Why do devout Christians not give up lives of opulence and live in poverty, as to better serve god and others?

Question

Are Christ's teachings not considered anymore? Have so many Christians really not considered how much their money, spent wastefully, could help the lives of poorer peoples, starving children at the very least?

Why are Christ's teachings to give to the poor and to be of service to society ignored so often by today's Christians?

Why is there no outrage when a congregation spends millions on building a decadent church, and ignores the starvation in poor countries?

I really cannot comprehend when today's Christians spend more resources fighting stem-cell research, gay marriage, and abortion, than they do relieving poverty. Why is this acceptable?

Answer 1

Is it only the Christians that have to spend their money according to your standards to be taken seriously? I think all faiths could do more.

Answer 2

Jesus said "the poor you have with you always" - we will never eradicate poverty. SOME (I didn't say all) poverty is just stupidity in handling resources. Christians do address these issues and continue to pour money, resources, time and labor into combating these issues. Does that mean we should ignore other issues out there? How do you know what percentage of money is spent per issue? "Decadent" Churches and poor starving people - it doesn't matter how much Christians do for others, it seems to never be enough. Instead of looking for "handouts" from the Church to support poverty why don't you cry foul on the governments of those poor nations who keep their people uneducated and enslaved? Look at India - beggars all over the place, sick, starving on the streets while all kinds of food walks freely around for the eating. They have chosen to believe some ridiculous lie of satan and the consequence is that food goes uneaten. We do what we can, when we can but the fact is that people right here need help too and need to be discipled so they can then be prepared to "go out" and make a difference.

Answer 3

It is hard to even know where to begin. First, by glorifying poverty, Christianity is the main culprit in fostering it. When it criticizes creativity and wealth building, it helps to bring more misery and disease to this world.
By not accepting realistic forms of birth control, Christianity will continue bringing more poors to this world, more disease, more pollution, more crime and more war.
Wealth is not the problem. Poverty and ignorance are the problem.
The best way to relieve poverty is not to produce poor people. They are the cause of disease, war and social instability.
Look at Africa. Look at the deplorable conditions they live in, still having babies like rabbits, only to increase poverty even more.
We need more rich and educated people in this world, not more poor people.
Starvation can be eliminated. If there are no means to sustain a population, stop having babies, for heaven's sake!
The pillars that sustain this world are the rich and the intelligent people. If everybody was poor, how could we exist?
We don't want poverty. We hate poverty.
And, even more, the poor also hate their own poverty.
So, why are you trying to preserve it?
Get to your senses!

Answer 4

Hello Manic fruit,
It is not for me to judge how you live your life or spend your money. It is not for you to judge others. Judgement belongs to God. God knows all. The money He has blessed us with IS HIS. He knows how we use what He has given us. We are just stewards of what He has provided. He will judge accordingly so you and I can relax and not have to take on that burden.
There are so many decisions that go into building a building and the various needs for the congregation. Much like if you build a house you would have to think about your family and what it is you needed in the house not just for right now but for future growth of your family.

Perhaps the blessing bestowed on a church that has to build is a result of all the good that church has already done to feed the hungry, reaching out to the homeless. Getting medicine to the poor. And by building, they can grow even more to contribute back to those causes in an even greater way.

The point is you cannot judge based on just looking from the outside(judge a book by it's cover?). I would recommend that if you see a church building go get involved. You may find that the building was to accomodate growth for someone such as yourself to get involved in helping feed the hungry in poor countries.

The news only tells you about the issues that Christians are against. They do not report to you the good that Christians do. And quite honestly, I do what I do to please the Lord, I do not do it for the worlds approval.

Some churches may be guilty of what you say. Not all. Again, the Lord will judge because He is able to read our hearts and minds.

Answer 5

if they were "devout" then this would not be the case.
it takes a lot more than showing up on Sunday and "praying real hard" to be devout.

the answer is this:
1. all people make mistakes and lose track of their purpose, even Christians.
2. money can corrupt anyone very easily.

but for the record, fighting things like stem cell research, gay marriage and abortion are all things that a christian would be against. so spending money to stop them seems kinda logical.

more logical then living in poverty, what good would that do?
unless your suggesting that they give ALL their money to charity and such, which in any case would not be the christian thing to do, it would be the ignorant thing to do.

good question though, i hope it opens the eyes of many stray believers who can realize their waste fullness.
its easy to get caught up in the materialistic world we lIve in.
ive been there too.

Answer 6

*I don't know where you live, but here in the U.S. poor is not poor. Everytime we see a news cast on shelters and organizations like Goodwill and Salvation Army helping we see them drive up in brand new SUV's and nice clothes and every now and then our newspaper will ask those in charge of helping people if the needy get rides from friends and relitives, and they so , No those are the needy.

We had a plant to go on strike and the workers made over one hundred thousand dollars a year, but the city went out of their way to help these poor needy strikers who refused to work because their union wanted more money.

People who really do live off of less than $30,000.00 a year are looked down on by churches and community.*

Answer 7

It's not acceptable! I don't think you know every devout Christian so you could be mistaken. Yes some buildings are bigger and nicer than they need to be, but most churches have great programs for helping people. I still give and not only to the churches, but to other worthy charities such as the Salvation Army and St. Jude's Children's Hospital. Just because poverty is a problem doesn't mean other things that you mentioned should be forgotten. I am against murdering and experimenting on unborn children. There are other options that do not result in the loss of life. Isn't that what your question is all about? Respecting and helping others to live? Sacrificing of ourselves for the benefit of another? Shouldn't a mother do that for her unborn child?

May God Bless you.

Answer 8

If this isn't poverty I live in, then I don't know what is. And what little I have I still share and help others. I also do not spend my time/resources fighting the issues you have listed. I guess we get lumped together but I just thought I'd inform you that it's not all of us.

Answer 9

Obviously not all Christians are like that, but nothing angers me more than a self-proclaimed "Christian" complaining about having to pay taxes for welfare, especially if they never give anything back to their community. Certainly there are people who take advantage of welfare, but there are many who genuinely need it to get out of a financial rut. Either way, Christianity says to help those in need, no matter who they are or what they do.


For those who can't understand my anger, there are SOME people, "Christians" and others, who blame povery on personal laziness and feel they have no reason to help those in need. I respect anyone who gives back to their community, whether it be through volunteer service, donations, etc. My problem is with people who pretend to follow their religion by attending Church once a week but never lend a helping hand to those around them, in any way.

Answer 10

Because we have lost our first love! Which is Christ. In the NewTestament, the church grew, out of its great love for God in Christ, that produced salvation in them to the uttermost, to renounce the ways of the world, though this did not mean that they totally disregarded riches, but saw what the had for the betterment of the advancement of evangelizing and winning others to Christ instead of their own needs.

Within 300 years the church had infiltrated and turned the Roman empire into a mainly Christian one, yet this was not to be, for in that aspirement Christians became more worldly than the world, and sacrifice and servant hood was lost to the church.

This problem continued to plague the church in the first 15 centuries, until the reformation, yet this only divided the church into what was already a fractured building. Then with Martin Luther and others the reformation took full swing and the birth of the protestant church began, sacrifice and servanthood was beginning to make a comeback, but the problem was to ingrown,

4 centuries later Christianity rises yet it does so on the back of capitalism and not servant hood, self sacrifice, in which capitalism took center stage. Service was based more on how much one could give, more than how much service can I do. Service is seen as something we give instead of what we do, worship something we do, instead of what how live, spiritual life is something we are instead of someone we give.What measure of Christ likeness can I present to others.

I will agree with you in part that the church is off kelter to the "great commmission" for which it was called into existence, and it is spending way too too too much on buildings, and fighting symptoms of sin instead attacking the source which is sin in the individual. We as Christians serve God, but our duty is to God, in Christ and to present Him to all men. We give, we teach, we show, we upbuild we serve.

Not to make starvation an issue, but so long as their is sin in the world and in society and in individuals, these things will remain until Christ comes again to restore all things.

Answer 11

It's acceptable because the vast majority are only concerned with themselves. They have long ago forgotten (or never knew) how their God wants them to act. They remember to try to convert everyone and that they (alone) are saved. Everything else was apparently lost on most of them.

If they are right about an afterlife, I'd like to watch them all stumble over their explanations of why they ignored the words of Jesus yet still fully expect salvation.