Yessssssssssssss, another sex scandal involving a mega church

http://www.thisboardrocks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=114528&highlight=Unitarian

 

Which would be . . . . Please explain . . . I thought the Bible says what it says; Unless something got loss in the translation from the Hebrews > Greek > English . . .

THE BOTTOM LINE: In order to spread the Gospel today, you need money. I think God wants his children to be prosperous so they can help do this (buy sowing into a ministry, getting involved in local church, etc.).

I mean, its great that evangelist like Jesse Duplantis & Creflo Dollar have their own jet so they can go to & from preaching vs. having to wait to make connecting commercial flights at an airport like most people. If being rich means Creflo can buy a Manhattan Apartment/Condo for over $1 million so he has a place to stay when he preaches at WORLD CHANGERS CHURCH in NY (vs. having to stay at a hotel), I'm not going to complain about that.

 

The context of the verse is a major factor in this case (as it is in most cases). Paul is writing to the Christians in the city of Corinth, which at that time was a bustling metropolitan port city that rivaled Athens in its riches and general society. A modern day equivalent might be as though he was writing to brand new Christians in Beverly Hills.

The problem in the early church is that many Christians were "blackballed" in those types of settings, so even new local converts went from "haves" to "have-nots" in a hurry once word got out they were worshipping Jesus instead of the established local gods, and even worse -- trying to convert others.

What also needs to be noted is that Paul went "from the penthouse to the outhouse" after his own conversion experience. He lost everything, and he knows the same thing is happening to the new believers in Corinth.

So the message he's sending them is one of encouragement. He's using "rich" and "poor" as a play on words -- literally on the poverty side, metaphorically on the rich side. As one who had everything and lost it for his own faith in Christ, he learned a new definition of "rich" (ex: Philippians 1:21-24; 4:10-19).

Now, this new perspective of being rich does not necessarily exclude material wealth. On the contrary -- like you've pointed out, the gospel can be spread farther, wider, faster, and easier with financial resources. But I don't think that's what Paul had in mind here.