Reza Aslan Nails The Jesus Freaks to the Wall...

[Minimalist]

[Drich]

Wealth in of itself is not the problem the pursuit and lusting after it is. The account of the rich young ruler is a prime example of that.

[Diablo]

I wouldn't mind driving a Bentley. Maybe I'll give up this atheism stuff and give it a try.

Come to think of it, they probably wouldn't have me.....

[Brakeman]

Wealth in of itself is not the problem the pursuit and lusting after it is. The account of the rich young ruler is a prime example of that.

Yes we know how christians love to use their personal decoder rings to interpret scripture in the most convenient light. However, taking all of his sayings about wealth such as “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth” (Matthew 6:19), Luke 16:19-31, (Matthew 25:31-46), and 1 John 3:17 together and looking at the message as a whole, one cannot honestly rationalize holding a bank account and real estate in the form of modern wealth that would have beggared the mind of an apostle of that time.

While you can stretch Armstrong the interpretations of what jesus meant in relation to todays christians, you cannot stretch it so far as to change jesus' audience's interpretation. The Apostles had never seen or imagined the kind of wealth and ease of life that even a family in the middle class in the U.S. sees. The fabled king Salomon in his day would have lived with pests and fleas. Would have eaten food during winters that you nor I would have eaten. He had no toilet paper or dental hygiene products and everyone would have stank of body odor due to lack of deodorants and reliable indoor plumbing. Bedding was not soft and comfortable like todays' Thermopedic mattresses. Sweltering in the summer heat was all they knew, an air conditioned modern home would have put any palace to shame.
In summary, everyone at the time of christ, to whom christ was speaking to, would have definitely classified todays' wealthy preachers as abhorrent when even one poor man still walked the earth. Jesus' message was taken to mean that christians have a duty, a requirement, to have compassion for our poor brothers everywhere, and to share wealth with the poor, and not just the 10% to god level, but all of it, to the point that everyone had enough.

[Cato]

Wealth in of itself is not the problem the pursuit and lusting after it is. The account of the rich young ruler is a prime example of that.

What the hell are you making up now? Jesus told this guy to sell all his possessions and give the money to the poor. Only then could he follow him and get eternal life.

Your hero then asserts that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than a rich man to go to heaven.

There's nothing here about how wealth is achieved. Possessing wealth is the issue, plain and simple.

[Zen Badger]

Wealth in of itself is not the problem the pursuit and lusting after it is. The account of the rich young ruler is a prime example of that.

What the hell are you making up now? Jesus told this guy to sell all his possessions and give the money to the poor. Only then could he follow him and get eternal life.

Your hero then asserts that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than a rich man to go to heaven.

There's nothing here about how wealth is achieved. Possessing wealth is the issue, plain and simple.

Didn't you know? You're reading it out of context.

I'll leave it to drippy to explain what that context actually is

[Tonus]

I think the message is conflicting enough to allow for a number of interpretations. This is the Bible, after all.

When the young man claims that he has observed the commandments since he was a child, Jesus does not challenge him. He tells him that he lacks only one thing- to sell his possessions and "follow" him. This becomes the man's stumbling block, and Jesus laments that "it would be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of god." The case seems open-and-shut, but when someone wonders aloud if anyone may be saved, Jesus replies "what is impossible with men is possible with God."

So does this mean that salvation is impossible without god? Or is it a direct reference to his claim that it is impossible for a rich man to enter the kingdom of god? Is Jesus saying that it is possible for a rich man to enter heaven due to god's grace? Or is he saying that salvation in general is only possible through god's grace, unless you are a rich man?

The answer, of course, is whatever you happen to want it to be.

[Endo]

Jesus: "This shit ain't gonna be easy, you gotta be tough."

Christians: "Tough? Like Gangsta? So I can get tons of money, do whatever I want, and have 20 bitches hanging off of each arm? AND I get rewarded forever? I am so in!"

[Minimalist]

Wealth in of itself is not the problem the pursuit and lusting after it is. The account of the rich young ruler is a prime example of that.

As is customary, Drippy, you don't know what the fuck you are talking about.

It's God's will for you to live in prosperity instead of poverty. It's God's will for you to pay your bills and not be in debt.
Joel Osteen

God wants us to prosper financially, to have plenty of money, to fulfill the destiny He has laid out for us.
Joel Osteen

[Mudhammam]