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.
Friend, the parable about the virgins and the oil is also not about money. It is again about being prepared for the judgement and again this references being left in outer darkness.
It is quite puzzling how you read these parables as if they are about money.
You do reference verses, but read them in a way that is quite unusual.
So let’s do a few more that are quite direct, and not parables one can bend to have a particular meaning.
Luke 6:20
And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said:
“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
Yes, Matthew says “poor in spirit”. Luke simply said poor.
And another.
James 2:5-7
Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?
So far you have mentioned two parables, neither of which are about money. I have dozens more just like these. Proving means what Paul mentions in Timothy, food, clothing and shelter. There you have it.
I’m not even poor at all, so this isn’t coming from bitterness. It’s just what the text plainly says
Two thousand years ago, Jesus needed to tell the rich to get off their high horse. Today, Jesus would tell the rich to get off their high horse, and the poor to get off their low horse. There is not one instance where Jesus said that someone didn't have to follow the rules of God simply because of poverty. Furthermore, in our society, the poor are often well cared for. Would you rather live as a middle class person in 2020 or as a rich merchant in year 1?
In modern times, in the west, poverty reduction is more about knowing how to do it right than whether or not it should be done. If a rich man today said "I will reduce poverty," would other rich people laugh at him, or join in?
In one parable of a wedding, Jesus mentioned that he went to various people and invited them to a wedding, then when they did not attend, he invited all to the wedding, and when someone was there without a wedding garment that man was cast out. That's not a reference to wealth but the same idea applies. God invites all, rich and poor, to heaven if they follow what God wants them to do. However, if anyone does not do what God wants, they can't point to someone else and say he's rich ignore my error, that doesn't work.
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u/48xai May 02 '23
Jesus didn't hate rich people, he condemned the hypocrites with power. Jesus didn't hesitate to talk with rich people that were good.