Randy AlcornThe Treasure Principle, Revised and Updated: Unlocking the Secret of Joyful Giving

Reading

I was very challenged and inspired by the teachings in this book about Christian giving. It’s an ideal and a goal I hope to achieve one day as a Christ follower. I know I’m very far from living my life according to the Treasure principles but now I have a target.

I expected a boilerplate Christian giving book with the usual twisted scriptures, but what I didn’t expect was to be able to show an author twisted their own personal history too. Some Christian "giving book" authors include personal stories of some financial trial through which they discovered “giving” or “generosity” or something like that, but it’s impossible to verify whether or not the stories are true. I’ve wondered.In this book, Randy Alcorn makes much of an 8.2 million dollar judgement against him through which he learned the first of his “Treasure” principles. On page 23 the author writes, “Another court judgment followed, involving another abortion clinic. Though our actions had been nonviolent, the clinic was awarded the largest judgment ever against a group of peaceful protestors: $8.2 million. It seemed likely we would lose our house.”The author refers again to this judgement on page 80 where he writes “Remember that $8.2 million lawsuit against me? When the ten-year judgment period expired, our ministry board said, ‘Randy, you can make more than minimum wage now.’”This got me curious, so I Googled “abortion protest damages 8.2 million” and found an article in the Catholic Sentinel dated Feb 15, 1991. In this article is written, “Abortion protesters Feb. 11 were assessed punitive damages of $8.2 million by a jury for demonstrating repeatedly outside the Lovejoy Surgicenter in Northwest Portland.” Bingo!And toward the bottom of the article is written, “Defendants held liable for $200,000 each in the Lovejoy suit are Randy Alcorn… [twenty other names]”So, it seems that the author was on the hook for $200,000 and not 8.2 million. That's a hunk of change, but bouncing back from an 8.2 million dollar judgement "against me" seems way more supernatural, right? And, the judgement was for punitive damages. I’ll leave it to the reader to investigate further, but I’d say the first “Treasure Principle” is: Don’t do stuff that gets a huge judgement against you for punitive damages.And, like most Christian “giving book” authors, Alcorn interprets the scriptures his way.On page 2, the author writes, “The parable of hidden treasure is one of many references Jesus made to money and possessions. In fact, 15 percent of everything Christ said relates to this topic—more than His teachings on Heaven and Hell combined.”Really? I did a search of the gospels using the NIV – which seems to be the translation Alcorn used in quoting the parable, and I got the following results. “Possessions” occurred 10 times in 10 verses. “Money” 33 times in 33 verses. “Heaven” 135 times in 126 verses, and “hell” 11 times in 11 verses. I’ve done the “what Jesus talked most about” study myself twice before, and the on subject Jesus talked the most about was the Kingdom of “God” or “Heaven.” Jesus was not as obsessed with money as professional Christians want you to think He was.On page 13 Alcorn writes, “Heaven is the location of God’s throne, the place from which He governs the universe, where He dwells with His angels and His people who have died. The present Heaven will, after our bodily resurrection, be relocated to the New Earth (Revelation 21:3). That location will be the future Heaven, since it will become the center of God’s ruling presence, and the location of His throne (Revelation 22:3).”But Revelation 21:3 does not say the “present heaven” will change its location. The “present” heaven passed away in Revelation 21:1. There is a new heaven and a new Earth, and the “new Jerusalem” comes down from the new “heaven.” Is this so hard to read?On page 63 Alcon writes, "Jesus validated the mandatory tithe, even on small things (Matthew 23:23). But there’s no mention of tithing after the Gospels, except in Hebrews 7." But Jesus was speaking to Pharisees who were compelled to tithe under the Law of Moses, which had not yet passed away. In Hebrews, the writer says this law was obsolete. Perhaps that’s why Christians are never commanded to tithe anywhere in the New Testament. Furthermore, none of the Early Church Fathers up to the Council of Nicaea wrote that Christians are to tithe. I guess they didn't understand the Treasure Principles.Of course, no “giving” book would be complete without twisting Malachi 3:8. On page 65 Alcorn writes, “Malachi 3:8 says that the Israelites robbed God by withholding not only their mandatory tithes but also their voluntary “offerings.” By giving less in their freewill offerings than He wanted them to, they were robbing God.Why would God accuse someone of robbery for withholding a "voluntary" or "freewill" offering? That doesn't even make sense. The more literal bible translations say “heave-offerings” instead of just “offerings.” The answer is that some of those offerings were triggered by certain events in the Law of Moses, and they were not "voluntary", but they could likely be flouted if the priests allowed people to get away with it.This is just another giving book, albeit with an unusual emphasis on giving to the poor in the first few chapters, which to me is good. But this is offset by what appears to be discrepancies in the author’s own account of his life when compared to public records anyone can access on the Internet, and by some quite dreadful bible “interpretation,” if one could call it that. Let the reader beware.

This book provides sound scriptural theology from the New Testament and Old about Kingdom finances. This book's theme is this: The person with a heart for God will be a generous giver, "for where your treasure is, there will be your heart". This book will help any believer to get a correct perspective on giving that is free from the error of the health and wealth gospel that has infected many circles in the church and especially on what is called Christian TV.

The study of happiness is one of the foremost focuses in the economic departments of a number of elite universities. Well-funded international polls track GNH (gross national happiness) indexes in many different countries and report on which countries have the happiest citizenry. The behavioral economics group at Harvard has been the source of many interesting studies, reports and talks on this topic. They, and others working in this same area of "hedonics", have recommended different ways to enhance one's sense of well being and increase one's happiness.What do they recommend? First among many relatively straight-forward actions virtually guaranteed to make a person happier is giving: received excellent service at a restaurant? Leave an extra $100 on the tip and experience the joy of contributing to another; know someone in your family or neighborhood experiencing stringent times? Drop off a big box of groceries and maybe an envelope with $200 and some tickets to a concert and experience the joy of watching them almost visibly slip from the burden they are bearing. This topic of study, started in the 1980s in a serious academic setting by Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman, is now rampant in evangelical churches with small groups ponying up giant tips at restaurants and in most respects aping what has been recommended by some academics and positive psychologists for a number of previous decades. The difference is that church groups also leave a note that says something like "because we love Jesus, we love you, too." This makes the tip missional and further adds to the joy payback.There's nothing intrinsically wrong with giving to get joy for oneself. The reason for this long intro is to give context to the book's message. Discussion of Christian hedonism writ large (ala Piper) and small (ala Alcorn) is that the real topic is me (and you): how I can purchase something with my wealth that I don't currently have as much of as I would like: joy and a sense of well-being and a sense of mission and a sense of significance. If one takes out the theological slant, this material could have come virtually unchanged from Harvard's Business School faculty -- it is essentially the same topic: how you and I, as purchasers, can be happier than we are now; all it takes is money (and what we do with it -- something like a "buyers guide"). ....So, it isn't a bad book and the discussion is interesting but its similarity to exactly what has preceded it in the academic domains of hedonics and positive psychology should be included. Bill Gates and Zuckerberg and Buffett and other well-meaning billionaires are following these same guidelines -- why? It isn't because of scripture, it is because they are purchasing something they don't already have: more happiness, a sense of purpose and significance, some personal recognition and the joy of seeing others benefited. That isn't bad, but it should be taken for what it is.The biggest endowment that everyone has, far beyond whatever their bank balance might be, is their life. The asset we run out of that can't be corrected with bankruptcy protection or government welfare, is time. The asset that is easiest to contribute is excess money; the most challenging is ourselves: devoted, disciplined, obedient, righteous, holy, consecrated, humble, contrite, worshipful, grateful, loving,.... These are things that every christian, including first-world christians, can give -- indeed, are commanded to. Giving is a mode of expression for each of these, a way to communicate these characteristics, like a child giving back a penny to his mom from his five cent allowance -- because it's a way to say he loves her, but just one way and not the biggest; the biggest is to obey her even when he doesn't want to.I like the book in general, but it leaves out important contextual information that would make the message richer and more integrated with real life: wealthy secular giving is limited to fungible assets and Harvard has noted that; christian giving is not -- it starts with recognition of the Lordship of Christ and obedience and devotion in every thought, every word, every action -- an amazing range of options, one act of which is giving cash for those who have been blessed with enough excess to do so. The Treasure Principle makes useful points about a very tiny aspect of the Christian life but disproportionately does so: the book's hook is at the start with "you attend church regularly, pray and read the BIble..." BUT -- but what? "life is drudgery!" Hey, I'm doing all the right stuff but where is the sizzle? the kick? It's boring, drudgery. "Well," this book essentially says, "have some extra cash?" This tells you where to spend that to address 'life drudgery:' where you can buy joy and happiness. That, I believe, is the wrong context and it vitiates the other achievements of the book.

Jesus spent more time talking about money and possessions than about heaven and hell combined. But too often we do not want to hear what Jesus said about money and possessions. As a result, we miss out on the many blessings God has in store for us, because we seek our blessings from those material things.Jesus offers us the opportunity to embrace the abundant life. It’s a life filled with hope, grace, mercy and power and love, but it does not come through the temporary things, it comes through the spiritual life, devoted to following Jesus.This is the premise out of which Alcorn writes. He uses a number of scripture references to make his points. This is a short and easy to read book which will speak very clearly about money and possessions. There are a number of excellent resources and study questions in the back of the book as well.Overall, I would recommend this book to read.I received this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.

I confess to being a lttle skeptical when I first picked up this book. To profess to be the key to unlocking some new principle is a big claim. In my experience, most books that make that sort of big claim are actually full of tosh. However, I was pleasantly surprised by Randy Alcorn's book. While I'm still figuring out how it will work out in my life, I think he has some fantastic principles here:* God owns everything. I am his money manager.* My heart always goes where I put God's money.* Heaven, not earth, is my home.* I should live not for the dot (the now), but for the line (things which last forever).* Giving is the only antidote to materialism.* God prospers me not to raise my standard of living, but to raise my standard of giving.It's short and to the point. I just bought two more copies to give away!

The book promises not to make you feel guilty about giving and then goes on after a few chapters to make you feel guilty.The message to build up treasures in heaven is good. It is a shame that the book does not go on to develop the idea and becomes just another book to make christians feel guilty.

This is a very good book. Alcorn refutes the popular teaching of the prosperity gospel by showing where real treasure lies and how we should acumulate that treasure, the treasure of heaven incorruptable and everlasting by using our temporal treasures for Gods work. This book should be a must read for every Christian. Live for the line and not the point.

Great just what we wanted. Heard this book being used and wanted to purchase it.

Very challenging in a good way. Definitely worth a read.