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pnewton
Guest
Jesus did not say it was harder for a camel to get through the eye of a needle that it does for a poor person to get into the Kingdom.
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GEddie
Guest
He didn’t have to; in his day, almost everybody was poor. In fact, the “old normal” was to either be in the ruling class or to be poor.
It was almost impossible then to get out of poverty, and those who are poor are perforce kept aware of their needs, which can never be fully met, and **can **lead to faith and repentance. Conversely, ‘the rich’ might forget that they even have needs. Consider the man in our LORD’s silo parable. Or HIS warning to the Church of Laodicea.
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bmullins
Guest
It’s a difficult question to answer because each person is in a different situation. I live in a 900 square foot home with 4 kids, my wife, and a dog. I feel personally that we have too much. Others laugh at me when I say that. A family in a ‘shepherds tent’ in Africa would tell me I live in luxury. Donald Trump would probably call it squalor. I tend to gravitate towards Saint Francis of Assisi in that I don’t think we as Catholics should have a tremendous amount of excess. The thing becomes, what do you consider excess?
For me, if I have food on my shelf that is not going to be eaten… then someone else who needs it should be eating it. It should never go to waste. The Catechism even hints at this. It’s ok to store up supplies… but if you’re just storing them while others are going without? You are stealing from those without. That’s why it’s important for each individual to go through a process of personal discernment.
Just take a car purchase for instance. One can easily spend upwards of $70k on a car. Now if you are driving for a limo company in your own personal vehicle, you might need to do just that right? Even though it’s a luxury car, if your work required it, that’d be different than someone living in trailer who makes his kids eat nothing but spaghettios from the dollar store so he can drive a fancy car.
A poster above hit the nail on the head when he said “does this draw you closer to God?” I’d also recommend discerning am I attached to this? Why do I want the luxury home? How will I use it for God? Would I also be ok if I didn’t have it? God should be our only true attachment, from everything else we should be free to have or not have it in our lives. We do have a TV. It’s a decent one. I like having it, and sometimes watch it when the kids turn it on, or when someone recommends a movie to me. I could take it or leave it. It’s nice. But I would be fine without it. My 9 year old would have a fit if we got rid of it. For her, it’s one of the most important things in the world. That’s what we want to avoid. As we mature spiritually physical objects should be less and less important to us, and God’s kingdom should be more.
For me, if I have food on my shelf that is not going to be eaten… then someone else who needs it should be eating it. It should never go to waste. The Catechism even hints at this. It’s ok to store up supplies… but if you’re just storing them while others are going without? You are stealing from those without. That’s why it’s important for each individual to go through a process of personal discernment.
Just take a car purchase for instance. One can easily spend upwards of $70k on a car. Now if you are driving for a limo company in your own personal vehicle, you might need to do just that right? Even though it’s a luxury car, if your work required it, that’d be different than someone living in trailer who makes his kids eat nothing but spaghettios from the dollar store so he can drive a fancy car.
A poster above hit the nail on the head when he said “does this draw you closer to God?” I’d also recommend discerning am I attached to this? Why do I want the luxury home? How will I use it for God? Would I also be ok if I didn’t have it? God should be our only true attachment, from everything else we should be free to have or not have it in our lives. We do have a TV. It’s a decent one. I like having it, and sometimes watch it when the kids turn it on, or when someone recommends a movie to me. I could take it or leave it. It’s nice. But I would be fine without it. My 9 year old would have a fit if we got rid of it. For her, it’s one of the most important things in the world. That’s what we want to avoid. As we mature spiritually physical objects should be less and less important to us, and God’s kingdom should be more.
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bmullins
Guest
Isn’t that kind of the opposite of the Gospel? The beatitudes themselves say “Blessed are you who are poor; the kingdom of God is yours. Blessed are you who are hungry now; you will have your fill.” I’d say rather that being poor or rich can both be tremendous spiritual burdens only if you are attached to material possessions. If you aren’t attached to them, being poor would actually be more freeing as you have less to worry about, less to maintain, less to pick up, less to buy etc.
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pnewton
Guest
Thinking more on this, I would say that luxury is not, according to the Gospel, compatible with Christianity. However, we would also need to point out that neither is gossip, lying, pride and a host of other sins. I have often thought that the reason homosexuality is such a vicious target of Christians is that we like to attack and elevate those sins which do not tempt us, which are not a part of our spiritual journey. In doing so, we have a sense of having “arrived” at least on one point.
Perhaps our attack on the wealthy is similar. We who do not ever have to face this challenge find this sin easier to denounce than those closer to home. If we were to look a a wealthy person who is a Christian, one that is overly-luxuriously wealthy, then we can no more judge him for his wealth than we can judge ourselves for our continuing pride, lying, gossip, etc. So while I do say excessive wealth is incompatible with Christianity, it is not incompatible with being a Christian, still on the spiritual pilgrimage.
I am surprised no one addressed the question of how much is too much. I think the idea of a continual conversion bypasses this whole question, as the lifestyle which is excessive changes as we mature in our faith.
Perhaps our attack on the wealthy is similar. We who do not ever have to face this challenge find this sin easier to denounce than those closer to home. If we were to look a a wealthy person who is a Christian, one that is overly-luxuriously wealthy, then we can no more judge him for his wealth than we can judge ourselves for our continuing pride, lying, gossip, etc. So while I do say excessive wealth is incompatible with Christianity, it is not incompatible with being a Christian, still on the spiritual pilgrimage.
I am surprised no one addressed the question of how much is too much. I think the idea of a continual conversion bypasses this whole question, as the lifestyle which is excessive changes as we mature in our faith.
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PJM
Guest
Being RICH i itself is NOT sinful.Where can I find in the bible about such things? I love Sacred scripture, but I have not found an answer to this one. Thank you
NOT sharing the wealth with the poor is.
Matthew 5:3
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
ALL Good things COME FROM God; therefore it is RIGHT that those who have More give More back. This applies to wealth and talents.
READ Mt chapter 5; that comes as close as any to what you ask
Easter Blessings,
Patrick
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