Books & Movies: The Doctrine of Non-Accumulation

<p>For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ <a href="https://www.douglasjacoby.com/nonaccummp3/" target="_blank"><strong>website.</strong></a></p><p>The book critiqued in this podcast is <i>Through the Eye of the Needle: The Doctrine of Non-Accumulation, </i>by Roger Hertzler.</p><p><br /><strong>The basic idea</strong></p><ul><li>Our society <i>and</i> the church are materialistic.</li><li>Christians have ignored the clear teaching of Christ that we are not to store up treasure on earth (Matthew 6:19-21).</li><li>"Christ says that nothing on earth has any real value except that which can be converted into Heavenly treasure before we die" (77).</li></ul><p><strong>What's helpful:</strong></p><ul><li>Indeed, the Bible teaches that we are to provide financially for the generation <i>behind </i>us, not the generation <i>following</i>. (That is, we are to take care of our elderly parents, not leave an inheritance for our [often] adult children.) The greatest legacy we can leave them is spiritual, and in fact we may be hurting them if the most significant thing we leave them is our money (56). However, see Proverbs 13:22 and 2 Corinthians 12:14.</li><li>Older people will have no problem giving away their money and possessions when they know that the rest of the church will provide for them.</li><li>The teaching of the church in the Patristic era, for example: "How can they follow Christ, who are held back by the chain of their wealth? . . . They think that they possess, but they are possessed instead. They are the bondslaves of their money, not the lords of their money. They are slaves of their profit" [Cyprian, c. 250 AD). While some of the views of the 2nd and 3rd century church go beyond the teachings of Jesus (usually in the direction of strictness), the spirit of their radical discipleship is evident.</li><li>From Hertzler's chapter entitled "An Exchange of Values":<br />"... [The] enemy is “a wrong value system.” It is a value system that tells us the things of this world have genuine value (as oppo