Does money make people happy

[Shadow Wolf]

He said its hard for rich to go to heaven. Not impossible. And the poor have no direct ticket to heaven. Even if a poor man thinks that his money(whatever he has) is more important than God, then he is not going to heaven either. And believe there are plenty of poor, who think that Wealth is the most important thing.

Unless you can find a way to shrink a camel and enlarge a needle hole, it seems very doubtful a rich person could ever get into Heaven. And where did the poor having this direct ticket come from?

 

[Phil25]

Unless you can find a way to shrink a camel and enlarge a needle hole, it seems very doubtful a rich person could ever get into Heaven. And where did the poor having this direct ticket come from?

First thing, what do you mean by rich? Is making $8/hr rich? Is being homeless, but still getting to eat a Burger, rich? Because in many parts of the world, getting one meal a day, is rich. So many American poor are actually rich in comparison to many Africans. Is Bill Gates, rich? I, sure feel so. And I feel poor in comparison to him. But the homeless guy, down the street thinks I am rich. So who is rich?
Answer my questions, and we can have a meaningful discussion.

 

[CynthiaCypher]

First thing, what do you mean by rich? Is making $8/hr rich? Is being homeless, but still getting to eat a Burger, rich? Because in many parts of the world, getting one meal a day, is rich. So many American poor are actually rich in comparison to many Africans. Is Bill Gates, rich? I, sure feel so. And I feel poor in comparison to him. But the homeless guy, down the street thinks I am rich. So who is rich?
Answer my questions, and we can have a meaningful discussion.

If you have enough money to buy a politician, not paying your fair share of your taxes and you are voting Republican, then you probably fit the bill.

 

[Phil25]

If you have enough money to buy a politician, not paying your fair share of your taxes and you are voting Republican, then you probably fit the bill.

Thats a big conclusion to make. Republicans dont go to heaven. I guess God said "Though shalt not vote Republican" in the Bible you have.
If you have enough money to buy a politician. Thats a huge money. Many have that much. Bill Gates definetely has that much. But he does, things, like you know help AIDS affected through his personal wealth through Bill &Melinda Gates Foundation. So even he doesnt go to heaven, because he helped AIDS affected through his personal wealth, but the poor gets to go to heaven, just because they are poor?


How much is fair share?

 

[Shadow Wolf]

First thing, what do you mean by rich? Is making $8/hr rich? Is being homeless, but still getting to eat a Burger, rich? Because in many parts of the world, getting one meal a day, is rich. So many American poor are actually rich in comparison to many Africans. Is Bill Gates, rich? I, sure feel so. And I feel poor in comparison to him. But the homeless guy, down the street thinks I am rich. So who is rich?
Answer my questions, and we can have a meaningful discussion.

I would think a situation in which 1% of individuals control nearly half of the wealth, that 1% definitely qualifies as rich. The top 20% controls 98% of the wealth. Is $8/h rich? Around here, were the cost of living is not high, $8/h will leave someone living on their own with very little and occasionally late on bills. And while many American poor do have more than the poor in Africa, many of the poor in America have nothing and can only eat that burger because of the generosity of another. Many of the poor in America only have a home and food because of the generosity of others and being fortunate enough to qualify for welfare (as many times, being male, not having a child/being pregnant, and making just abit too much for welfare but not enough to sufficiently provide for yourself often disqualify those who need help).
From a Biblical perspective, it seems that being rich means having enough money to make a difference in your community and being able to ease the suffering of the poor. It may also be having more than you actually need to live, as even a small amount of extra can help to feed and clothe the poor.

If you have enough money to buy a politician, not paying your fair share of your taxes and you are voting Republican, then you probably fit the bill.

With the exception of voting Republican (as even many Democrats fight for the rights of the rich to trample everybody else), buying a politician, funding lobbyist, funding astroturf movements, being able to afford tax lawyers to get out of paying taxes and being considered too big of a donor to offend are good indications that you are rich.

 

[Sunstone]

There was a study some years ago of 15,000 people in about 120 different countries around the world. It found that most people -- a sizable majority -- felt they would be content with just enough money to pay their bills plus a little bit for a rainy day. Beyond that level, more money wouldn't make them happier.

 

[samosasauce]

Money can sure give you a lot to do, and activities with people you care for can bring a massive amount of happiness

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Thats a big conclusion to make. Republicans dont go to heaven. I guess God said "Though shalt not vote Republican" in the Bible you have.
If you have enough money to buy a politician. Thats a huge money. Many have that much. Bill Gates definetely has that much. But he does, things, like you know help AIDS affected through his personal wealth through Bill &Melinda Gates Foundation. So even he doesnt go to heaven, because he helped AIDS affected through his personal wealth, but the poor gets to go to heaven, just because they are poor?


How much is fair share?

For one, nobody ever claimed the poor get a guaranteed spot in Heaven. As for Bill Gates, who are we to judge, really? He is once again the richest person in the world, but he gives billions to charity. If the Christian god is real, maybe he'll say good job, maybe he'll say it wasn't enough? But three times the Bible says that Jesus said a rich man getting into Heaven is like getting a camel through the eye of a needle.

 

[Phil25]

I would think a situation in which 1% of individuals control nearly half of the wealth, that 1% definitely qualifies as rich. The top 20% controls 98% of the wealth. Is $8/h rich? Around here, were the cost of living is not high, $8/h will leave someone living on their own with very little and occasionally late on bills. And while many American poor do have more than the poor in Africa, many of the poor in America have nothing and can only eat that burger because of the generosity of another. Many of the poor in America only have a home and food because of the generosity of others and being fortunate enough to qualify for welfare (as many times, being male, not having a child/being pregnant, and making just abit too much for welfare but not enough to sufficiently provide for yourself often disqualify those who need help).
From a Biblical perspective, it seems that being rich means having enough money to make a difference in your community and being able to ease the suffering of the poor. It may also be having more than you actually need to live, as even a small amount of extra can help to feed and clothe the poor.

Everyone doesnt have to be equally poor. The most important thing is that you help others with some of your money. The rich doesnt have to give away everything and become poor themselves.

 

[Phil25]

For one, nobody ever claimed the poor get a guaranteed spot in Heaven. As for Bill Gates, who are we to judge, really? He is once again the richest person in the world, but he gives billions to charity. If the Christian god is real, maybe he'll say good job, maybe he'll say it wasn't enough? But three times the Bible says that Jesus said a rich man getting into Heaven is like getting a camel through the eye of a needle.

Yeah thats what I am saying who are we to say that rich dont go to heaven. Its God's job and lets leave it to him.
There are many interpretation of what Jesus said. The poor will say, rich are going to hell. The rich will say, poor are just deluding themselves.
Maybe "the camel, needle" thing was just an ancient Aramaic idiom that meant "hard, bur not impoosible" when taken into proper context but the translation messed it all up.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Everyone doesnt have to be equally poor. The most important thing is that you help others with some of your money. The rich doesnt have to give away everything and become poor themselves.

Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. Matthew 19:21
Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.Luke 18:22
Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me. Mark 10:21
The order seems to be sell your possessions, give your money to the poor, then you can follow Jesus. Even that you must forsake all you have.
So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:33

 

[The Sum of Awe]

Are you rich?

Far from it. I'm a drop out. For now I'm getting good pay at a farm I work at, but as soon as I move out (and I'm only 18 as of now) I'm sure to be on the poor end of the road and will have to find a way to live off the map and off limited money.

But I don't support the idea of people being forced into donation, that's simply not Jesus. Imagine if church services required you to put money in the plate if you are in the service.

 

[CynthiaCypher]

Far from it. I'm a drop out. For now I'm getting good pay at a farm I work at, but as soon as I move out (and I'm only 18 as of now) I'm sure to be on the poor end of the road and will have to find a way to live off the map and off limited money.

But I don't support the idea of people being forced into donation, that's simply not Jesus. Imagine if church services required you to put money in the plate if you are in the service.

You need to get your nose out of Atlas Shrugged.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Far from it. I'm a drop out. For now I'm getting good pay at a farm I work at, but as soon as I move out (and I'm only 18 as of now) I'm sure to be on the poor end of the road and will have to find a way to live off the map and off limited money.

But I don't support the idea of people being forced into donation, that's simply not Jesus. Imagine if church services required you to put money in the plate if you are in the service.

Some churches are actually like that. They even expect you to write down how much you earned so they know if you are tithing enough. The one church that I remember that does for sure do this is also very gaudy, and during a time of heavy rain that flooded most of the town and caused widespread damage (including to the church), rather than helping those who needed it they built themselves a very fancy and very expensive church.

You need to get your nose out of Atlas Shrugged.

Far too many people have suffered at the hands of those who claim to follow Rand. Executives who want even more money send there employees to the welfare and unemployed lines to fatten their own pockets; many companies have established policies and done away with regulation, in the lust for money, and the results have caused perpetual poverty that becomes a burden on those of us who must pay taxes; far too many communities abroad have been devastated and damned to abject poverty because those who claim Rand as their guide think it is their right to do whatever it takes to make more money regardless of the suffering their actions cause (even though Rand herself was opposed to harming another outside of self defense). Many of Rands followers have also socialized their risks, forcing the tax payers to pay for their lost gambles, while they themselves pocket any gains. They fight to prevent the tax code from being simplified and made progressive and easing the tax burden on the middle and lower-upper classes. I wonder if in a few hundred years if Rand will earn her own reputation of near universal infamy like Machiavelli did? I wonder if the "dark triad" of narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism will be expanded to include Randism/Objectivism? So many of her followers simply made it difficult, if not impossible, for anyone "below" them to get ahead or even stay afloat. It used to be people were offered jobs for life, and they could support their families with that job. Now, under the "new Capitalism," which has propped Rand up as a prophet, jobs for life and job security are a thing of the past and far too many people work full time, or longer, and yet they still cannot fully support themselves, especially if they have a family to feed.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

This is not to be mistaken with socialism. I'd take Jesus's words to mean something like donations, charity. Not something as absurd as forcing money out of people's hands, for example, taxing the rich, or unequal taxes in general.

Jesus' followers originally lived in communes and practiced a form of religious communism where your possessions were handed over to the Church to be shared among the brothers and sisters, according to Acts. Most Christians simply don't live as the early Christians did and Christian anarcho-communism is a small minority view, unfortunately.

If Christians would actually live like the early Christians and follow what Christ preached, we'd be living in a communist society.

 

[The Sum of Awe]

You need to get your nose out of Atlas Shrugged.

Eh... nah. I have two books of Ayn Rand, one of which is amazing the other of which is so dull and boring to read like most of her work.

Anyways, what's your point? Or are you only here to ridicule me for agreeing with some of Rand's philosophy?

It's such a conclusion you made too. If I at all come off as selfish simply because I don't believe in forced "charity" then I have certainly lost faith in this topic.

 

[The Sum of Awe]

Jesus' followers originally lived in communes and practiced a form of religious communism where your possessions were handed over to the Church to be shared among the brothers and sisters, according to Acts. Most Christians simply don't live as the early Christians did and Christian anarcho-communism is a small minority view, unfortunately.

If Christians would actually live like the early Christians and follow what Christ preached, we'd be living in a communist society.

Interesting it'd be nice to read up more on said religious communism. Not exactly enough detail was provided in this post, it still could've been consensual by Jesusists rather than a forced economy.

What makes communism the direct route for a Christian? Whether or not it is ethical is an entirely different debate. I don't understand how you can draw such an extreme belief from Jesus who seemed to be more than not apolitical and more philosophical.

Communism demands public ownership, Jesus did not demand it it is simply an act of virtue apparently.

 

[s2a]

By money I don't mean the money necessary for survival in a developed country. By money I mean huge amount of money. More than 500 dollars\euros per week.

My question is: does owning lots of money make people happy?
By people I mean you, not the others

$500 week does not really qualify as great wealth in the US or many other "westernized" nations.

It's not even close really.

Not even $2500 a week of income gets you there (about $120,000 dollars for a family of four).

Perhaps a poll of those that earn in excess of $250,000 annually may lend a better insight pertaining to the question of wealth=happiness.

I'm otherwise too poor to answer, if monetary wealth is the primary measure to be employed

 

[sun rise]

A recent study: Here Is The Income Level At Which Money Won't Make You Any Happier In Each State illustrates what someone else posted upstream - there is a level at which money stops buying happiness. And, of course, that varies by cost of living and other factors.

I once had a boss who taught me that lesson. In a mentoring chat one day he told me how unhappy he was in accepting a promotion and much higher salary and giving up the technical work that he found so satisfying. I never forgot that lesson.

Of course, too many people don't make enough to reach that income level and so more money to them goes make them happier.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/17/map-happiness-benchmark_n_5592194.html

 

[Glaurung]

I picked up a week's worth of work at a chemical manufactory. At $20 an hour I made $140 today. I can attest to my marginal increase in temporary happiness.