The Value of Faith by Rev. Shane Benjamin, Louisburg College Chaplain
On March 24 of this year, Louisburg College was treated to a presentation on the Prosperity Gospel by Dr. Kate Bowler of Duke Divinity School. Dr. Bowler spoke as part of the Glendora Powell Lecture Series and she highlighted several of this relatively new movement’s key characteristics, as well as some of the beliefs held by a fast-growing, diverse and worldwide body of adherents. One unsurprising characteristic is how the movement in America is not a counter-cultural force. To the contrary, the Prosperity Gospel Movement works very successfully within American consumer culture and, as a whole, promotes itself rather well thanks to a marketing savvy that could be the envy of some of the country’s larger corporations. In fact, several of the mega churches promoting the Prosperity Gospel are considered large corporations by the average mainstream church-goer. And, speaking of mainline denominations and their church-goers, a majority consider the Prosperity Gospel to be no real gospel at all. To put it in theological terms, it is heresy or, at the very least, “material” heresy—the uninformed and ignorant rejection of revealed truth (dogma) traditionally accepted as normative in Christian thought. That said, it continues to be proclaimed by disciples who hail from all walks of life. Another curious yet alluring characteristic highlighted by Bowler are the views of Prosperity Gospel believers and their use of faith: • A Christian should be wealthy or financially comfortable at the very least. • A Christian should be healthy—free of disease of body and malady of mind. •
There is no room in a Christian’s life for negative confessions, only positive ones. For example, if one is sick with cancer, being faithful means never acknowledging the presence of the cancer, only being cured of it. In essence, through positive confession we create our realities simply by speaking them into existence.
• Christians can wield a tool that procures what they need or want out of life. In short, faith is power. My first experience with the Prosperity Gospel and the Positive Confession Movement was in the early 1980s. It has never resonated within me, likely because of my orthodox upbringing and background. However, I have admired the ferocious zeal of its devoted practitioners on occasion. Still, upon reflecting on Bowler’s gracious, nonjudgmental and descriptive presentation, which gave her audience a working vocabulary of this modern day phenomenon by self-professing Christians, I continue to see much of what they embrace as a misunderstanding if not a devaluing of faith as found in historical Christian
thought. In their “faithing” or the very act of applying their trust or assent (fides qua creditor) in any given situation, there is operating what I consider to be a “willing suspension of disbelief.” In my opinion, there appears to be an over emphasis of putting faith in faith to “fix” a situation. I fear many times this brand of theological thinking ends up promoting a type of escapism or even denial of reality. But enough of my negativity toward the Positive Confession and the Prosperity Gospel promoters. For me, the value or importance of faith is rooted in the fact that it is a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8-9). As such, faith is to be valued as the reminder that, as the beneficiaries of something so wonderful, we can consider ourselves as being loved unconditionally. That gives me hope— the kind that generates and leads to a love for God and neighbor in return. Rather than view faith mainly as a tool of power by which I am able to obtain things for myself or have my way in this world, I’ll continue seeing it as a primary way in which I can give myself to God and God’s work. By faith I answer the call to respond to a loving God in grateful service to his people and to work here at Louisburg College and beyond.
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
So, whether I am wealthy or poor, God loves me. Whether I am healthy or sick, God loves me. When I confess something negative, for example, my sin, I can take comfort in knowing that the love of God will grant me forgiveness.
Faith, hope and love are the three main theological virtues - Ephesians 2 8:9 (NIV) in Christian thinking relative to the mighty acts of God’s salvation. They have kept the people of God standing in good times and in bad. In saying we are “related by faith to the United Methodist Church,” in our mission statement, we acknowledge that faith was essential in the founding of Louisburg College and it remains necessary for our ongoing witness to God’s loving presence. Since Louisburg College is a testimony to faith and has touched so many lives for so long—and in so many powerful, positive ways—we give back to it as a show of our own faith in what God is doing here in our midst. When we do, we are simply saying that the value of faith is invaluable. SPRING 2015 / COLUMNS
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