Quote:
Originally Posted by Ahldagor
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammon
Are we now in the age of Mammon? Mega church preachers preach that God wants us to be wealthy while Jesus argued other wise. People are idolizing the Bezos, Gates, Slim, Buffet, etc. levels of wealth. There's consistent bribery and lobbying throughout the governments of the world.
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I think the idea of willfully being poor is preposterous and does go against what Jesus taught.
However, there does seem to be some confusion or convolution in the new testament. For example
Matthew 19:24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. But in a different scripture, Matthew 25:14 a servant is looked at as foolish for not investing his money properly to make more, whereas another servant is looked at as good and faithful because he magnified his money. Yet again, a rich young ruler comes to Jesus, and says he has kept all the commandments - what lack I yet? Jesus tells him to sell all that he has and give it to the poor.
The Israelites wanted to be able to "put away" their wives, so the law of divorce was instituted by moses. The israelites wanted a king, so prophets were overshadowed by kings. Likewise, people want to retain their possessions, so capitalism prevails.
The other looming factor is that many parts of the bible are not meant to be taken literally, and sometimes they are meant to be taken quite literally.