I recently just got back from vacation in North Carolina. I have family around the Charlotte area that I went to go visit who live near a lake called Lake Norman. Lake Norman is a massive lake with a lot of lake front property. There's literally millions and millions of dollars around this lake. This is one of the homes that I saw that just about made me puke. To give you a reference, we were driving around neighborhoods for about 30 minutes and for 20 of those minutes all the houses were this size. That's 20 minutes of going about 15 mph, you do the math on how many homes we passed that were this size. The crazy thing is (if that's possible) is that this was only a fraction of the rest of the lake front property. Houses everywhere were this size. When we were driving by these houses my stomach was in knots. For many reasons. I cannot imagine living in a house that large. It could fit 5 family's and I'm guessing only 2-4 people live in homes that size on average. What possess' people to purchase a home that expensive and large? Who really needs that much space? Maybe I'm over-frugal. I just feel like people buy these big homes and nice cars to hide behind the real problems in life. So they can give the idea that everything is great and fine and no problems ever happen. But it's most likely exactly the opposite. To live up to a standard that no one really cares they live up to except themselves. Its pointless.
The worst part of this for me is that I'm willing to bet some of these home owners call themselves Christians. I'm not saying buying a house that big is necessarily wrong, sure you might be able to put together some reasons, but calling yourself a Christian when you live in a multi million dollar home isn't hard to do. Because the Christianity they know isn't hard. ( They probably watch Joel Osteen on Sunday mornings and call that church).
I would feel better about the situation if a Christian owned that home and constantly showed people God's love through the home, inviting people over, letting people stay, opening up the home to anyone who needs a place to stay. But doing that becomes harder when the possessions in the home are luxurious and pricy. When you start believing it is all yours, then you won't allow yourself to show God's love through your home.
8 comments:
"but calling yourself a Christian when you live in a multi million dollar home isn't hard to do. Because the Christianity they know isn't hard."
Right when I read this is when I decided to stop reading. Just because people have money doesn't mean that "the Christianity they know isn't hard". People have countless roadblocks in life other than monetary roadblocks that cause them to struggle with Christianity. Maybe the person who owns that house lives a sad, lonely life. Maybe someone living in that house has a life-threatening disease. The list can go on and on. Having money does not equate to Christianity being easy.
Don't judge people by saying it's not hard to be a Christian just because they have a big house.
Also, if you want to take yourself seriously in the blogging world, watch your spelling.
"The third sign makes me really want to attend they're church"
They're = their
"Are the creator's of this game"
Creator's = creators
"I bet your wondering"
Your = you're
If I found those three in 5 minutes, who knows how many others there are. Step it up. Don't judge and spell correctly.
there's a house maybe a tidge bit biggger than that (a little above 5 million worth) on the lake that i live on at home. it's owned by this cute old christian couple...and the house has been their entire mission field. for the next three years (roughly) the house is booked to rent--for FREE--to any christian organization or group that needs a place to stay, rest, meditate, whatever. i stayed there last year for a weekend and it was nothing short of one of the best weekends i've had in a long time...and i'm only 1 of the hundreds that have stayed there in the owners' lifetimes. what these so called "rich" christians have done and are still doing is a real blessing. and it's awesome.
I'm gonna have to agree with the above.
I find these and others very offensive. You are attacking people and mocking fellow christians. Jesus would never do that. He is love. The pharesees were doing similar things to some of the things mentioned in your blogs and he never once mocked them in such a hateful way. If you want to be considered like Christ stop sitting here and tearing down people especially your brothers and sisters in Christ who you are supposed to be building up. Yes people get out of hand with Christian things but that does not make them bad people.
Now on the issue of the big houses meaning that Christianity isn't hard? That is the most absurd thing I have ever heard. Since when did having money make Christianity easy? How dare you sit and judge someone elses faith based on the size of their house. These kinds of righteous statements are what make me not want to call myself a Christian.
I'm a camel, and once I tried to enter the eye of a needle. It was really easy.
Matt, your sarcasm is really unnecessary. If you don't have anything valuable to contribute other than misusing the words for Christ as "clever" rebuts than don't comment.
geskimo71889, i think that is totally rad! what that couple is doing with they're home is showing Christ's love. thats the point i'm trying to make. the whole point of this particular blog on cribs is to ask the question, 'what good is a home that big?' in that couple's situation they are using it for the goodness of God. lots of people use they're homes for pride and selfishness. that's the point i'm making. so your comment is awesome! thanks for sharing.
Hey Brian, please do explain how that was misusing Jesus' words...
Addressed to everybody but Matt and Nick:
It is true that Christ did say that it is harder to get a camel through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to get into heaven. And while I do think it is possible for rich people to get into heaven, Christ is totally right on this one, it's really hard to get in when you're rich. geskimo what you said was awesome, and those wealthy people are even more wealthy because they are good stewards of their wealth (although I think it would be cooler if they let in non-christians as well, they need to know Christ too!). But there are many others out there who get into this comfort zone and because of it don't understand Christ.
If you want an example, take me and my family. My dad owns a huge house (maybe a room or two smaller than this one), drives a porshe and my mom drives a merceded. I have been comfortable my entire life up until the time I had doubts about God, because I finally realized that my perception of Christ was way off. People really do hide behind their wealth and become enveloped in it and their worldly possessions rather than building up spiritual wealth (I know this from experience).
So if a christian is blessed with great wealth and he is a good steward of it, than he is a strong man (much stronger than me). I think when Nick said the christianity they know isn't hard he was probably very right in saying so, they health and wealth gospel being taught today is disgusting and completely wrong. I still love anybody who thinks that way, I just disagree with them and pray that they (and me) will have an intimate relationship with Christ.
So you guys know, Nick also was talking about the Christian's who are not good steward's of their wealth, I doubt he meant ALL people with large houses. Also I don't think he "Hates" these bad stewards of money, he simply just does not like the misuse of their money. I personally believe that I'm not going to force my convictions onto other people about how much they should have (it's all relative), but I have found that I have personally grown much more in Christ without many of my worldly possessions. This isn't a message of hate, just one I feel of sadness in the misuse of money, and rejoice in those who are good stewards.
Love
Drew
www.LoveisFreeMovie.com
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