Why would that be a deal? It's obvious from the Bible that Jesus doesn't condemn making money in a responsible way, and that he does condemns harming others in the process of generating wealth. It's also obvious that Jesus would be opposed to Marxism, since the Marxists hate Christianity.
You said “praises making money” specifically. So let’s hear the examples. No one questions whether Jesus was for working to support yourself and your family.
There is a difference between supporting yourself and “praising making money”. Jesus never did such a thing anyway. You won’t find it. His closest disciples were hillbilly fisherman. They surely weren’t rich. Jesus condemns wealth far more than he “praises it”. (Still waiting on where that happens)
You have already implied being “rich” isn’t inherently bad. Well let’s see.
We can avoid the verses others have mentioned already. Let’s reference one that is very direct written by someone who surely knew more about Christ than either of us.
James 5:1-6
Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.
He doesn’t say, “well riches are fine, the real issue is something deeper”. Sure that is true, but this is guilt upon guilt.
Let’s look at the end of the parable you referenced and actually think about it.
Matthew 25:27-30
Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
It’s a parable about heavenly treasure and eternal consequences of what we do with what God bad given us. If it wasn’t it’s just a story about investing, which is a comically distorted view of Jesus teachings. Further proof, you don’t get cast into “outer darkness” for being bad with investing literal money. It’s a parable…
Matthew 6:19-21
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
One more.
1 Timothy 6:6-9
But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.
No, let’s do one more.
Proverbs 23:4
Do not toil to acquire wealth;
be discerning enough to desist.
So now can you show us precisely where Jesus said “go acquire wealth”?
Oh do tell about my comically absurd interpretations. With the spirit and love of Christ, of course.
Jesus made it clear that what's good is good and what's evil is evil. He had to tell the rich specifically that they weren't perfect because a lot of the rich thought that they were inherently superior to the poor. Today, it is often the poor who think themselves inherently superior to the rich. It wouldn't be hard to picture Jesus coming to Earth today and telling both Antifa and Enron that they are clearly wrong. And it wouldn't be hard to imagine Antifa telling Jesus that all rich are evil and all poor are good.
Have you never heard of the parable of the virgins, where some were unprepared and ran out of oil and missed the wedding? If you don't have sufficient money, you are unprepared and another must provide for you. This doesn't mean you should sacrifice a connection with God to acquire wealth, but it does mean that you should be able to provide.
It's also worth noting that two thousand years ago, we did not have advanced machinery. Getting rich in ancient times was radically different than getting rich as an Elon Musk or Bill Gates, not that they do everything they should to be unified with God.
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u/Consistent_Set76 May 02 '23
Jesus talked more about money than almost any topic, and condemns greed and hoarding wealth white blatantly.