Evangelical Christianity and Poverty: When Riches Are Fruit

In reading about Saeed Abedini for a blog post I published last week, I came upon a Facebook post in which Abedini took Franklin Graham to task for not giving Abedini the financial support he needed after being released from prison in Iran two years ago.

As [the] number one face of [the] persecuted church in the world today, I have this hard responsibility to speak about the serious problems that I see to help church of God even if I lose everything.

I strongly believe church of America is fallen into business instead of washing people’s feet and help the wounded.

We as persecuted church and Christian always have been used with famous and rich Pastors and Preachers who used us for fundraising and recently because of special media attention on me some of them tried to show themselves as saviors of the persecuted churches and me which it wasn’t true and right but their own benefit.

One of theses pastors is Franklin Graham [who] has about 1,000,000$ salary and so many planes and private jets[,] and every time he flies his gas price is just 10,000$ means [tithes] of 300 teachers with 3000$ salaries[,] and he flies a lot with his jets.

He tries to show he is helping persecuted a lot and he has some speech about them but this kind of life style shows he doesn’t have any idea of life of persecuted churches.

This kind of people ask others to come to repentance nationally but first themselves needs to start the real repentance which starts with changing their life style.

Abedini went on, alleging that Graham used him for the publicity and then dropped him afterward, leaving him with neither job nor financial footing. This, Abedini alleged, was part of a pattern for Graham.

Most of the comments on Abedini’s post disagreed, calling Abedini to repentance for criticizing Graham, and defending Graham’s riches and lavish lifestyle. Some commenters asserted that Abedini’s page must have been hacked (it hadn’t). Most of those who commented, however, took Abedini to task for his suggestion that being rich was incompatible with being a good Christian. They defended Graham’s wealth and argued that the opposite was the case.

Take a look at this comment:

Saeed Abedini, get a job and stop thinking everyone owes you. Franklin Graham does more in a month than you do in 5 years. Wipe your nose now and grow up.

Or this comment, for instance:

Franklin Graham has exhibited much fruit. MONEY is not evil. The “love of” money is evil. There aren’t too many successful relief organizations that don’t have money. Exhibiting jealously over other people’s wealth and possessions IS sinful.

Be content in what God has given you OR go get an education and job to change your position.

And then there’s this comment:

Saeed Abedini, how ungrateful you are!!! When someone helps you, say “Thank You.” That person does NOT owe you MORE & more. They helped: period. God is our provider, not others. People don’t owe you or I. You need to repent for defaming a brother in Christ & for not turning to God to meet your needs. I have had to many times, & it was never the person who I thought that came to my rescue. God uses who He chooses, it’s NOT our choice, but His. He takes care of those who obey Him.

And also this comment:

Ok. You’ve lost me on this one. Stop being envious. You don’t need to blame someone else because you are suffering. Get a regular job like all the rest of us do. It’s not Franklin Graham’s fault. Drop the social media and live quietly. I’m done following you.

I found the “good fruit” reference particularly interesting. It comes from Matthew 7:15-20.

15 “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? 17 So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 So then, you will know them by their fruits.

Jesus never states, in this passage, exactly what this “fruit” is or looks like. Growing up in an evangelical home, I typically combined this passage with the passage in the epistles about the “fruit of the spirit”—love, joy, peace, patience, etc. That is the good fruit one is to exhibit. But the tone of the comments on Abedini’s post points to an equating of “fruit” with riches. And there’s another argument present—don’t criticize the rich, for their riches are a sign that God has blessed them.

This stands in stark contrast to Jesus’ statements in Mark 10:

17 As He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.19 You know the commandments, ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” 20 And he said to Him, “Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up.” 21 Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” 22 But at these words he was saddened, and he went away grieving, for he was one who owned much property.

23 And Jesus, looking around, *said to His disciples, “How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!” 24 The disciples were amazed at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 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.”

How so many move from “it is harder for a rich man to get into the kingdom of heaven than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle” to “stop criticizing that person for being rich, his wealth just shows God has blessed him” is baffling.

Interestingly, the equation of riches with godliness and poverty with personal failure on display in the 150+ comments on Abedini’s Facebook post is backed up in actual studies of evangelical views. Have a look at this Washington Post headline from last summer: Christians are more than twice as likely to blame a person’s poverty on lack of effort.

In the poll, which was conducted from April 13 to May 1 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points, 46 percent of all Christians said that a lack of effort is generally to blame for a person’s poverty, compared with 29 percent of all non-Christians. The gulf widens further among specific Christian groups: 53 percent of white evangelical Protestants blamed lack of effort while 41 percent blamed circumstances, and 50 percent of Catholics blamed lack of effort while 45 percent blamed circumstances. In contrast, by more than 2 to 1, Americans who are atheist, agnostic or have no particular affiliation said difficult circumstances are more to blame when a person is poor than lack of effort (65 percent to 31 percent).

The question is, of course, not just an ethical one but a political one, and the partisan divide is sharp: Among Democrats, 26 percent blamed a lack of effort and 72 percent blamed circumstances. Among Republicans, 63 percent blamed lack of effort and 32 percent blamed circumstances.

Interestingly, politics was a slightly larger predictor of individuals positions than was religion. That raises a question—are individuals’ politics shaping their religious beliefs, or is it the other way around? Evangelical Christianity and pro-corporate Republican politics have been intertwined since at least the 1920s, after all. To what extent are evangelicals’ beliefs shaped by their adherence to “small government” political conservatism?

But there’s another issue at play here—consider the belief that wealth equals fruits. If wealthy individuals are simply blessed by God (presumably as a reward for their hard work), what does that say about the poor?

The Washington Post article also notes this important detail:

Theologians point to passages in the New Testament that shape Christians’ views on poverty, from the verse in Thessalonians that says, “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat,” to Jesus’ exhortations to care for needy people, including those who are sick and in prison, to the many interpretations of his statement quoted in Matthew, Mark and John, “The poor you will always have with you.”

The Bible is a collection of extremely disparate books written by different individuals with different agendas. Jesus said it was harder for a rich man to get into heaven than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. Paul instructed the Thessalonians against idleness, stating that “the one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.” Jesus said that you will know good preachers “by their fruit,” but he left what that “fruit” might be somewhat ambiguous. And there are diverse other passages as well.

As a result of these various passages, combined with our very human ability to see what we want to see, different people will come away from the same book—or rather, collection of books—with different conclusions.

And that leaves us with evangelicals defending Graham’s riches and lavish lifestyle and telling Abedini—who accused Graham of using him for fame and then dumping him when the press attention disappeared—to just go get a job like everyone else already, and stop complaining. Never mind that Abedini’s post was about something bigger than himself—something more structural. Never mind that individuals like Graham do use stories of persecuted churches abroad to garner donations.

Interestingly, several commenters on Abedini’s post stated that—in the light of his mean comments about Graham—they were now willing to give credence to allegations of abuse lodged against Abedini by his ex-wife (allegations Graham brushed aside while sharing Abedini’s post-release spotlight). It took Abedini’s criticizing a popular evangelical leader with both riches and power to render these individuals willing to listen to allegations against Abedini made by one without wealth or power.

Within evangelical Christianity, certain beliefs have been combined in ways that support an approach to poverty that lacks compassion. Poverty becomes the fault of the poor. Wealth becomes a sign of hard work. Structural economic inequality is hand waived away. If the poor would just get a job, evangelicals argue, they’d be fine. The problem is that they are lazy. Or they lack character and follow-through.

Yes, Jesus said to feed the poor, and many evangelicals do so. But feeding the poor and judging the poor—and treating poverty as a personal moral failure—are not mutually exclusive.

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