That's rich!!

[Madad21]

Matthew 19 :16-24​

Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”
“Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”
“Which ones?” he inquired.
Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”
“All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”
Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

What type of person would you consider to be like this rich young ruler today and why?

 

[KingJ]

Well this parable speaks to the necessity of giving up all to follow Jesus. Anything less is not enough. It would apply to us all.

What is interesting is that scripture says you cannot serve God and money Luke 16:13. So, wealth / mammon is directly contrasted to serving God. It is very interesting.

I guess material gain / power is a / the chief goal of a selfish person.

 

[Madad21]

Well this parable speaks to the necessity of giving up all to follow Jesus. Anything less is not enough. It would apply to us all.

What is interesting is that scripture says you cannot serve God and money Luke 16:13. So, wealth / mammon is directly contrasted to serving God. It is very interesting.

I guess material gain / power is a / the chief goal of a selfish person.

Yes i agree.

I wonder if we were to go to Jesus and ask the same question now, what would his answer be to us individually. What things do we still hold on to today that we would feel are too hard to let go of?

In Luke Jesus tells us to use our wealth to gain friends as in put it to use in the growing of the kingdom in a way that we can bless others with it showing the light we have and the hope we live on.
Luke 16:9
I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.

So wealth is a blessing, not just for our own selfish desires as you point out in your reply.

I was going to be also interested to see if anyone pointed out a certain type of people in general. Because as I thought about this account it occurred to me that the rich young ruler would actually be the equivalent to pretty much anybody living in the free western world today no matter weather you have a good paying job or on a benefit, struggling or not struggling. It seems we are free to a point to make our own decisions as to what we do and what we spend money on much like this Rich young ruler is.

I think many of us feel like we are the poor and not at all like this guy, but I think we would be very surprised if we asked Jesus the same question this guy did.

 

[KingJ]

1. I was going to be also interested to see if anyone pointed out a certain type of people in general. Because as I thought about this account it occurred to me that the rich young ruler would actually be the equivalent to pretty much anybody living in the free western world today no matter weather you have a good paying job or on a benefit, struggling or not struggling. It seems we are free to a point to make our own decisions as to what we do and what we spend money on much like this Rich young ruler is.

2. I think many of us feel like we are the poor and not at all like this guy, but I think we would be very surprised if we asked Jesus the same question this guy did.

1. On the one hand, yes. Not many will give up their monthly surplus income. On the other, no. Rich people think completely differently to us. But you / we all know that .

2. Amen!

 

[This Vale Of Tears]

How do rich people think differently than us? A study a while back determined that those born into wealth are greatly dwarfed by those who had to work hard for it, meaning the majority of rich people had humble beginnings.

So how do they think differently?

 

[Madad21]

Yeah there are the humble ones, but I also remember the "Im too good to talk to you" types that used to frequent the casino when I worked there. Those guy thought that they could buy their way out of any trouble and 9 times out of 10 they could and did. Man I saw some sick things going in to some of those Hotel rooms, some really depraved stuff, like Im talking the fact that they had to lay down plastic sheets on the floor and furniture before they started, and the big wigs upstairs telling us to just do our jobs and keep our mouths shut when we had to go in there to drag out the drunk and wasted guests. Not just guys but rich woman doing this stuff too. Theres something about having too much money that make some people go completely round the bend. Like Paul said receiving in to themselves the full penalty of their sins.
The casino would pay millions to have them fly over and spend even more millions. They paid for the private flights and the best suites at the Casino Hotel, all their meals and drinks and on top of that a purse of a couple mill to get them going.

You know what the sickest thing was man, most of these really rich people come from third world country's and make their money off the backs of people who cant even afford to eat everyday. they spend generational money so the money they earn goes to the next generation of their family. while the poor stay poor.

Mate I could tell you guys some story's about that place.

What were we talking about again?

 

[KingJ]

How do rich people think differently than us? A study a while back determined that those born into wealth are greatly dwarfed by those who had to work hard for it, meaning the majority of rich people had humble beginnings.

So how do they think differently?

Pride and selfishness kick in on another level. Born into it or self obtained. Its irelevant. There is probably 1/1000 that does not become a jerk from being rich.

Pride affects our thinking completely. We will all change into a different person if we won the lotto!! Especially if we were poor! :lol:

God can definitely print money for us. He doesn't. There is a reason for that .

You know what the sickest thing was man, most of these really rich people come from third world country's and make their money off the backs of people who cant even afford to eat everyday. they spend generational money so the money they earn goes to the next generation of their family. while the poor stay poor.

Agreed. Here in Africa its a catch 22 though. Take our mines as an example. On the one hand a few are getting very rich. But our government is even more corrupt. So the nations are messed either way. The poor suffer and then suffer and then suffer some more and then are forgotten.

Preaching the gospel of Jesus > donating money. That is the cure to poverty. God feeds, clothes / takes care of His children.
I believe God prefers us all being moderate income.

 

[This Vale Of Tears]

Yeah there are the humble ones, but I also remember the "Im too good to talk to you" types that used to frequent the casino when I worked there. Those guy thought that they could buy their way out of any trouble and 9 times out of 10 they could and did. Man I saw some sick things going in to some of those Hotel rooms, some really depraved stuff, like Im talking the fact that they had to lay down plastic sheets on the floor and furniture before they started, and the big wigs upstairs telling us to just do our jobs and keep our mouths shut when we had to go in there to drag out the drunk and wasted guests. Not just guys but rich woman doing this stuff too. Theres something about having too much money that make some people go completely round the bend. Like Paul said receiving in to themselves the full penalty of their sins.
The casino would pay millions to have them fly over and spend even more millions. They paid for the private flights and the best suites at the Casino Hotel, all their meals and drinks and on top of that a purse of a couple mill to get them going.

You know what the sickest thing was man, most of these really rich people come from third world country's and make their money off the backs of people who cant even afford to eat everyday. they spend generational money so the money they earn goes to the next generation of their family. while the poor stay poor.

Mate I could tell you guys some story's about that place.

What were we talking about again?

I would suggest that if you worked at an upscale hotel that caters to the rich, you saw mostly a particular "kind" of rich people, the kind that throw their money away in a frivolous lifestyle while neglecting the poor. Jesus reminds us that Lazareth is at our very gate and hell awaits those who live lavishly while ignoring the plight of their neighbor.

Pride and selfishness kick in on another level. Born into it or self obtained. Its irelevant. There is probably 1/1000 that does not become a jerk from being rich.

I don't think you know many rich people.

 

[Madad21]

I would suggest that if you worked at an upscale hotel that caters to the rich, you saw mostly a particular "kind" of rich people, the kind that throw their money away in a frivolous lifestyle while neglecting the poor. Jesus reminds us that Lazareth is at our very gate and hell awaits those who live lavishly while ignoring the plight of their neighbor.

Yeah thats what I said, their the bad ones. you wanna fight about it or something?

 

[This Vale Of Tears]

Yeah thats what I said, their the bad ones. you wanna fight about it or something?

Why everybody want be hitting Jar Jar Binks?

 

[KingJ]

I don't think you know many rich people.

I don't. I am generalizing / open to correction by some rich people ^_^.

But scripture does say Mark 10:25. I have also given much thought to how my heart would harden / life become all about MY holidays and MY cars and MY house and MY day if I won the lotto :lol:.