Don't Ask, Don't Tell Deemed Unconstitutional

The Bible, does in fact, frown upon wealth. There are no two ways about it. Wealth is a distraction. Anyone who thinks that spending their life's energy accumulating wealth is in accords with a Christian way of life is simply deluding themselves. Just have the fortitude to say that you don't have it in you to live fully by Christ's example. Excuses are excuses.

Easy Money wrote: Epignosis wrote: Easy Money wrote: There is no verse in the Bible that praises those that accumulate wealth, yet there are plenty that are condemning of such a practice. There are none condemning such a practice. OK, lets ignore much of what Jesus taught and exemplified with his life, just give me one verse that praises those that accumulate wealth.

I never said the Bible praises those that accumulate wealth.  I am saying (contrary to you) that the Bible does not condemn those who accumulate wealth just because they accumulate wealth.  Do you understand?

Easy Money wrote: There is no verse in the Bible that praises those that accumulate wealth, yet there are plenty that are condemning of such a practice.

There are none condemning such a practice.

Jesus did not condemn wealth, but saw it as an enormous distraction to what was important. Camels and eyes of needles and such.

There is no verse in the Bible that praises those that accumulate wealth, yet there are plenty that are condemning of such a practice.

ExittheLemming wrote: Easy Money wrote: Give me one verse in the Bible where Jesus speaks positively about those who accumulate wealth. I can give you plenty more where Jesus condemns them, I have one of those very fancy cross-reference Bibles and I can retrieve verses all day long. Have to say that I agree mostly with the above. The accumulation of wealth nowadays can't sit very easily with the traditional Christian virtues of yore can it? I mean all that competitiveness, borrowing, lending and ruthlessness is enough to cause a meek critter to forfeit his inheritance.

Literally following Jesus meant leaving behind your homestead and generally your family and occupation.  You couldn't expect to get wealthy walking behind Christ (though some people thought they could).  You couldn't reasonably expect to drag all your possessions around, either.

Today, there is no tangible presence of Christ to literally follow around.  That is why Christians do not sell all their property and give it all to the poor.  We are not required to do that.  One big problem critics of the Bible consistently run into is assuming that every sentence in the Bible has a universal application.  That's not the case at all.  Putting verses in context and understanding who the audience is is not "picking and choosing."  It's proper hermeneutics.

As for "traditional Christian values of yore," there are a lot of traditional doctrines I think are false (like eternal hell or Satan / the Devil).

Easy Money wrote: Give me one verse in the Bible where Jesus speaks positively about those who accumulate wealth. I can give you plenty more where Jesus condemns them, I have one of those very fancy cross-reference Bibles and I can retrieve verses all day long.

Have to say that I agree mostly with the above. The accumulation of wealth nowadays can't sit very easily with the traditional Christian virtues of yore can it? I mean all that competitiveness, borrowing, lending, acquisitiveness and ruthlessness is enough to cause a meek critter to forfeit his inheritance.


Edited by ExittheLemming - September 14 2010 at 09:16

Easy Money wrote: So where is the verse in the Bible that praises the wealthy, or those that accumulate wealth?

Maybe Creflo Dollar can show you the way...

Easy Money wrote: Epignosis wrote: Easy Money wrote: I have to go to work soon, so I will leave you with these words to ponder, one of Jesus' many warnings to the wealthy, this time from from James 5 - "Now listen you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! the wages you failed to pay the workman who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvester have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered innocent men who were not opposing you." Being wealthy was not these people's sin.  These people's sins were theft and murder in order to become rich.  Very simple. I would prefer that Jesus' words stand on their own without your spin, which as far as I know, are not contained in any Bible that I own. Notice I added no personal spin, just the words of Jesus by themselves.

You do realize Jesus didn't write the book of James, right?

What spin did I put on the text?  I bolded two sentences in the scripture you quoted.  Read it again.  One sentence says they withheld wages from people who did work for them (theft) and the other sentence says they murdered people (murder).  I don't see how this is a condemnation of people who earned wealth through scrupulous means.

Give me one verse in the Bible where Jesus speaks positively about those who accumulate wealth. I can give you plenty more where Jesus condemns them, I have one of those very fancy cross-reference Bibles and I can retrieve verses all day long.