Senate Understanding Christianity

Try to think of purgatory as a kind of concentration camp run by heaven's Homeland security. Try not to ask questions about why there are so many unbaptised children incarcerated there.

 

Oh, I know the answer to that last one: angelic red tape. They just can't fill the forms properly for processing.

 

I would counter with the fact that when you amass money, many many other people are also enriched, employed and benefit from your hard work.

It's a good thing.

 

This prosperity gospel party line is so tiresome. I miss the days when protestants were cool and would organize in violent revolutions to establish anarchist communes. Make Anabaptism Great Again, basically.

 

pah. or phht. Or some form of guffaw. The Christian god has built a mansion for you in heaven. But if you happen to already have one, that just means She really, really likes you already. #nothinglefttoprove

 

The ongoing concentration of wealth at the top in the USA, who have never been richer and with richer billionnaires than ever, while median wages nominally stagnated for a decade, points to the opposite: money follows the same principles as gravity; the more it concentrates, the more it pulls, the less it lets escape.

 

Ok, so let's say you limit personal wealth at a billion dollars.

Would

A) More people

B) Less people

C) about the same number of people

be employed by Amazon?

Or WalMart?

 

D) Less people per dollar.

 

Meaning?

 

Meaning that a lesser share of a dollar made today in the USA by a billionnaire actually trickles back down to working-class people than did ten years ago.

 

Do you think this is what Jesus wanted for this world? People getting super rich, living the high life, and maybe some wealth trickling down to the rest of us?

 

That's not an answer to my question.

Again, you didn't answer the question.

I believe Jesus has no issue, for or against, making a lot of money as long as you follow His teachings, including charity. Why do you suppose it is that Republicans give so much more to charity than Democrats?

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/03/your-money/republicans-democrats-charity-philanthropy.html


The more Republican a county is, the more its residents report charitable contributions, the study found.

The researchers said this finding fell within the broad political tendencies of traditional Republicans who favor less government intervention and more donations from the private sector to make up for the lack of government assistance.

“Their preference is to provide for the collective good through private institutions,” said Professor Nesbit. “But we don’t know what type of institutions they’re giving to.”

 

Why did Jesus consider it harder for a camel to fit through the eye of the needle than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God? What qualities about being rich made it very difficult for the rich to go to heaven?

 

For some people with nothing many people posting here are super rich in their eyes. Who decides who is rich? I know some people who consider me rich but I do not even remotely think of myself as that. I also know some people who I consider rich but they think i'm crazy for thinking it.

 

No, it's pointing out you're asking the wrong question. The number of people employed tells you nothing about how a higher concentration of riches effects their standard of living. Their shrinking share of riches as the concentration at the top increases does.

 

Considering this is the Christianity thread, I'm pretty sure it's Jesus who decides.

 

... Deus vult?

Daddy is the boss, remember?

 

People get caught up trying to tell who is acquiring their wealth in a godly way and who isn't. Is your restaurant chain closed on Sundays? Does its charitable foundation contribute to anti-LGBT causes? If so: godly. Keep in mind though that all Jews are rich because of a super-secret global political-financial cabal, and not because their God has singled them out for wealth. It gets complicated.

 

Where can I buy the 30 points of IQ needed to follow this train of thought?

 

It helps when you actually meet and talk to and become friends with people who have dealt with poverty. It absolutely helps my understanding, for instance, to have a brother who lives below the poverty line. I suspect many people in the middle class don't know as many folks who struggle with having food to eat.

 

I think it's worth noting that the Bible was not initially designed for well-established, upper-middle-class white folks. It was written with the general message that believing in the word of God would deliver you from evil and is generally a message of hope for people who were poor. As Hebrews 13:5 states,*

"Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said 'I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.'"​

The general message here is that Christians "need not want" (as Psalm 23 states it) because they are protected. This is the narrative of the volume itself, but of course, this message is mixed. 1 Timothy 6:7-8 as well as Matthew 6:19-21 suggest that a Christian's sole purpose is to put their faith in God and not rely upon their property for pleasure, with the general idea of what awaits them in the afterlife will be much better. Having grown up as an Evangelical, I can say this is the message I always heard on wealth and money (when I wasn't being told that God thinks I should give more to the Church). Matthew 6:24 also generally aligns with this concept.

The Second Testament also has two other messages on wealth. There's the "Jesus says give up all your wealth and join a commune" narrative and the "return on investment" narrative. The first has already been discussed ad nauseam but the point is built somewhat solidly. I have no additional quotes to add to this narrative. The return on investment narrative is interesting. As Luke 6:38 says, "Give, and it shall be given unto you." There are a few different passages which say that if you give to the poor you will receive as much back. That could mean you'll get more "in the afterlife" but most don't read that way, at least in the context of their chapters alone. Also - Proverbs 3:9-10 implies as a rich person as long as you "honor" God with your spending then you can be righteous. It's complicated. In general, the Second Testament suggests that greed is bad and if you're not contributing to strengthening your community and helping the poor, you're the worst.

*my quotes are KJV because I grew up in the "KJV only" part of the Bible Belt. Sorry.