Alignment System. Where would you place yorusef?

[Catholic_Lady]

To put the camel saying it into context, Jesus was talking about being rich. And "going through the eye of a needle" was a pain, but not impossible. People had to do it all the time.

I'm not saying greed isn't a major sin, because it is. But I don't think any of this means it's sinful to not give away all of our money, especially when we have to take care of our own needs and that of our families/children's. According to the bible, we should all give *at least* 10% once our own basic needs are met. If you're rich and buying useless stuff, or otherwise hoarding excessive amounts of money, you do have the moral obligation to give more.

If your neighbor is starving and you have extra food, of course you are morally obligated to help. And I imagine any decent person would. As for hungry people in other parts of the world, same rule applies, except you'd need to give through charities in that case, rather than directly.

If Jesus had told the rich guy "Donate 10% of your wealth and follow me!"  The rich guy would have done it in a heartbeat.  That would have been easy.  It'd certainly be very doable.  

To me, based on what I know about Jesus, I think he'd be more of the take just what you need, and then the rest goes to helping your fellow man. If actual Jesus were following you asking you to justify all your purchases, that would suck a lot, right?  "No no Jesus, this tile pattern is much prettier than the cheaper linoleum alternative.  Much prettier than a mosquito net is important for that malaria plagued village in africa."  "I'm too tired to make dinner Jesus, that's why we're going out to eat for a price that could feed 10 homeless folks."  

Put bluntly, it's borderline murder by omission.

From what I understand, He was speaking to that guy specifically. Jesus wanted him to leave his life behind and become another one of His diciples. It seems a bit unreasonable to think Jesus literally wants all of us to live off the clothes on our backs and travel around different cities evangelizing. If we were all called to do that specifically, nothing else would ever get done in society, including having children and taking care of your family, and the human race would die off. We are called to follow Christ in our own roles.

Of course it would be very admirable to literally never go out to eat, never buy anything nice, and only live off the absolute bare minimums. There are many saints who lived that way by choice, and it's a great thing. But it is not a moral obligation. We are not morally required to live that sort of life style.

So long as you give a reasonable amount of what you have and don't waste money on useless stuff all the time or live a lavish lifestyle, you are not "sinning." At least not in my faith. Perhaps there are some more extreme branches of Christianity that think otherwise though.

I occasionally watch a documentary show on mtv called The Fabulous Life of the Filthy Rich, and it's absolutely ridiculous and sad to see the huge amounts of money those people drop on things that are just so pointless, just for the sake of it. Like owning a dozen vintage cars that just sit in your huge garage. That, I would say, is very much sinful, and I have a hard time imagining not feeling guilty if I lived my life splurging like that. I can see why Jesus would say it's hard getting into Heaven if you're rich.