A Financial Perspective
February 23, 2009
America is experiencing an economic down-sizing, some would say a right-sizing of our national economy. This is a painful process for Christians who fall into two broad categories. First, some are suffering because they violated God’s plan of economy. They have been greedy, usurious, unwilling to tithe and exceed the tithe in giving, participated in get-rich-quick schemes, failed to save for the future, and otherwise distorted the concept of stewardship. Second, others are suffering because they are victims of the bad decisions by the people in the first group. No one is exempt, in some way, from what we are going through.
People in the first group need to repent, practice stewardship principles, and put their finances in order over time. People in the second group must endure a trial not of their making, while continuing to practice good stewardship principles. Recovery for everyone is going to take some time.
While we have had our standard of living lowered, it is amazing to me how much of a sense of entitlement has been revealed through this process. Since we have been on a national economic roll for the past ten years, people have to expect – nay demand – their right to financial prosperity. And, here is the shocking fact –
we are still prosperous – despite our losses.
That’s right. Americans, all Americans including the poorest among us, are still part of the wealthiest nation on earth. We still have the largest national economy of any country. American Christians are still the wealthiest Christians on earth. Even thought my retirement account is much smaller than six months ago,
I still have a retirement account! Most ministry leaders around the world serve, on their best day, in more dire straits than any of us who lead in American Christianity. We are still the richest people on earth.
Our seminary is pressing ahead with projects, continuing our work and asking Christians to continue to give generously so we can remain strong. Some have suggested it is a bad time to ask for gifts. Why is it a bad time to ask the wealthiest Christians in the world to give to support the mission of the kingdom? American Christians still have the most of any Christians on earth. We are still uniquely blessed by God, in spite of recent events, with incredible resources we can give to kingdom causes. While it may mean adjusting our standard of living, giving with some sacrifice rather than out of our abundance, we can still give generously to advance the kingdom.
The economic downturn has one positive outcome. It has revealed the pitiful standard of stewardship and stewardship instruction in the typical American church. For most of my adult life, pastors have been afraid to talk about money for fear of offending someone. This is a devilish lie. I have talked about money my entire ministry and found people very responsive to biblical, reasonable, balanced instruction about stewardship. True, people don’t want to hear “give me your money.” But teaching stewardship is different. It is our biblical responsibility to present the entire scope of managing God’s resources. Perhaps our current economic struggles will jolt pastors and other Christian leaders into teaching about stewardship – rather than being cowards when it comes to teaching about money.
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Help from the Government
February 16, 2009
You are about to be mad or disgusted, so if you continue reading, don’t write me back. I am only the messenger!
The federal government has recently passed an economic stimulus bill, taking dramatic steps to change our national economy. Some feel governmental intervention was necessary since the government knows best how to solve market problems. Some of us aren’t so convinced, based on our observation of other governmental solutions to pressing problems.
The San Francisco Department of Public Health will send two mascots to street fairs, parades, and other public events this summer. These two new government-funded symbols are a six-foot tall Healthy Penis, along with his sidekick Phil the Syphilis Sore. Their appearances this spring and summer are actually a reprise from 2002 when they debuted in an attempt to lower the incidence of syphilis among gay and bisexual men. Syphilis cases are again on the rise, hence the need to trot out Penis and Sore to remind men of the need to take better care of themselves.
You might wonder, “who would wear such a costume?” Don’t worry. According to department spokeswoman Eileen Shields, “There is no lack of people (public health staffers) who want to volunteer to wear a penis costume in public.” It is comforting to know the San Francisco budget is so flush with resources employees can be paid to dress up as a Penis or Sore. And, don’t worry about not being able to get them for your event! There are multiple costumes to make sure these mascots can appear at more than one venue at a time.
To be fair, city leaders have recently announced significant changes to the Bay to Breakers race for next year. This year, the public nudity, urination, and deification finally became too much even for many San Franciscans. As you might imagine, while some are protesting, the 36 tons of garbage left on the streets by last year’s crowd – including whole parade floats – mandates new policies. We are debauched, but we still get tired of cleaning up after others who relieve themselves on our property.
Those of us who live in the Bay Area encounter lostness in full bloom. There is little subtlety here. Many people live with no reference to God or any moral framework based on any absolute standards. You may wonder why we stay here. We stay because we are needed, urgently needed, to be salt and light so some will be saved.
Pray for us.
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Greed, with a side dish of hypocrisy
February 9, 2009
Without question, irresponsible executives of some companies allowed greed to get the best of them – damaging our national economy and hurting millions of people in the process. Before we castigate these leaders, let’s admit some church leaders are also culpable. Several prominent health-and-wealth preachers have fallen on hard times, in trouble with the IRS, with their marriages and ministries failing as a result. (A question: How can a prosperity preacher not pay his taxes? Shouldn’t he just pay them – and perhaps a little extra just to be safe – since God will prosper him for his integrity and replace with abundance whatever he lost by paying the taxes? He could actually get richer by paying his taxes! Just a thought.)
While the guilty deserve their consequences, the media outrage at any evidence of wealth these days is amusing. Six months ago,
Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous was an appropriate aspiration, as high-flying executives and successful companies were lauded in America. Now, being financially successful is insensitive and selfish.
I first noticed this with the outcry about the auto executives arriving at the Capital to ask for financial help after flying in private planes. How shocking! Leaders of multi-billion dollar companies flying private planes! It looked bad to the politically correct. But were these men really more effective leaders because they later spent a full day driving hybrid vehicles the next time they traveled from Detroit to Washington?
Another example was the so-called scandal of a major investment firm entertaining its wealthiest clients at an upscale resort on Florida. The clients paid their own transportation and lodging costs for the event, while the company picked up the tab for the program and hosted the meals. Media outrage followed. How could this company waste taxpayer dollars like this?! Are you kidding me? Preserving these client relationships, by hosting them in the manner they expect given their multi-million dollar portfolios, is a key to this company surviving. The clients haven’t done anything wrong by being honest investors. If they lose these clients, they lose the company. But again, it looked bad so it must have been wrong.
People who make leadership mistakes must be held accountable for their actions. Inept leaders should be fired. Criminal behavior should be prosecuted. But is it really holding people accountable to critique travel methods and venues for meetings with clients? I think not. But, typical of our superficial culture, we want to
feel angry and express outrage rather than mete out genuine consequences.
Real action to build accountability into our system by correcting real problems, not just redistributing wealth in an entitlement society with allocations determined by the government, is urgently needed – now. Pray for men and women of character to rise up in governmental leadership to make the hard decisions to not only right the economy, but enforce standards of integrity on issues that really matter among business and financial leaders.
And, while we are at it, let’s ask God for the courage to do the same thing in churches and religious organizations. We should be leading the pack, not bringing up the rear, as models for fiscal integrity with complete transparency in our operations.
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Living Together
February 2, 2009
Heterosexual couples living together prior to or in lieu of marriage is becoming more and more common in our culture. The 2002 National Survey of Family Growth found that 65% of couples in first-time marriages lived together beforehand. Updated research by Stephanie Coontz, a professor at Evergreen State College and author of “Marriage: A History,” indicates this percentage is at least the same today, probably slightly higher. Anecdotal evidence, based on my outreach and ministry among young adults, confirms this trend. More and more couples, including Christian young adults, are asking more often about the reasons they should not live together before marriage.
The two primary reasons they give me for wanting to live together are to test compatibility for marriage and to solve economic pressures of single adult life. Testing a relationship to see if it will withstand the rigors of marriage and waiting until a couple is economically capable of supporting themselves are worthwhile goals. Unfortunately, living together is a poor method to resolve these issues.
Ladies, let me be blunt. It’s not about testing the relationship or saving money. For men, it’s about sex.
You may think, “How crude!” I prefer to think, “How honest!” If a man wants to save money, he can get a roommate. Most of the other so-called financial benefits from living together are not significant.
And what about testing the relationship? That’s what engagement is supposed to be for. It’s a time to build a relationship, without the added challenge of also learning to manage the intimacy and vulnerability that comes with a sexual relationship. It’s a time for couples, particularly men, to establish a pattern of disciplined sacrifice required to make marriage work.
Couples who live together, but who don’t want to be married, tend to do one of two extremes. On the one hand, some reject marriage as an out-of-date relic of a by-gone era. On the other hand (and this is intriguing), some actually have marriage on such a high pedestal they don’t feel they are competent or qualified to be married. Either extreme leads to a flawed decision to go with “marriage lite,” quoting a phrase coined by Coontz.
The sad results of cohabitating couples are these. First, the divorce rate for couples who live together exceeds the rate among couples who did not live together prior to marriage. While this rate is declining (probably because couples are delaying marriage until they are older, thus improving their chances for marital success even if they have lived together), cohabitating is still a negative predictor of future marital success.
Second, 1 in 3 children born in America this year will be born out of wedlock. The emotional price these children pay, and the public expense of educating, counseling, and sometimes incarcerating them is incredible.
And finally, the emotional toll on individuals who risk these relationships is staggering. One woman told me with tears, “I can’t believe my partner is being unfaithful to me.” Why should she be surprised? If a man will have sex with one woman outside of marriage, isn’t that a good indicator he will do it with another woman if given the opportunity? Past behavior is the best indicator if future behavior! Living together is sanctioned adultery, both partners agreeing sex outside of marriage is fine. Why then, would anyone be surprised when their adulterous partner simply carries it to the next step? Living together breeds insecurity, mistrust, and what psychologists collectively call “commitment or attachment issues.”
When the Bible warns against fornication and adultery (that’s what cohabitating is, by the way), it isn’t the idle warning of a sex-prohibiting, good-time-squelching God. It is the loving counsel of a Father who knows what’s best for his children. We disobey and bear the ugly, inevitable consequences.
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