Christians....... and all that Mammon!

[oldbadger]

Those Christians who believe that the bible is the infallible divine word of God, please read the verses below and then confirm that you lead a life free from riches, wealth, luxury and excessive comforts.

If not...... why not?

MATTHEW {19:23} Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I
say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the
kingdom of heaven. {19:24} And again I say unto you, It is
easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for
a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

MARK {10:24} And the disciples were
astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and
saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust
in riches to enter into the kingdom of God! {10:25} It is
easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for
a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

LUKE {18:24} And when Jesus saw that he was very
sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches
enter into the kingdom of God! {18:25} For it is easier for a
camel to go through a needle’s eye, than for a rich man to
enter into the kingdom of God.

PS. Please excuse the OP for being a fat, comfy pagan Deist! Hell, I've even got a bicycle! But I don't believe that the bible is infallible!

[oldbadger]

I just find it strange..........
..... that many Christians will not permit any proposals about, say, Genesis other than the solid, literal, inflexible descriptions of creation..... no long winded explanations about what the author might have had in mind whilst writing that!

...and there are many many OT laws which are held to be inflexible and timeless... no possible reasons to repeal any of them......

...... until OT laws from Exodus, Deuteronomy, Leviticus etc are shown which might cause some difficulty for Christians, and then we are subjected to the most strange, manipulated, distorted reasons why such laws could be adjusted or overlooked entire.

The Cephas vision in Joppa is a delighfully contrived 'get-out' for Romans and gentiles to ignore the food laws for instance. Imagine that..... Cephas, one of the Christian Prophets!
...and when even Jesus's words are played with, well....... says it all, really[/b]

[oldbadger]

I think the principle of not making money your "god" applies to everyone,

But Christians shouldn't be pointing at everyone else, and certainly not as any reason for failing to follow the word of Jesus.......

money cannot buy life, gold cannot and should not take the place of one's spirituality;

....... but they do..... you know that they do. I must say that I don't know a JW that would accumulate excessive wealth or flaunt any possessions at all, but we are talking about Christians in general here.

so in that both prince and pauper should respect the underlaying principle.

This is a way of deflecting the attention away from the written words of Jesus. And any number of other words have been used to reduce what he said, imo.

Further to that, how many Christian businesses apply the following laws to their companies? It would be easy to apply these to almost any business. The retail trade breaks every one of these rules:-
Not to reap the entire field (Lev. 19:9; Lev. 23:22)
Leave unreaped corners of fields/orchards for the poor (Lev.19:9)
Not to gather gleanings that have fallen while reaping (Lev. 19:9)
To leave the gleanings for the poor (Lev. 19:9)
Not to gather ol'loth (imperfect clusters) of the vineyard (Lev.19:10)
Leave ol'loth of the vineyard for the poor (Lev. 19:10; Deut. 24:21)
Not to gather single grapes that have fallen to ground and to leave the single grapes of the vineyard for the poor (Lev. 19:10)
Not to return to take a forgotten sheaf (Deut. 24:19)
To leave the forgotten sheaves for the poor (Deut. 24:19-20)
Not to refrain from maintaining a poor man (Deut. 15:7)
To give charity according to one's means (Deut. 15:11)

[JehovahsWitness]

I think the principle of not making money your "god" applies to everyone,

But Christians shouldn't be pointing at everyone else, and certainly not as any reason for failing to follow the word of Jesus.......

You are right we (*I*) should apply the words to myself, which i try and do.

Thank you for pointing that out, you are absolutely right.

money cannot buy life, gold cannot and should not take the place of one's spirituality;

....... but they do..... you know that they do. I must say that I don't know a JW that would accumulate excessive wealth or flaunt any possessions at all, but we are talking about Christians in general here.

Well, as you pointed out, I really don't have any power over how others lead their lives, I can just try and apply bible principles in my own life and leave the rest to God.