The co-founder of Christian website Desiring God believes that an obsession with “material prosperity” is “at least as dangerous as porn” in our modern era.
Jon Bloom wrote in an op-ed published last month that he believes materialism should “frighten” Christians to a degree, considering what the Bible says about it.
Bloom appealed to Jesus’ claim that it is “easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” And, he noted that Paul also said, “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evils.”
He continued:
Think about the testimonies you’ve heard of people’s powerful encounters with God. Ask yourself how many of those stories of powerful, transformational, life-altering, love-producing, sanctifying encounters with God were the result of being lavished with worldly prosperity. If you’re like me, you come up empty. But if you know any, you can probably count them on one hand with fingers left over.
On the other hand, how many of those stories involve people in some way being, as we say, brought to the end of themselves? Let that sink in for moment: we tend to encounter God more profoundly in our places of need than in our places of prosperity.
Bloom went on to question why Christians don’t have accountability groups for the love of wealth as they do for other stumbling blocks, and questioned the impact of desensitization on people living in a culture that is immersed in money.
And he said that Christians must come to see abundance as potentially posing problematic issues just as many see facing financial constraints as posing trials that can yield important lessons.
“How desensitized are we — especially in light of the fact that, according to the Bible, prosperity is at least as spiritually dangerous as pornography?” Bloom asked.
Read the thought-provoking post in its entirety here.