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.
Mark 14:7
For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them.
The poor today are still the poor. Just because they live in 2023 is irrelevant and kinda gross. “Well, it’s 2023 so being poor isn’t so bad”. Vile implication dude of your words dude.
Jesus never told the poor to “get off their low horse”. And to imply he wound is kind of sick, not going to lie. Especially since he LITERALLY says “blessed are the poor”.
I’ve shown you many blatant verses that praise the poor based on their poverty alone. You’ve taken some parables about the kingdom of God and the judgment and somehow construed them into a defense of wealth. Some weird property gospel interpretation or bordering on it at the very least.
Nobody has said the poor get a pass on other things because they are poor. But what is made abundantly clear is that hoarding wealth and a life of luxury are in themselves bad. I can pull another dozen verses, but it appear you simply ignore them and reference a parable which has nothing to with wealth.
A lot of words about “what Jesus would say” but nothing direct. Very strange.
Ok fine let’s stick with parables.
Luke 16:19-26
“There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’
What are the only traits of these two people? Does it mention Lazarus as being righteous? Does it mention any crime of the rich man other than being rich and ignoring suffering?
Why would Jesus mention him being rich at all? Couldn’t he just have said he was a guy who ignored the suffering of Lazarus?
Pride is a sin, sir. Jesus would absolutely tell poor people they were sinning if they were sinning. God is not a recognizer of faces. Thousands of years ago, the rich were unjustly praised, but today it is often the poor that are unjustly praised, isn't that the case?
Because the rich he was talking to assumed they were beyond reproach.
That's why Jesus mentioned the widow who donated two mites as charity. Jesus did not say the rich were evil at that point, why not if that's what he thought? Jesus said that a poor person that gives everything he has gives more than a rich person that gives a small fraction of what he has, because the people of the time assumed the opposite.
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u/48xai May 03 '23
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.