Why would any Christian accumulate wealth . . .

Philosophy Forums Religion and Spirituality
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. . . given Jesus’ strong warnings against it?

  1. According to Jesus, people who worship material wealth as if it were a god are people who will not get to heaven.

  2. According to Jesus, most people who accumulate material wealth are or will become people who worship material wealth as if it were a god.

  3. According to Jesus, most people who accumulate material wealth are people who will not get to heaven.

I thought getting to heaven to bask in the eternal presence of God was kind of the goal. Instead, in looking at most American Christians you would think the goal is to live a comfortable life while on earth.

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I think this post is a little unfair, in that the largest population in this country are lower class, and most lower class citizens I’m fairly certain are Christians.

One thing I think this does show, however, is that there is a difference between belief and believing in belief. This is evident by many religious folks’ fear of death, despite what they believe to be reward afterwards. Similarly, rich people believe it is a good thing to believe in Christianity, but don’t go as far as giving all their wealth away to appease these verses.

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This comment, IMO, is a common misunderstanding of what Jesus warns against in regard to wealth accumulation. Jesus’ words really aren’t directed toward the amount of wealth that one accumulates per se. It is more concerned with the degree of attachment that one is likely to develop (and let me stress that the word here is likely to develop, not necessarily) toward that wealth once it begins to accumulate to ANY degree.

Jesus says something like, Don’t become attached to material goods PERIOD. He doesn’t really mean that it’s worse for a multi-millionaire to become attached to his classic car collection than it is for a person of modest means to become just as attached to his 2005 Civic. Those amount to pretty much the same thing: Both will go to hell.

Most of the lower class in this country are way better off in terms of material wealth than is the typical citizen in third-world countries and are just as attached to their material possessions as are the fabulously wealthy.

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Because they’re human and have human desires and aren’t perfect? Or else they don’t agree with your specific premises to begin with for whatever reason? Just a guess.

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I think the only justifiable position is that a Christian would acquire wealth so that they could give the wealth away at some point in the future.

I agree with you that attachment is the key issue here rather than the amount of cash. I happen to have known a friend who was a millionaire and a Christian. I was impressed at how little attachment he had to his wealth. He drove an old car and would write personal checks to people he came across who were in need. I’m not sure I would do so well under similar circumstances.

But I agree that we US Christians are way too attached to stuff. It’s a challenge…

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would i not be a true philosohersizer if i did not flip and say that the wealthy are accumulating christians?

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If above all else a Christian wants to get to heaven to bask in the eternal presence of God, then what better way to show that commitment than by giving the proceeds from the sale of virtually all his or her material possessions to the poor today and to then live the life of a pauper.

In fact, to become a pauper by burning or by otherwise destroying one’s material possessions might be an even better choice.

This life is but a blink of the eye compared to eternity. Does it really matter whether this life lasts for another forty seconds or another forty years? Does it really matter whether one is materially comfortable during that short span if it means being banned from the presence of God for eternity? All that matters – ALL THAT MATTERS! – is to love God. Anything that might even possibly interfere with that goal must be jettisoned from one’s life immediately and without hesitation.

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don’t you know? the church speaks against hording wealth so that you can give it to them instead of keeping it.

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Actually, the protestant church in the US doesn’t speak against hoarding wealth at all. But they do have an unhealthy interest in their members cash in my opinion.

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Very, very few people buy into Jesus’ radical message concerning total commitment to God. Instead, they choose to hope that some other kind of God exists rather than the one that Jesus talks about. One that requires considerably less than total commitment. Maybe one where all you have to do is to say that you believe in it, maybe even half-way convince yourself that you believe in it, and that by that simple act of self-deceit you can get what Jesus promises when he talks about total commitment to his God.

How people can be that stupid is somewhat of a mystery, but OTOH most of us lie to ourselves pretty often. It’s not as if the popular form of Christianity is the only lie out there.

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What, isnt life, people, and everything else, the marvel of the world good enough for you, heaven cant be experienced on earth, God created the world just as a trick, an illusion, so he could fill it with sinners then destroy it is that it ? Get a grip son !

Its ironic that your name is reality check. Devotion to humans would be the same as devotion to God since God made them in his image and they are holy, are they not, and are you Jesus, or one of the disciples ? No, so dont act like you are, your just an ordinary human, capable of remarkable things. How then are you able to serve people without money ? If your not destined to become the next saint living out of a cave, get out and make some money, as much as you can, and spread it around a little, be a philanthropist, an entrepenuer, it,ll make you feel better, plus you,ll be doing as your parents would like you to, working, earning cash, and being responsible enough to wipe your own ass, kind enough to be able to buy gifts, sponsor people, instead of sitting around waiting for some apocalypse to happen that wont, only apocalypse happening is the one right now, where people need money to help solve their crisis.

Learn more about the economy, business, there are so many business angels out there doing things with their money. And they dont need the label of Christian" before they will act, its just their mother raised them well, its how they are naturally. See, so then you,ll be serving God by serving people, making them happier would make God happier would it not. Better than preaching the Gospel, is surely becoming the Gospel, are you that good a person yourself, do you have that much control ? No, otherwise you wouldnt be asking these silly questions.

Dont be a loser, a sponger, like the others, get out and work, earn as much as you can and forget about christian missionaries, lectures, nonsense like that. To give is what you need to do, but live in the real world, Reality check", how else will you help the poor, if your have no money and no job ? You wont be able to raise your own family and help them never mind do anything for anybody else. The feeding of the five thousand is a parable, it never really happened, people dont get fed by food that appears out of thin air, if they did, is God such an asshole he cant do that for all the millions of children who have died already through starvation, did they die because they are sinners, if they havent lived before, and are only so young, how could they have sinned already, pull yourself together son.

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:slight_smile: fair enough, but you must admit that the bible works better than a bully shaking kids upside down at the arcade… :laughing: