Christian Financial Websites: The Good, The Bad and The Embarrassing

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Christian Financial Websites: The Good, The Bad and The Embarrassing

Written by John Bonynge

If you are curious enough to click on this article under the heading "Christian Investing" I should honor your curiosity with an explanation. In my mind Christian Investing means:

Honoring God, others, and the environment with your investments
Thinking about more than just the bottom line
Using the Bible to guide financial decisions

In my humble opinion, Crown Financial has the best website devoted to teaching biblical financial principles (let me know if you think you've found a better one). They have a great list of Scripture references that cover everything from Debt to Taxes. Here is their mission statement:

CROWN'S MISSION:
Equipping people worldwide to learn, apply, and teach God's financial principles so they may know Christ more intimately, be free to serve Him, and help fund the Great Commission.

They also have very practical radio programs and helpful articles that cover a very broad list of topics. They deserve an A+. They are not solely devoted to investing, but rather cover a wide range of financial issues.

Don't do a Google search, however, and get sidetracked by sites that have names like www.bibleinvestments.com. From the URL you might think, "Hey, this looks interesting, and it is probably full of sound Biblical advice." But then you'll be disappointed when you read, "King James Bible Investments was established as a place for family, friends, acquaintances and other Christians to be informed about world market conditions and as a place to preserve their capital by investing in the only form of real money, gold and silver."

Mixed in with their other propaganda Bibleinvestments.com includes a stern warning: "ALERT... The alarm I have been sounding for months is now coming to fruition. Silver has now entered a critical stage. The silver supply has run so low that the biggest wholesalers are now having trouble filling orders due to the diminishing supply. Soon the window for purchasing low priced silver will close permanently. Better act now before the opportunity is lost for good. "

This embarrasses me as a Christian. Somebody has figured out how to make the Bible say, "Buy silver!" It perpetuates the stereotype of Christians turning off their brains and playing follow the leader.

I also believe that the people behind www.bibleinvestments.com are making the Bible say whatever they want it to say. And these stereotypes are exactly what I am fighting against when I talk to people about Christian Investing. Christians are already thought of as weaker-brained than their non-churched counterparts. This assumption makes it difficult for anyone to take advice from a Christian, and extremely difficult to consider financial advice.