Reply #50: Some more insight...

[Sal316]

But what if someone decides God wants them to be rich and powerful?

Then they have it wrong. God wants to bless his people, but that doesn't necessarily mean with material things.

1 Timothy 6:10 "For the love of money is the root of all evil."

Luke 16:13 "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."

Here are some more scriptures dealing with money. The "prosperity gospel" preachers really upset me.

Unquestioned religious faith provides a wonderful hiding place for thieves, charlatans, crooks, and liars of the worst sort.

Unquestioned faith is an immature faith. For one to grow in faith, one must seek God, and that means asking the tough questions. The prophet Habbakuk does that in a big way in his book. In fact, Habbakuk is Hebrew for "embrace" or more accurately "wrestle".

Our beliefs must be measured against our experiences, and assuming the invisible hand of some deity as a member of a herd just gets in the way of that process.

I agree with the first part, but not the second. The "invisible hand" is not a member of a herd, but instead is the shepherd guiding the herd.

But I'm just a theologian, so what do I know. ha!