10,000 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 1.6 million dollar mortgage, 10 million dollar line of credit. Wow what a home for Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
Those of you who know me understand that I have, well, a difference of opinion with the preaching of Rev. Jeremiah Wright. So, You would expect that I would be the next person to begin a tirat against his building of a multi-million dollar home with church money. Actually, I'm about to do the opposite.
I have no problem with a pastor, or church leader of any kind driving nice cars, motorcycles, and having beautiful homes. King Soloman was blessed by God and lived in the largest palace and had more gold and possessions than any king in history. Was he sinning by accumulating such a mass of possessions. I don't think so. It actually brought people to the Lord by it's glorifying of His name.
I have a problem with the hate that spews from the mouth of Rev. Wright. However, He was their pastor, and if they want to honor God through this endeveor then so be it. One could argue that the money could be better spent. Maybe it could, maybe not. Will this home serve as a dual purpose for visiting missionaries, pastors, those released from prison, homeless.. etc. I don't know.
Rarely am I willing to decifer what is best for others when it is not a direct issue of sin. Which building a big home is not. Perhaps they have been led to do this to honor God, perhaps not.
In this particular case it seems interesting after all the "rich white americans greed" speeches. Yet I'm still not willing to judge. Are you?
9 comments:
With 10,000 square feet I'd have at least 6 bedrooms! All with their own bathrooms, because I drink way to much coffee, soda and tea!
As for the pastor, all I have ever heard are the popular sound bites, so I'm in no position to make the call on him. But the hate-filled spew I have heard definitely goes down in the "cons" list.
I don't care if he lives in a house worth a billion dollars. That's between him and God, although I tend to believe that God calls men in the pastorate to a life of simplicity, self-denial, and sacrifice.
What I do care about is the hypocrisy that owning such a house entails for him.
RGUY - While I agree that men called to the pastorate are USUALLY to live a life of simplicity there are examples of God blessing them abundantly. If there be a question here, to me, it would be the validity of Rev. Wrights theology which is very skewed, and it doesn't appear that he is living by it. Only using it to feed the emotional responses of his congregation.
My biggest issue is with the waste and therefore poor stewardship. The cost of building a house that size combined with the cost of maintaining a house that size is just not good stewardship. I don't care who you are, unless you're running an orphanage, you don't need a house that big. That money could have built dozens, maybe hundreds, of homes around the world. It's nice living in a house where you don't feel like you're on top of each other all the time, but that's just ridiculous.
Jeff
There's a lot of ignorance concerning Wright. This might be of interest
http://www.wschronicle.com//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1028&Itemid=40
Then again, some people prefer not to understand.
Link didn't work: http://www.wschronicle.com//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1028&Itemid=40
Jay, I cannot make the entire link appear in your comments. I will post to my blog tonight or tomorrow an entry that will, hopefully, include this link.
Okay, it's up.
http://helenl.wordpress.com/2008/04/22/just-because-im-slack/
I understand the thought that their is much money being wasted on this home. However, I'm glad noone is standing over my shoulder deciding if I'm "wasting money" when I order the second slice of pie at the end of my meal.
It may very well be waste, but I don't think we can judge that. Was King Solomon wasting the gold he was blessed with when he turned them into to cups, saucers, utensils, etc...
In Rev. Wright's case I have a big issue with his theology, but in general I'm not sure I want to judge the usage of the money. At this point I'm more apt to leave that judgement to the Holy Spirit.
As for the comments of Deadmule. I have researched the beginnings and theology of Black Liberation Theology, including the writings of James Cone. In my estimation the basis of the movement is not biblical. That is my problem. I believe it does harm to his congregation.
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