If "Christian" means Christ- like, Then why do preachers wear $200 shoes and live in expensive houses?

Question

Didn't Jesus say that he had no home. (If you really search the Bible you may find that Jesus did not like crowds.)

Dear Mag -- That's new to me, I never knew Jesus was rich because of what the Wise Men Brought him when he was born.

Answer 1

well said, you are right, thats where the $ is, I have chosen the wrong career path, dang

Answer 2

I've lived in quite a few places across the country and have not been in a church that had a pastor that met such a description. I imagine there are some, but the question implied that pastors who are extremely well off are the norm.

Every pastor I've known makes much less that an equivalently trained professional. (It is expected that pastors where I worship have at least 4 years of graduate school beyond their bachelor's degree.) The high end of the scale for pastors where I worship is in the 70k range and the group of Christians I am part of represents a sizable group of Christians in the US.

Second, Jesus did have no home, but that was not the model he set for life. Jesus did not say that the key point to being his disciple was to be homeless or poor. The point was that we would in Jesus be reunited with the Father. The "fruit" of being in Jesus is love. Love means we take care of the needy not that we must give up everything and become needy and a burden on society. Love means using our skills and talents to the best of our ability in order to care for our neighbor whether that means being a doctor, janitor, lawyer, teacher, pastor, garbage collector, engineer, etc. The income - large or small - is to take care or our families and then others.

The pastors to which you refer do not seem to fit this mold, but I am not in a postition to judge. I have never met such a pastor and if I did I'm not sure what percentage of his income he is giving to support the charities in his communitee. I am not in a position to judge him. What additional information do you have?

Third, nothing said Jesus didn't like the crowds. What is said is that after a while he needed a break from the crowds to pray and rest. Jesus as a true human as well as true God, needed to rest. Taking time to rest is a healthy call to all of us. (In fact a day of rest is built into the 10 commandments.)

Answer 3

You are right, Christians means to be Christ-like. Those preachers you were saying who wears $200 shoes I don’t know who they are. But don’t they have the right to wear those shoes because they are preacher? Don’t they have the right to live in good houses because they supposed to be Christ-like?
There are some preachers that are FAKE but there is also preacher who is genuine. In that case, they will give account to God.

But I agree with Maguyver.... Jesus wears expensive clothes, and do you know about the Last Supper it was held in the "Upper room"; that Upper Room was one of the most expensive inns during their time (a 5-Star hotel if we compare to our time).

And who says that Christ is poor? The bible say in 2 Cor.8:9 -
"For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich."

Do you know what was Jesus preparing for his disciple? It was made up of lots of precious stone.

18 And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.
19 And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald;
20 The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolyte; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.
21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls: every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.
-Rev. 21:18-21

In short, although Christians must live like Christ, it doesn’t mean that Christians are prohibited to enjoy the financial blessing they receive from God, as long as they use the blessing for the Glory of God (not just to exalt their self.) Blessings are blessings!

Answer 4

Christian does not mean Christ-like.

It means follower of Christ.

Most preachers do NOT wear $200 shoes. That is simply a stereotype made up by people who want to try and discredit the church.

Maybe a preacher will have a lot of money because they are SMART, and actually listened in CAPP class, grade ten. If you put in 10% of your income in a savings account a month from the time you're 18 for a decade, by the time you're retiring you'll be sitting on several thousand dollars.

Most people don't do this; and then they go and get angry at the people who listened in Planning class... Heh.

Answer 5

Well, first, I like the first person said, the vast majority don't. They usually get the money they can spend from the church (meaning that it's usually not all that much), and the money they get usually goes back to their own church for repairs or improvements...

Second, since they are preachers it doesn't insure the fact that they are actually held to any vows that clergy men have to take... They COULD just be members of the laity that are helping to spread the word and incidentally were taken up by sponsors, or they already had enough money to spend all their time doing this kind of thing

But, usually it depends on the vows they take. For instance, the vow of chastity, it doesn't extend to all priests, or preachers for that matter (for the above reason) it depends on the vows their specific sect has to take, the Latin sect must take the vow of chastity. So the vow of poverty might not really apply to that certain sect.

And finally they are as "Christ-like" (as you put it) as they can be, within reason. The different sects display the different aspects of Jesus' life.


If you don't like my answer just ask this question at this website, they could probably answer it better:
catholic.com

Answer 6

I don't think the majority of preachers wear 200 dollar shoes. But just because they do does not mean they aren't a Christian. Even preachers sin. We all sin.
Also, if he buys a pair of 200 dollar shoes, because they will last him a long time and his feet are messed up, that's a different story.
God doesn't want us not to enjoy the fruits of our labor. It's okay to have a nice home, nice clothes and a nice car.
But balance that with lots of giving.

Answer 7

Religion is big business. TV Evangelists are all on the forbes 400 list of richest men in America.
If they can preach on TV they become rich.
The pope hardly lives a life of sacrifice.
Jesus had no where to lay down his head. The wise men brought him gifts?
That's a new thought. If he was well off then how could he accuse the pharasees of being rich money lovers?
thank you I like your question, some people choose to ignore that.

Answer 8

The LOVE of MONEY is what is Evil.
Not Money.
Jesus was rich from the Get-Go.
The Wise men brought HIM Very Expensive things when he was young.
The article of Clothing that they used a game of Chance to decide who would win it (it was Woven in one piece) would be VERY Expensive to buy back then.
Jesus had a home.
It is not Things or Money--that is bad.
You can make a Sin outta' just about AnyThing.
Ditto.

p.s. forgot about HIS Ministry, had so much comning in, HE had to have someone to look over it.
Jesus knew Judas was a Thief, but Jesus was trying to make a man outta' him, didn't work.
But, Judas had the Chance.
And Blew-It.

Answer 9

God teaches us that He will reward His faithful followers. This is a promise from God. Some faithful followers are rewarded with long life, others with a loving family and many children, others can be rewarded with material things. Did you know that the church pays the Pastors salary? If the church is not doing well, the Pastor probably isn't rich either. However, if the Pastor works long and hard and he is truly blessed by God, shouldnt he accept whatever pay God allows him?
Being a Pastor today has many expenses associated with it and requires very much time on the Pastors part. Some Pastors have gotten to the point where they need personal jets to take them and the 40 0r 50 people they need to far away places to preach Gods word, or to minister to the sick and dying. read Prov 31:31/ Matt 6:33/Matt 7:7/Luke 6:38/Prov 28:27 These are only a few verses of Gods promises to His faithful followers. God promises "Our Barns Will Overflow" with His blessings if we Tithe our time and money to Him. God loves to Give, He is not stingy, He loves to bless us. These people you think negatively about are simply being rewarded by God for their faithfulness. Not everyone receives money, God has many, many blessings for each individual. Don't judge too harshly, if you were serving God on a sanctuary every few days, perhaps you would pay your respects to God by wearing the finest clothes you could afford. I don't think there is anything wrong with dressing up to honor God, just as I think dressing casual is OK also. Everyone is different and everyone Honors God in their own way. I would think a Pastor would need a large home, he probably has much company and needs the room. Perhaps people down on their luck can find an extra room at the Pastors house. Each servant will be judged by God individually. A person who is truly blessed by God with monetary things, will have alot of nice things. I think God rewards us in areas we are faithful. He doesn't reward us in areas we are not faithful. So, if I give according to Gods word, He promises to pay me back even more than I can give. This is a "Promise" of God to ALL generations and He says to "Test Me" in this. Prov 3:9-10....
"Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will be filled to overflowing."
Prov 10:22 "The blessings of the Lord bring wealth; and He adds no trouble to it."
Prov 11:18 "The wicked man earns deceptive wages, but he who sows righteousness reaps a sure reward."
Prov 16:3 "Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed."
Prov 21:21 "He who pursues righteousness and love, finds life, prosperity and honor.
Also read the last Chapter of Job.
God Bless You....Peace.

Answer 10

I believe that those preachers who put more stock into what they wear and where they live and become all about the money worship the green and not God. Materialism is the worship of money and that is not of God what so ever. The true wrong is if the preacher is using the church money for that house and those clothes n that fancy car BUT if he aquires those things with his own money(job outside of the church) then there's nothing wrong with it. However if all this preacher talks about is prosperity, wealth, money, finances then there's your big clue that aint nothing to him bc there's more to a spiritual life than money n wealth.

Answer 11

The real question is: Are those men really men of God or are they just claiming to be? Matthew 7: 21 - "“Not everyone saying to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the kingdom of the heavens, but the one doing the will of my Father who is in the heavens will. "