Jesus and Money

[waitasec]

Of course not.

wow just wow...

 

[Nakosis]

we've got the poor south to deal with...in the bible belt, of all places...
go figure


so really the poor southern bible belt states are exactly where they are supposed to be... according to jesus

You might really, actually have a good point their. If it's culturally ingrained to abhor material wealth, what is the importance of getting a good education and a job.

However consider the Amish. They would be considered poor. However they trade in goods, help each other, support each other. Build their own barns, provide their own education. They have shelter and are well fed. They really don't need much money.

Maybe more Christians should be like the Amish.

 

[idav]

You might really, actually have a good point their. If it's culturally ingrained to abhor material wealth, what is the importance of getting a good education and a job.

However consider the Amish. They would be considered poor. However they trade in goods, help each other, support each other. Build their own barns, provide their own education. They have shelter and are well fed. They really don't need much money.

Maybe more Christians should be like the Amish.

There is no problem and likely works but if you aren't teaching real world education and sheltering it then the people will likely stay religious and hate the material world. That sort of system would still work if they taught their people evolution.

 

[waitasec]

You might really, actually have a good point their. If it's culturally ingrained to abhor material wealth, what is the importance of getting a good education and a job.

don't worry about getting a job or an edumacation, gawd is coming back really soon
:sarcastic :faint:

However consider the Amish. They would be considered poor. However they trade in goods, help each other, support each other. Build their own barns, provide their own education. They have shelter and are well fed. They really don't need much money.

Maybe more Christians should be like the Amish.

agreed...

 

[Dubio]

It sure is important to control your desires. Desire is a bottomless pit. I look at what I have in my life. I'm not rich but I have things like an HD TV, personal computer, cell phone, a nice sound system, GPS system, a nice all wheel drive SUV, etc., etc.. but I crave more. It's kind of like I'm hungry all the time, looking for the next cool thing or gadget to get excited about. Then I'll do research on it trying to find the best model or the best price. I'd buy it and be excited for a while. Then I become hungry again. Maybe that's why so many people turn to religion.

 

[ChristineES]

Not all we Christians are a bunch of rich people. We struggle just the same as everyone else. We have bills and rent to pay. We have to buy food and clothes. Are you comparing all Christians to those TV evangelists who live in mansions. Because we are American also doesn't mean we are rich. People on TV shows are NOT real people.

And would quit dictating how Christians are supposed live and how we're supposed to follow Jesus.
It is one thing to question scripture, that is fine, of course, but questioning why Christians aren't doing what you think they should be doing is kind of annoying. And no, I am not mad or offended just a bit irritated is all. And that is my problem.

 

[ChristineES]

It sure is important to control your desires. Desire is a bottomless pit. I look at what I have in my life. I'm not rich but I have things like an HD TV, personal computer, cell phone, a nice sound system, GPS system, a nice all wheel drive SUV, etc., etc.. but I crave more. It's kind of like I'm hungry all the time, looking for the next cool thing or gadget to get excited about. Then I'll do research on it trying to find the best model or the best price. I'd buy it and be excited for a while. Then I become hungry again. Maybe that's why so many people turn to religion.

We all have desires, that can't be helped. What we need to control is greed. For example, my computer is not a laptop, is dial-up modem. It works, my being here proves that, and I wish I could have something that goes faster but I am happy with what I have- even though, at times, I wish I had better. We have to not worry about what everyone else has and be content with what we do have.

 

[idea]

Money is not evil, it's the love of money that is evil.

Minimalism is a good philosophy to live by. Makes me cringe to think of all the junk that will be coming into the house this Christmas - if it were just me, I would not let any of it in. As a mom who has to spend way too much time putting toys/junk away, I can honestly say that I am not attached to stuff. All I see when I go in a store is one more thing to clutter the house/break/add to the mess. When all the kids are out, I'll be a minimalist!!!! (We donate tons of stuff to purple heart/goodwill/salvation army etc. etc. they are at our house with a truck picking stuff up at least once a month - I'm not a shopper, we just have lots of friends/relatives that like to give us their stuff / lots of birthday parties etc. etc. so other people are constantly filling our house up with more stuff, and we are constantly giving it away... vicious cycle)

 

[riley2112]

Money is not evil, it's the love of money that is evil.

Minimalism is a good philosophy to live by. Makes me cringe to think of all the junk that will be coming into the house this Christmas - if it were just me, I would not let any of it in. As a mom who has to spend way too much time putting toys/junk away, I can honestly say that I am not attached to stuff. All I see when I go in a store is one more thing to clutter the house/break/add to the mess. When all the kids are out, I'll be a minimalist!!!!

me too

 

[4consideration]

What does it say that most of the 10 poorest states are Republican? – Cafferty File - CNN.com Blogs

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Okay, so he is ranking these states as richest or poorest, based strictly up household income for a 4 family of four. Yet he doesn't include anything about the state's debt.

It was pretty ease for me to find statistics on per capita debt for each state, but I have not yet located same for a family of four. (So, I assume we could just muliply it by 4.) I don't really intend to take this as far as a full scale economic analysis (and I am not an economist or anything of the sort) but it sure seems like we would get a far different picture of the wealth of each state if we actually considered that state's debt as it applies to that same income.

Using his method, I could determine my family's net worth, or wealth, by simply considering only our income and pretending that expenses (or debts) don't exist. Cool. I feel so much better, and a whole lot richer!

 

[idav]

_____________________________________________

Okay, so he is ranking these states as richest or poorest, based strictly up household income for a 4 family of four. Yet he doesn't include anything about the state's debt.

It was pretty ease for me to find statistics on per capita debt for each state, but I have not yet located same for a family of four. (So, I assume we could just muliply it by 4.) I don't really intend to take this as far as a full scale economic analysis (and I am not an economist or anything of the sort) but it sure seems like we would get a far different picture of the wealth of each state if we actually considered that state's debt as it applies to that same income.

Using his method, I could determine my family's net worth, or wealth, by simply considering only our income and pretending that expenses (or debts) don't exist. Cool. I feel so much better, and a whole lot richer!

I was under the impression that GOP does consider debt in the calculation.

edit: I don't see where the republicans are getting the figures.

 

[glyphkenn]

My question is: how do Christians manage to (apparently) ignore what Jesus said about money: "sell all your possessions and give your money to the poor", "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God", "Do not accumulate treasures on earth where moth and rust corrupt", "...you cannot serve God and money." I've heard that money was one of the things he mentioned most frequently.

I certainly understand that it's not so simple to just give away everything. But too many Christians I meet seem to have given up and are slowly accumulating more money and possessions thinking that it's okay as long as it's not "out of control". And consider that I live in America where even the very poor with adjustments for cost of living still have more money than 60%-70% of the rest of the world, and many people I've met in church must be in the top 1% of the world as far as income!

Personally, I've found that if you work on the money issue through prayer and meditation, you'll gradually be able to peel away your money and possessions without missing them. I'm a long way from being where I want to be with money, but I have cut my spending substantially by cooking simple healthy food at home, avoiding buying gadgets or things I don't need, selling quite a bit of my stuff that I don't need each time I move, buying clothes almost exclusively from thrift stores, learning to cut my own hair, etc. It took me a long time to be comfortable withe this, but now I wouldn't have it any other way.

Jesus saw money for what it is. If there is a God, he or she, is not intervening in our daily lives . Money ,though man created, is the most active God we know. When I was hungry it fed me, naked it clothe me, homeless ...... Most of our day is dedicated to it. The more of it we have the more powerful we feel. Sooo, all hail Money. I Money(I mean in Go) We trust. Anything that need to get done the first question asked is how much will it cost. people starve to death everyday. Not for lack of food . As a whole we have enough food to feed the world. It's lack of Money to get to the food or bring food to them. We don't care. It's like saying they deserve it for having no Money. I could go on but I'm starting to rant.

 

[idav]

Using his method, I could determine my family's net worth, or wealth, by simply considering only our income and pretending that expenses (or debts) don't exist. Cool. I feel so much better, and a whole lot richer!

If a person is making a million a year then they are rich regardless of whether they will be going bankrupt soon.

 

[Hexavibrongal]

Because we are American also doesn't mean we are rich.

That depends on how you define rich. Keep in mind that if you make $22k per year, then you make more than 90% of the people in the world. If you make $60k per year, you're in the top 1%. I think the majority of the world would consider all but the poorest Americans to be rich. To me, this kind of perspective is important in deciding how to find the dividing line between necessity and luxury in my life.

 

[Thief]

this is a theology conjured up in the gospel of john...which was written somewhere 90-100 CE
go figure...

this doesn't fit with historical facts, it's nothing but a conjecture based on wishful thinking



he framed for what....claiming to be god?



and this doesn't confirm my argument?

Overlooked the script nailed to His cross?
And you think He was in charge of a rebellion?
Overlooked the Last Supper?

As soon as you get into theology...properly....
then you might have an argument.

 

[ChristineES]

That depends on how you define rich. Keep in mind that if you make $22k per year, then you make more than 90% of the people in the world. If you make $60k per year, you're in the top 1%. I think the majority of the world would consider all but the poorest Americans to be rich. To me, this kind of perspective is important in deciding how to find the dividing line between necessity and luxury in my life.

We live off my husband's retirement, and that is a lot less that $22K a year.

What you are not taking into consideration is the price of things. We make more money is America, but we also pay a lot more for necessities. I was in Italy for 2 years so I know (at least somewhat). My family is at the poverty level. There are hungry people in the USA (luckily, my 3 kids, my husband and I can eat, if we economize), who can't afford both food and rent at the money you mention in your post. Inflation counts for a lot.

 

[idav]

We live off my husband's retirement, and that is a lot less that $22K a year.

What you are not taking into consideration is the price of things. We make more money is America, but we also pay a lot more for necessities. I was in Italy for 2 years so I know (at least somewhat). My family is at the poverty level. There are hungry people in the USA (luckily, my 3 kids, my husband and I can eat, if we economize), who can't afford both food and rent at the money you mention in your post. Inflation counts for a lot.

Inflation makes all the prices for things artificial. What we make in one pay check could feed a family in China for a year.

That is one of many reasons that the true treasures will be in heaven not earth.

 

[ChristineES]

Inflation makes all the prices for things artificial. What we make in one pay check could feed a family in China for a year.

That is one of many reasons that the true treasures will be in heaven not earth.

Thanks. That is what I was getting at. You put it much more eloquently than I did.

 

[Nakosis]

We live off my husband's retirement, and that is a lot less that $22K a year.

What you are not taking into consideration is the price of things. We make more money is America, but we also pay a lot more for necessities. I was in Italy for 2 years so I know (at least somewhat). My family is at the poverty level. There are hungry people in the USA (luckily, my 3 kids, my husband and I can eat, if we economize), who can't afford both food and rent at the money you mention in your post. Inflation counts for a lot.

$22K doesn't sound like a lot. That'd just pay our rent for a year in a small three bedroom house and nothing else. No food, clothing or utilities. $22K for a family of four in the US is considered poverty. In China it's about a dollar a day. So around $400 dollars a year would keep a person out of poverty in China. That's per person I suspect.

 

[Hexavibrongal]

We live off my husband's retirement, and that is a lot less that $22K a year.

That's interesting -- then you are an exception. The average income in the US is much higher than that. I wish I could live on that little.

What you are not taking into consideration is the price of things.

True, I am oversimplifying a little, but adjusting for cost-of-living doesn't actually make that much difference. Most of America still makes dramatically more than the rest of the world even after adjusting for living cost. I've researched this pretty extensively.