The topic I chose for this report is to live a life in a different social status than my own. I would say that I am lower middle class. My paper won't just be about monetary wealth, but religious wealth as well. My life currently lacks both. Our materialistic culture is seducing Americans into an economic lifestyle that does not glorify God. The popularity of television programs such as "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" and the veneration of social groups such as the glamorous "yuppies" testify to our society's materialistic values, values that many Christians have adopted.
             Even within the Christian community, believers are bombarded with unbiblical views of wealth. At one extreme are those who preach a prosperity gospel of "health and wealth" for all believers. At the other extreme are radical Christians who condemn all wealth and imply that rich Christian is a contradiction in terms.
             What, then, is the truly biblical view of wealth? At first glance, the Bible seems to teach that wealth is wrong for Christians. (Barbour, 2002). It appears even to condemn the wealthy. After all, both Jesus and the Old Testament prophets preached against materialism and seemed to say at times that true believers cannot possess wealth. If this is so, then all of us in Western society are in trouble, because we are all wealthy by New Testament standards.
             Meanwhile, it's impossible to escape the barrage of images of the rich life. Even mid-recession, Bentleys, which start at $200,000, are sell-outs; Vertu cell phones cost almost $20,000; and Johnnie Walker has introduced the $180-a-bottle Blue label, which sells for as much as $700 a bottle in clubs. The $52,000 H2 Hummer urban-assault vehicle (a bargain compared to the $116,000 H1 model) is flying off of dealers' lots.
             The desire for more is the most powerful drive in our culture. It's in the DNA of democracy and at the heart of the American Dream: Every person gets a...