Where do idiots get the idea that poverty is caused by lack of faith?

Question

As obviously ignorant as this is, people have even said it on here! Where do they get such rubbish?

Answer 1

The same place that they get the idea that diseases and natural disasters are some kind of punishment.

The pulpit on Sunday.

Answer 2

I have plenty of faith and I have lived in poverty...

I have had times where I didn't have faith... and still was in poverty.

I grew up very poor... The ONLY person in my family who doesn't have faith (or believe) in God is my brother who is an Atheist. He is doing great... he owns his car he works two jobs and goes out all the time... no poverty anymore.

Christians believe God will take care of them, and MAYBE that is what they mean by that or at least where it is coming from... growing up I was told that if you can't handle your problems cast them to God... my personal opinion is that you should keep trying to come out of where you are and ask God to HELP, not to leave it completely at his feet. As a grown person, would you leave all your big problem on your parents door step? Of course not.

Poverty isn't caused by lack of faith... it is caused by pure and simple lack of money.

As a believer of God, I believe that God will always be there when I need him(which has been proven to me time and time again... and JUST in time). I have lived in a tent in someones front yard and so many other things... but I always had everything I needed right when I needed it. Now I have much more... and every hard time I have been thru has been a blessing because I came away from it with a new perspective or learned something new... or something good has came of it.

Poverty hits people of all religions and lack thereof and all races. It is an ignorant thing to say that poverty is caused by lack of faith because it is not. I have proof, my whole life... if those people saying that knew me and my life story they would surely change their minds.

Answer 3

At the moment, I can see 3 different perspectives to your question.

1.It may not always be implied in a religious sense. It could mean not having faith(or confidence) in oneself, people, events, etc. I think being optimistic requires a certain amount of faith. If we had no confidence in anything, nothing to look forward to, we would just give up and become unmotivated in life. This may (ONE factor that can) lead to poverty.

2. If the word faith is implied religiously, it could mean that without a personal relationship with the divine, one's spiritual state is in poor condition.

3. Or, kind of ties in with number 2, if one has no god in their life then the negativity(in this case poverty) that is brought upon the individual is the consequence of it.

I think when most people say this, they mean it by number 1 or 2. As far as where one may get such notion... Well, observations in life(comparing one's life situations and believes to that of others), or hearing such thing from other people might have an impact.

If you're just expressing a frustration, I hear ya. Peace:-)

Answer 4

That's the insidious counterside to the "prosperity gospel". You know, the one that goes "God loves you and wants to BLESS you and He's just waiting to throw open the floodgates of heaven and rain down blessings on you if you just pray / believe / etc etc." If blessings - which invariably means "material goods" - are a sign of sufficient faith, or proper prayer, or right living or any other means of appeasing the vending-machine-God, then the logical conclusion is that lack of "blessings" - not enough material goods must be a sign of insufficient faith, lack of prayer, unrighteous living, etc.

This belief is nothing new, btw. It runs throughout the Hebrew Bible and is generally referred to by scholars as the "Deuteronomistic" perspective. Of course this viewpoint is critically denounced by some of the Prophets, by the Wisdom books such as Job, and by Jesus himself.

The basis for the idea is actually ok. It's grounded in the idea that if you do the right things, things will turn out good, and if you do the wrong things, things will turn out bad - there are consequences for actions in other words. The problem is when you attribute general principles to specific actions of a deity. That's the WHOLE problem addressed by the book of Job.

Peace to you.

Answer 5

Poverty is not caused by pregnancy, early or otherwise. Many young families are able to gain and retain well paying jobs and responsibly raise a family. Though, there are a high percentage of families that are below the poverty level who did start young and for whatever reason opted for welfare and/or other social services. Some need it, some are lazy and use/abuse it, others have lied to receive it. Any which way, poverty is not caused by pregnancy, pregnancy does not cause poverty. People who are unable or unwilling to sustain themselves by gainful employment are more often than not the cause of their own poverty.

Answer 6

I don't know, since there is a very moving passage from the bible, book of Mark, that says quite the opposite.

12:41 Then he sat down opposite the offering box, and watched the crowd putting coins into it. Many rich people were throwing in large amounts. 12:42 And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, worth less than a penny. 12:43 He called his disciples and said to them, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the offering box than all the others. 12:44 For they all gave out of their wealth. But she, out of her poverty, put in what she had to live on, everything she had.”

Answer 7

Smiling at Jim's answer!

Prosperity doctrine is built upon a few Bible verses taken in isolation and in my opinion, completely out of context. It seems that Prosperity Doctrine is a part of the charismatic movement which belittles education, values experience more highly than Scriptural understanding, and does not develop a love and passion for the Word of God. I guess it springs from the modern ideal (by modern I don't mean recent - certainly the last one hundred years, but historically, these things are cyclical anyway) of hedonism - immediate gratification, a sense of 'worth' and 'value' and 'deserving'. It has its root in pride, and a lack of love, understanding and even awareness of our "brothers in chains" and the martyrs. A complete ignorance of anything "unsavoury"!!!

You might like the blog www.charismania.wordpress.com - about a couple who left a prosperity-pushing megachurch in the US. There are many stories like theirs.

Answer 8

IF they say that, they don't know anything! Being poor does not come from lack of faith! Some Christians are just ridiculous. They make up stuff that is not in the bible and for their own convenience.
Edit: I am a Christian.

Answer 9

I don't know why anyone would think that. There are several things that contribute to poverty. However, lack of faith isn't one of them. It's a ploy to get people to go to church. I believe it was Christ himself who said the poor would always be with us.

Answer 10

I have strong reasons to believe, and the biggest suspicion that poverty is caused by Lack of money.

Answer 11

Their thought is, if you are in lack financially, then you aren't living right, you are doing something wrong in your walk with god. You can't win for losing. If something is wrong it's your fault. Unless you are one of the super spiritual ones. Then most of the time you are being attacked by the devil. Nervous breakdown material here. They won a few battles over me, but not the war. lol
Happy Halloween, Enigma my friend!