Dave Ramsey Responds to Flak About His New Multi-Million Dollar Home

I am not in agreement with a lot of Dave Ramsey’s principles, but not sure where the “sin” exists by someone building a multi-million dollar home. Abraham, Job, Solomon and others had plenty of wealth in Scripture.

Didn’t he just build a multi-million dollar home a few years ago? Is this a different one?

The Bible speaks of generousity when it comes to rich people and their money (I Timothy 6:17-19). Ramsey’s net worth is around 55 million http://www.therichest.com/celebnetworth/celeb/tv-personality/dave-ramse… and his foundation has over 2 million in assets, which gives around a half a million dollars to many non-profits, Christian ministries and churches per year http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2013/274/314/2013-274314234-0ac97…

In talking to various friends here in Nashville, Dave Ramsey’s reputation is not exactly stellar as a boss and he is a significant employer here. I’ve had several trustworthy people from different channels tell me he is an overbearing boss.

[Shaynus]

In talking to various friends here in Nashville, Dave Ramsey’s reputation is not exactly stellar as a boss and he is a significant employer here. I’ve had several trustworthy people from different channels tell me he is an overbearing boss.

And this has to do with the article, how?

I see absolutely no problem with someone asking if it is appropriate that a public figure who makes millions of dollars annually selling a product to people largely through churches and who claims to be a Christ-follower should be building a house which by almost anyone’s standard is palatial. The same has been done in recent days about the home of Steven Furtick and the book-selling practices of Driscoll and Jeremiah. Public figures lose a lot of their privacy and no one is beyond questioning. Public figures can condescendingly tell the critics to “buzz off” as Ramsey did, they can also offer appropriate explanations, they can repent, they can reconsider, they can resign or simply ignore it all. But they don’t get to make millions of dollars off of Christians and claim that no one has the right to raise legitimate questions that can be related to profiting off the Kingdom of God.

[DLCreed]

But they don’t get to make millions of dollars off of Christians and claim that no one has the right to raise legitimate questions that can be related to profiting off the Kingdom of God.

The problem with this is that everyone who sells anything to church members is making a profit off the Kingdom of God. Even the traveling evangelistic teams, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to operate. The fact is that right or wrong, millions of Christians have given their money to this guy. While I don’t agree with his approach, he is not doing any evil.

The question arises as to what is a “lot of money”. Some of us drive Honda Accords with nice leather interiors and nav systems and so on, that many people in the US would find as luxurious. A lot of us probably live in homes that a lot of people would love to have. Dave Ramsey has some money, but there are 10’s of thousands of people in the US that have more. Is the problem having the money or how they spend it? Is it wrong if someone worth $55 Million buys a home that is less than 4% of his net worth, while the average citizen buys a $246K house with only a net worth of $68K and less than $10K for retirement? Which individual is spending money they shouldn’t spend?

You have a right to question Dave Ramsey, but lets put things into perspective. The average individual in our church is overspending much more than someone like Dave Ramsey.

You said:

“You have a right to question Dave Ramsey, but lets put things into perspective. The average individual in our church is overspending much more than someone like Dave Ramsey.”

Please reread and reconsider it because there is no way for you to know that. You have NO IDEA how much I or any other Christian spends on things, and you have NO IDEA what Dave Ramsey spends on anything!

There are a couple of problems with your argument in general. Of course a car in the US is better than most anything in Africa, BUT I LIVE IN THE US and my spending should be compared to that. Compare it to my economy. As for a house, the average man makes $50000 per year, but the average house is twice that! Of course the percentage is high. It doesn’t mean I am being extravagant, it just means I live in the US.

Second, I make my money teaching people in general. Others work entirely secular jobs. Dave Ramsey makes a lot off of Christians. I suspect primarily Christians. You guys got up in arms over Mark Driscoll making $500,000 a year. What does Ramsey make selling books in Christian book stores, SS curriculum, etc. I don’t make my money off of Christians, he does. So, DLCreed is right that he should be evaluated in that light.

I am all for people making good money, and I don’t belittle Ramsey at all, but I do think he has a good thing going, and he seems smug about it.

My take here is that if we are to criticize Ramsey, we need to use Biblical terms, and that term is “lover of money” in 1 Timothy. Personally, given the examples others have mentioned, I don’t want to say that wealth or profits alone is sufficient to prove this. My guess is that Matthew Henry and others would suggest that being a “lover of money” is more of a pattern of behavior than a number of possessions. For example, I know of a pastor who played high stakes casino poker with the elders of his church, hid his income from those elders, expelled elders who dared to challenge him on it, greeted a modalist prosperity theologian as a brother on Elephant Room 2, and then said some things suggesting he was at least partially into prosperity theology.

He’s a lover of money, and yes, he’s living in a house he bought for two million dollars. I can’t prove that with Ramsey, and Ramsey is right to point out that he’s not doing things with debt—that’s a key issue with covetousness.

That said, I have one significant difference with Ramsey, and it speaks to his home (s?) and car (s?). That is, he doesn’t do a good job in general talking about the Biblical principles of “covetousness” and “contentment”, and how it ought to guide us. When I reference Ramsey’s work, I always mention this as a weakness.

And absent other signs of Ramsey being a lover of money, that’s how I address his 13000 square foot mansion, about the size of Solomon’s FWIW. Is it really more satisfying to have that space and 14 bathrooms at your disposal (does being rich make a man incontinent?), does it really fit into his business, or is it really all about using one’s possessions to show how important a man is?

Where does contentment fit in here?

Where does the idea come from that someone should not make money from selling things to Christians??

I am NOT criticizing someone for selling things to Christians.

I do think Dave Ramsey is a little smug about his success. That is my opinion. “I work hard and earned it” for example. A lot of people say that. The problem is I know a lot of people who work VERY HARD and have very little in American terms to show for it. I know a lot of people who make $10/hour. How are you going to save on that? Etc…

I just think with Dave Ramsey, whose success is connected with Christians, should be careful about how he lives. Let me say that in general it seems he has.

I am sure John MacArthur, for example, could live in a palatial house just off of his book sales alone. He doesn’t. Why?

I wasn’t actually responding to one of your posts, Mark. There were other comments earlier that

• Critiqued him for making money off of Christians
• And since he is making money off of Christians we then have the right to critique what he does with his money

I just don’t see any Biblical justification for that type of thinking and never have understood where it comes from.

[RickyHorton]

I wasn’t actually responding to one of your posts, Mark. There were other comments earlier that

• Critiqued him for making money off of Christians
• And since he is making money off of Christians we then have the right to critique what he does with his money

I just don’t see any Biblical justification for that type of thinking and never have understood where it comes from.

I would suggest that as Ramsey makes a large portion of his income from church conferences and the like, he has become in effect almost a pastor to many of us, perhaps even myself included. So here the idea is not the huckster salesman badgering people to buy “because he’s a Christian”, but rather the teacher using the Scriptures to justify his ideas and sell books and seminars. So inasmuch as his work is promoted through churches, we ought to hold him to the requirements we would apply to those who would be our pastors, deacons, and elders, no? We need to ask whether his family is intact and believing (I think yes), whether his teaching his Biblical (my reservation is his lack of teaching on contentment), whether he’s given to wine (I don’t think so), and the like.

All in all, I think Ramsey is qualified if the information I have is accurate. My points of unease are if Shaynus’ sources are accurate and not just jealous, the size and cost of his house, and most importantly the question of his lack of teaching on contentment. It is also worth noting that his biggest achievement in my book is something he gives out for free; seven baby steps to financial freedom. Crown Financial uses a similar system—I’m not quite sure who had the idea first, if either.

But all in all, since Ramsey uses the Scriptures to teach what he believes God says about finances, we therefore ought to approach him as something of an adjunct pastor, and that does mean that yes, we may take a look at his habits and determine whether he has disqualifying attitudes like the love of money. Do it with grace, do it with honesty, but I think we should do it.