People Turning to God for Financial Advice

I came across an article during my daily reading of The Miami Herald that I thought might be of interest. The article “South Floridians seek financial peace” talks about how people are now starting to turn to religion to help them solve their financial problems.

I say if it works for you then that’s fantastic, but I don’t really think God is one to meddle in the affairs of our finances. If churchs want to go ahead and try to give people financial advice on how to live their lives, that’s all well in good, but their really just using the same things that all sorts of people have been preaching. Its all just about responsible spending. From a financial perspective things are pretty much cut and dry.

Shari Brown has been going to church since she was a little girl.But only for the past year has she turned to the word of God for advice about her finances.

Brown, 43, and her husband Eric wanted to get out of debt. So they turned to Financial Peace University, a course being offered at a Sunrise church. The 13-week lesson created by financial guru Dave Ramsey offered simple guidelines for handling finances, sprinkled with advice straight from the good book.

Her favorite lesson was direct from the book of Proverbs, “. . . the borrower is servant to the lender.”

With that in mind, the Browns, of Miami Gardens, have reduced their debt — a combination of student loans, credit card bills and a car loan — by about $15,000. Now they are facilitators of Ramsey’s class at Greater Mount Pleasant AME Church in Hollywood.

Now if it worked for them, that’s great and I applaud them for getting out of their debt. However, I don’t think religion really should be getting any of the credit for it. The line from the bible that they use as the basis for their debt reduction, “the borrower is servant to the lender”, is basically just common sense.

I think the real winner here would have to be Dave Ramsey. Here he has gone and developed a program for getting out of debt that the church is stamping with their approval. The bible is full of vague directives that are just good for every day living that is true. I don’t see how their eyes had to be opened by it being in the bible though to realize that when you borrow money your “in debt” to the person who gave it to you. I’m sure Dave Ramsey isn’t doing this out of the good of his heart, so I guess I gotta give him props for figuring out how to make some money off this.

South Florida religious leaders say more people are looking to their churches and temples now, more than ever, for financial guidance in the midst of the recession. At least a half-dozen churches are hosting Financial Peace University classes.

”I’m a pastor who believes a person should be taught how to live below their means,” said Pastor Eddy Moise, who leads the congregation at Greater Mount Pleasant AME. “Biblically, we believe you ought to give 10 percent [to the church], but as a pastor I’m concerned about teaching my members and those in the community what they can do to maximize the other 90 percent. If you are in debt you can never get ahead really.”

I understand that when times are tough people will turn to the church. I applaud the church for trying to help these people, but I don’t think it has anything to do with religion.

Our country believes in the separation of church and start, I think that could be extend to church and finance, to the same token as friends and finance. When you start greying the line between these types of things you make one reliant on the other. I’d hate to see someone blame God for their financial problems, to the same token that they shouldn’t be praising him as the reason they’ve gotten out of debt.

She has no doubt she will stick with the classes and Ramsey’s lessons.

“Anything that’s godly, I know it will be done.”

I don’t see God as a micro manager, these aren’t the types of affairs he needs to meddle in. The way I look at this is Dave Ramsey using the guise of the church to get some money out of people for his still relevant financial advice. The advice for getting out of debt doesn’t change, just the way its presented.