Why Wealth Is Not a Measure of Faith

In the process of becoming Catholic, there were a lot of so-called “Christian” beliefs that I had to drop. Some of those beliefs include not calling priests “Father,” despite St. Paul referring to himself as a Father to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 4:14-15). Or that at the end of the world, all Christians will be “raptured” up to heaven, and all the sinners must stay down here on Earth to face their punishment.

However, one of the hardest intuitions to let go of was what I call the prosperity gospel intuition. That is, the underlying belief that God rewards us through our faith, either by financial or material gains, and the less money or materials one has, the more it means that God is punishing that person for being sinful.

The prosperity gospel itself is famously taught by TV evangelists such as Joel Osteen, T.D. Jakes, Benny Hinn, and Kenneth Copeland.

Despite the overwhelming Biblical support against the prosperity gospel (the book of Job being a contradiction of it), I found myself still believing that my recent financial struggles would cease if I just “put my faith in God,” and pursued my philosophy degree in the city. But so far, I’ve only made matters worse, and still more, the big miracle cheque I thought was coming never transpired.

It wasn’t making sense to me as to why I was being punished for pursuing my call to philosophy. Was I even being called to philosophy? If I were to pursue what God wanted me to pursue, wouldn’t I be financially stable?

Such thinking is dangerous and contrary to both Scripture and reason.

To show the faultiness of the prosperity gospel, we must ask ourselves, What is a ‘gift”?

Is a gift earned? No, otherwise it wouldn’t be a gift; it would be proper compensation. The bi-weekly deposit you receive from your company isn’t a gift; it’s earned cash you deserve for your labour.

Is a gift a reward? Reward for what exactly? The gifts you receive on your birthday certainly aren’t rewards for being alive one extra year. Nor are Christmas gifts rewards for being present on the day of our Lord’s birth.

A gift, then, seems to be that which is freely given from one person to another with no expected return of equal value. The gift of becoming a child of God is one that you, in a million years of prayer and worship, will never be able to repay. Nor would you ever be able to compensate Christ for what He did for you on The Cross. God gave us both gifts freely and does not expect you to return the favour.

Is a gift mine? In one sense, yes, and in another sense, no. Yes, because you are the one who is in possession of the gift. No, in the sense that it’s not yours to treat it however you like, but rather, by possessing it, you are given responsibility for what is God’s. Only God possesses the freedom to do with a gift as He wills, and in some cases, He has entrusted you with one. And these gifts, be it money, material, intellect, and social skills, are all sourced from God, not from your labour.

So, for those who believe that God rewards us with material gain for good faith and punishes us for bad faith, let me ask you: How could that which I receive – that isn’t mine – be a measurement of my faith? If the money in my bank is a free gift from God, how is it the result of my faith? If the cars and jets I own aren’t ultimately mine, but tools to use to glorify God, to what does my faith have to do with it?

You might say that by one’s good faith, God has given more money and material gains to specific people because He entrusts them with these powerful tools. So, are Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and all billionaires also the top Christians in the world? What did Christ mean when He said, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”? If these rich men held such a high responsibility and were in grave spiritual danger from the temptations that come with riches, certainly every single billionaire is a holy man!

Poor St. Thomas Aquinas, you might think, for giving up his family’s fortune to pursue a life devoted to God! If only he had used his familial money, then he would have been a much greater saint! And you, reader, indeed you are richer than he was. So, it must follow that your faith is greater than that of a doctor of the Church. Please, stop reading this and go back to being the holiest person alive!

The problem, then, is that if we are to say that material gains are the result of a good faith, then it must follow that the proper end of faith is material gains. But all proper ends are found in God alone. Thus, material gains are not the result of one’s good faith. A good faith is itself a gift, not the means to a gift. And all gifts come from God.