The following post is largely thanks to the comment written by Full of Faith, who indicated that my arguments against the prosperity doctrines were largely down to experience and not scripture.

Yesterday’s post was a quick summary, and in order to emphasise scripture over and above personal experience I have sought to include a list of scriptures that deal with the bible’s perspective on prosperity. My point in this is to illustrate one key point.

If we take everything that the bible says about wealth, finances and prosperity, we will automatically have to reject the prosperity teaching. Why? Beacuse the weight of scriptural evidence goes against the grain of prosperity teaching. What does the bible say about finances and prosperity? Check out the list of scriptures below.

Let me add this, the concept that God wants us to prosper in every area etc is more a Western notion of God than it is a biblical one. It lends itself to a capitalist society which enables the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer. ‘Sowing and reaping’ as the faith pundits describe will cause the rich to increase because our economic system allows money to increase. Its called INTEREST RATES. Whereas the poor, well, they never quite make it.

Dont get me wrong, God is a God who provides and He is a God who blesses abundantly, however to project faith teaching into the Word of God is to reduce God to the big Genie in the sky. If you want to find out more about what I mean then go to the sermons page and watch the Mark Driscoll video on Joel Osteen and the state of the pulpit.

Scriptures

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5)

Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. (1 Timothy 6:10)

People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.   (1 Timothy 6:9)

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. (1 Timothy 6:10)

The wealth of the rich is their fortified city; they imagine it an unscalable wall. (Proverbs 18:11)

You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.” But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. (Revelation 3:17)

Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless. (Ecclesiastes 5:10)

Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro: He bustles about, but only in vain; he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it. (Psalm 39:6)

For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his business. (James 1:11)

How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! (Mark 10:23)

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. (Mark 10:25)

Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you … You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence.  (James 5:1-5)

No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. (Luke 16:13)

Though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them. (Psalm 62:10)A man who has riches without understanding is like the beasts that perish. (Psalm 49:20)
Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle. (Proverbs 23:5)

Be sure you know the condition of your flocks, give careful attention to your herds; for riches do not endure forever, and a crown is not secure for all generations. (Proverbs 27:23-24)

Do not be overawed when a man grows rich, when the splendor of his house increases; for he will take nothing with him when he dies. (Psalm 49:16-17)

For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then he must leave all he owns to someone who has not worked for it. (Ecclesiastes 2:21)

Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. (Job 1:20)

The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. (Luke 16:22)

For all can see that wise men die; the foolish and senseless alike perish and leave their wealth to others. (Psalm 49:10)

But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?” This is how it will be for anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God. (Luke 12:20-21)

Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. (Luke 6:25)

Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. (Luke 6:25)

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. (1 Timothy 6:17)

Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life. (1 Timothy 6:18-19)

Better a poor man whose walk is blameless, than a rich man whose ways are perverse. (Proverbs 28:6)

Better a little with the fear of the LORD than great wealth with turmoil. (Proverbs 15:16)

Yet I am poor and needy; come quickly to me, 0 God. You are my help and my deliverer; 0 LORD, do not delay. (Psalm 70:5)

You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy m his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat (Isaiah 25:4)

You rescue the poor from those too strong for them, the poor and needy from those who rob them. (Psalm 35:10)

The needy will not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish. (Psalm 9:18)

I know that the LORD secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy. (Psalm 140:12)

He will take pity on the weak and the needy and save the needy from death. (Psalm 72:13)

He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes, with the princes of their people. (Psalm 113:7-8)

A rich man may be wise in his own eyes, but a poor man who has discernment sees through him. (Proverbs 28:11)

The poor man and the oppressor have this in common: The LORD gives sight to the eyes of both. (Proverbs 29:13)

He who mocks the poor shows contempt for their Maker. (Proverbs 17:5)

The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern. (Proverbs 29:7)

Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. (Proverbs 31:8)

Defend the rights of the poor and needy. (Proverbs 31:9)

Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, “Who is the LORD?” OR I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God. (Proverbs 30:8-9)

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? (Matthew 6:25)

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. (Psalm 23:1)

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. (Psalm 23:5)

Watch out! Be on guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. (Luke 12:15)

A greedy man brings trouble to his family. (Proverbs 15:27)

All man’s efforts are for his mouth, yet his appetite is never satisfied. (Ecclesiastes 6:7)

Death and Destruction are never satisfied, and neither are the eyes of man. (Proverbs 27:20)

As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owner except to feast his eyes on them? (Ecclesiastes 5:11)

Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind. (Ecclesiastes 4:6)

A greedy man stirs up dissension, but he who trusts the LORD will prosper. (Proverbs 28:25)

A stingy man is eager to get rich and is unaware that poverty awaits him. (Proverbs 28:22)

Do not eat the food of a stingy man, do not crave his delicacies; for he is the kind of man who is always thinking about cost. “Eat and drink,” he says to you, but his heart is not with you. (Proverbs 23:6-7)

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. (James 4:1-2)

When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. (James 4:3)

Do not exploit the poor because they are poor. (Proverbs 22:22)

He who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and he who gives gifts to the rich–both come to poverty. (Proverbs 22:16)

Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain. (Psalm 119:36)

Naked a man comes from his mother’s womb, and as he comes, so he departs. He takes nothing from his labor that he can carry in his hand. (Ecclesiastes 5:15)