stop me from talking...
At 1:23 PM,
unca said…
Like blogball and bryan, I don't have any pat solutions to this. Of course one reply is that things like music, concerts, and arts, CAN be ennobling and edifying (Bach used to write on his compositions -- even the secular ones, I think--"To the Glory of God Alone" and can, perhaps bring us closer to God or at least following the dictum that we are to enjoy his creations. But I'm afraid you can take this too far as a way to rationalize lots of things. I heard a few days ago that if your household makes $25,000 a year, you are in the top two per cent of wage earners in the world. That's pretty sobering.
Another response is to say that Jesus said, "The LOVE of money is the root of all evil." So the "out" is to say that even though I'm rich I don't love my money so that's ok. But later he says, "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." One interpretation of this is that if you have a treasure that consists of worldly things, that is where your heart is (that's what you love)no matter what else you might say.
I agree with blogball that Mark 10:25 is a real convictor. Thanks for posting this.
At 10:12 PM,
bfoxy37 said…
blogball and Unca,
I don't know about the Pope and I guess in the specific sense we are not called to judge the Pope or each other. Generally speaking I think that yes, there are some problems with the Pope being so wealthy but since I don't know how all of that wealth is used I can't say for sure... I can say that if I had to choose I would say Mother Teresa's chosen lifestyle was more biblical than the Pope's.
The verses that you both brought up are all mentioned in the book and several more as well. I had a youth group leader growing up who wasn't afraid to say that he believed Mark 10:25 to be literally true and this in a church with some well off families.
In the end, I think we have to remember to be accountable for our own actions and heart longings. If we compare ourselves to our neighbor, the very wealthy, or anyone else (of course I'd be more tempted to compare to a rich Christian than someone who didn't claim to be a Christian) then we can always say, "Oh, well, I live a much more simplistic (pious) life than that person". That doesn't cause us to grow and change in the long run and doesn't count on listening to God's nudgings in my own life and doesn't allow him to use me as He sees fit.
The author had a chance to be wealthy with the publications of his previous books but basically chose not to by giving the money to his church etc.. (there is other pertinent info but that would get lengthy.) It seems to me that many Christians in recent years have decided that there is nothing wrong with living with wealth as long as they give 10% to God or vote Republican (not that there's anything wrong with that!) or whatever...
Maybe God IS blessing them with $$. I'm not saying HE wouldn't do that but maybe it's so they can give more away or maybe for some other reason while with others it's not a blessing but just is.
I think we are also immune/callous to the level of wealth that we live at. We ARE wealthy. I think one of the benefits of travelling abroad is that you can see that first hand. (Of course, you have to decide whether the travel is worth the $$! Most of the overseas travelling I've done has been worth the $$, I think. It has given me more insight into the lives of many of those that missionaries are trying to reach for Christ by sharing the gospel (through word or deed). But, is it realistic to live in America and try to live at the level of someone in a third world country for example? Probably not.
In the end, I think, we have to allow God to convict us personally. Nothing else will be as effective or honest.
At 9:23 AM,
Shaan said…
Nice Blog thanks for posting,
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