Others are sinners but Christians not ?

PeterAndroz said:

Let's look at greed - Luke 3:14....and be content with your wages.
Who here tries to improve their bank balance ?
Who here eats more than they need to ?
Who here has tech that they want rather than need ?
So far 3 out 3.
Guess, what ?
Like me, you are a sinner.
Like 'others' you are a sinner

Click to expand...

Well, what about the parable of the talents in Matthew 25? The guy who hid the talent in the earth and gave it back without interest to his lord is told he was wicked and slothful.

If we consider our money as being given to us by God and ourselves as stewards then I wouldn’t think improving one’s bank balance would be considered greed.

Jesus said that the poor will always be among others and they can do good to them anytime they wanted or something like that.

Jesus also said blessed are you who are poor in spirit for the kingdom is yours.

grafted branch said:

Well, what about the parable of the talents in Matthew 25? The guy who hid the talent in the earth and gave it back without interest to his lord is told he was wicked and slothful.

If we consider our money as being given to us by God and ourselves as stewards then I wouldn’t think improving one’s bank balance would be considered greed.

Click to expand...

It's a parable. It's not actually about money, but about serving God (in any capacity).

PeterAndroz said:

Let's look at greed - Luke 3:14....and be content with your wages.
Who here tries to improve their bank balance ?
Who here eats more than they need to ?
Who here has tech that they want rather than need ?
So far 3 out 3.
Guess, what ?
Like me, you are a sinner.
Like 'others' you are a sinner

Click to expand...

We're all sinners. Holiness comes gradually, and progress is often embarassingly slow.

But we are forgiven sinners.

PeterAndroz said:

Let's look at greed - Luke 3:14....and be content with your wages.
Who here tries to improve their bank balance ?
Who here eats more than they need to ?
Who here has tech that they want rather than need ?
So far 3 out 3.
Guess, what ?
Like me, you are a sinner.
Like 'others' you are a sinner

Click to expand...

So what's the point? To justify not striving against your own flesh just because everybody else has the same problem?

PeterAndroz said:

Improving our bank balance while others are homeless or starving is not greed ?

Click to expand...

No, I don’t believe it’s always greed, else the person with the lowest bank account isn’t greedy and everyone else is. Is that what you think? What if I used the money in my bank account to repair my car instead of giving that money to a homeless person? Am I greedy or am I being a good steward and using my money to insure I have transportation to my job or should I have just given it away and become jobless?

You mentioned tech in the original post, where do you think computers and technology comes from? Do you think Bill Gates should’ve just given away his money instead of creating the company Microsoft?

Not everyone believes that communism raises the standard of living. The best way to help the most people is through capitalism. Capitalism has its faults but I firmly believe it is the best known way to help the most people in a sin cursed world, financially speaking.

I don’t believe it’s good stewardship to knowingly decide to help fewer people with the same resources than can be achieved otherwise. Would you or your church give an unrepentant, homeless drug user money knowing they would just buy more drugs instead of giving it to a person who is not a drug user and homeless? Would that be a good stewardship of God’s money and resources?

There isn’t an endless supply of money and if a person stands on a corner and hands out hundred dollar bills, the line of people in need of those hundred dollar bills will never end. It’s economics 101 my friend, let’s use God’s resources in the best way we know how.

Consider George Müller (1805–1898), a renowned Christian evangelist and philanthropist who worked in Bristol, England. He founded the Ashley Down orphanage in Bristol in 1836. Money began coming in without him soliciting it; he relied on prayer and faith, raising the equivalent of $7,000,000 during his lifetime (approximately £1.38 million, or ~£113 million in today's terms). He refused to ever ask anyone for money; paid no personal salary and took nothing for himself. When he died, he had only a little money left; giving away $700,000 meant for his personal needs. He cared for 10,024 orphans and provided Christian education to over 120,000 children. Müller famously never asked anyone for money — he believed if God wanted the work done, God would supply the needs through prayer. He refused to appoint himself a salary and determined that the entire donation would go to the orphans.
"God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus. "