Name-It-And-Claim-It and the Vow of Poverty?

[Suzi]

In this era of “name-it-and-claim-it” spirituality, where do you fit in about the “blessings” of God being reflected with a luxurious life-style, huge house, nice cars,etc. The Bible does show some focus on a walk with God being shown tangibly (King David, Job, etc) by land, cattle, riches, etc. But what about denominations that take those examples as “entitlement” of being a son/daughter of the “King”. And on the flip-side, the Catholic Fathers and Sisters taking the vow of poverty, turning away from possessions and financial pressures to focus on service to the Lord. Thoughts??

 

[Lance]

Suzi:

In this era of “name-it-and-claim-it” spirituality, where do you fit in about the “blessings” of God being reflected with a luxurious life-style, huge house, nice cars,etc. The Bible does show some focus on a walk with God being shown tangibly (King David, Job, etc) by land, cattle, riches, etc. But what about denominations that take those examples as “entitlement” of being a son/daughter of the “King”. And on the flip-side, the Catholic Fathers and Sisters taking the vow of poverty, turning away from possessions and financial pressures to focus on service to the Lord. Thoughts??

There is noting wrong with having wealth. God wants us to be comfortable and have a good life. The problem is love of money not money. The world is much better off because Bill Gates reinvested his money in Microsoft and became wealthy, by doing this he was able create thousands of jobs and now donate billions to charity. God has blessed me with a good brain and body and the willingness to work so I should enjoy the fruits of my labor as long as I do what is right by people who are not as fortunite as I am. That means giving my time and money to help them.

 

[chimakuni]

The world is much better because Bill Gates made money in Microsoft and put his money back into it…and into Planned Death and into backing the “Gay” agenda? No - I truly think that there are other big name money makers who I would put before Bill Gates. The first one I can think of is Donahoe - the man who made his fortune on Dominos Pizza and has Ave Maria University…an orthodox Catholic University. Or, Mel Gibson with the Passion of The Christ.

The poverty that I see is mainly that of spiritual poverty in this day and age and it coincides with the United States as a whole being a wealthy country…so perhaps there is something to be rich financially and poor spiritually. I believe one can balance being rich in both areas.

 

[Lance]

I was only using Bill Gates as an example. I did not research where his money is spent, I just know that he did give a lot to charity. If he gives to pro-abortion, gay/lesbian and ACLU type organizations I disagree with him. I agree that by and large the poverty in the U.S. is spiritual. There is a lot of actual poverty but most of it seems to be caused by drugs and gangs which is just another spiritual poverty.

 

[yinekka]

1… What is “name it and claim it spirituality”?

1. Read “Happy Are You Poor” by Fr Thomas Dubay. It is a book about Gospel poverty. Fr Dubay has been interviewed on Catholic Answers Radio about this book.