Driscoll on Rich and Poor and Bono

Arguably the coolest guy on our team, Bono recently spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast, giving an impassioned plea for additional financial support for the horror that is taking place in Africa. On the one hand, you have to appreciate any rich guy who uses his influence to help people in need.

On the other hand, he made some comments regarding the poor that are worth pondering. His more noteworthy comments include:

• “…the poor are where God lives.”
• “God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house… God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives… God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war… God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them. ‘If you remove the yolk from your midst, the pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness, and if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light will rise in darkness and your gloom with become like midday and the Lord will continually guide you and satisfy your desire in scorched places.’
• “It’s not a coincidence that in the Scriptures, poverty is mentioned more than 2,100 times. It’s not an accident. That’s a lot of air time, 2,100 mentions. You know, the only time Christ is judgmental is on the subject of the poor. ‘As you have done it unto the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me.’ (Matthew 25:40). As I say, good news to the poor.”

Before wading into this very controversial subject, let me first state that I am not trying to nitpick a rock star who is not a theologian but a Christian brother trying to do some good. When it comes to the issue of rich and poor there is a great theological debate. On one side is Prosperity Theology which essentially says that if you are a holy person with enough faith you will drive an Escalade with rims in Jesus’ name. But what appears to be even more popular among younger missionally minded Christians is an overreaction to Prosperity Theology, called Poverty Theology, where if you really love Jesus you will live very minimally because, like Bono, you believe that Jesus loves the poor, likely more than the rich.

The problem with both Prosperity Theology and Poverty Theology is that they are both half right and both half wrong. What they share is that they are both wrong to make money the issue. The real issue is not money, but righteousness. Therefore, there are not two kinds of people—rich and poor—but rather four kinds of people as categorized here:

Category #1 Righteous Rich People who become rich because God has blessed them, they have worked hard, invested smart, and have not obtained wealth through sin. These people also spend their money righteously through tithing, sharing, caring for the needy, etc. Examples include Abraham, Job after he was restored, and Joseph of Aramathea.	Category #3 The Unrighteous Rich People who become rich through sin and spend their money in a sinful way. Examples include Pharaoh, Judas Iscariot, and the rich young ruler.
Category #2 Righteous Poor People who are poor because they are righteous, are righteous despite being poor, and act righteously with their money though they are poor. Examples include Jesus, the widow who gave her mite, and orphaned children.	Category #4 The Unrighteous Poor People who have no money because they do not work, do not spend wisely, and do not tithe to God. Proverbs speaks a lot about sluggards and about people not eating if they won’t work, and Paul says that any man who does not provide for his family has denied his faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

I do not come from a financially privileged upbringing. I grew up in an area that was working-class poor. My dad was a union drywaller who literally broke his back to feed five kids while my mom stayed home to raise us. In our neighborhood there were some unrighteous poor because they refused to work, stole and sold drugs for a living, and mooched off their families rather than being responsible. There were also righteous poor and most of them were first-generation immigrants who were working hard to get a new start in a new country and they saved carefully, enabling them to climb out of poverty. My entire point is simply that when the issue is rich and poor and not righteous and unrighteous we may have allowed red and blue politics rather than Old Testament and New Testament principles to dominate our thinking.

Mark Driscoll's blog – 02.16.06