"A Hundred Times More Now in This Present Age": Prosperity Theology?
Jesus said, "Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age: houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come." (Mark 10:29-30 NAB)
What does this saying of the Lord mean? If I should sell my car and donate $5000 to Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church or T. D. Jakes's The Potter's House, would I be able to expect $500,000 back from God as a reward?
A Scarborough Country (MSNBC) report on prosperity theology
Two eminent New Testament scholars think Jesus may be saying something else in Mark 10:30. Daniel J. Harrington, SJ, thinks that ithe hundredfold reward in this life means that "a disciple can enjoy a rich social and religious fellowship" ("The Gospel according to Mark," 596-629 in New Jerome Biblical Commentary, 618). Likewise C. S. Mann writes, "The promise of Jesus is that the seeming deprivation, for his sake, will be rewarded a hundredfold in the wider fellowship of the community" (Mark, The Anchor Bible 27, 405). In this view, the houses and lands Jesus promises his disciples are figurative rather than literal.
What do you think?
What does this saying of the Lord mean? If I should sell my car and donate $5000 to Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church or T. D. Jakes's The Potter's House, would I be able to expect $500,000 back from God as a reward?
A Scarborough Country (MSNBC) report on prosperity theology
Click to viewTwo eminent New Testament scholars think Jesus may be saying something else in Mark 10:30. Daniel J. Harrington, SJ, thinks that ithe hundredfold reward in this life means that "a disciple can enjoy a rich social and religious fellowship" ("The Gospel according to Mark," 596-629 in New Jerome Biblical Commentary, 618). Likewise C. S. Mann writes, "The promise of Jesus is that the seeming deprivation, for his sake, will be rewarded a hundredfold in the wider fellowship of the community" (Mark, The Anchor Bible 27, 405). In this view, the houses and lands Jesus promises his disciples are figurative rather than literal.
What do you think?