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Wealthy Christians

G

GojuBrian

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What comes to your mind when you see someone who is wealthy, yet professes to be a christian?

Should christians be rich? Does that change your view of them?

What would you do different if you were rich?

Everyone wants to make or have more money.
How much money is enough?
 
I don't have a problem with Christians being wealthy. Abraham was wealthy. As was Job, and when God allowed his wealth to be taken away, God also restored it, blessing him with even more wealth than he had before.
 
lets see one then per obama, 250,000 k a year.
j/k

i think personally if one doesnt need more then you have, its your choice to give it to charity.
 
Mike said:
Who's "rich"? Where's the line?
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I don't think there is a hard and fast rule about what constitutes rich, but rich certainly exists. I would say that one can't be a true Christian and at the same time be rich.

I would say that when I think rich I think wasteful, indulgent, greedy, selfish etc, but not all rich people have all of those attributes.
 
If you and your wife live in a 4000sq ft house and drive his and her lexus' are you rich?

If you live that way can you still be a christian?

Compared to most of the world, Americans are extremely wealthy.
 
GojuBrian said:
If you and your wife live in a 4000sq ft house and drive his and her lexus' are you rich?

If you live that way can you still be a christian?
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Yes I couple with no kids living in a 4000 square foot house driving his and hers lexus' are rich. Whether they are Christian is harder to answer. They certainly aren't following the example of Christ.
 
coffeelover said:
I would say that one can't be a true Christian and at the same time be rich.
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Excuse Me ? !!! .... Who are you to judge that ??? .... :devil

Are you saying that true Christians are meant to be poor ??? ..... :help



coffeelover said:
I would say that when I think rich I think wasteful, indulgent, greedy, selfish etc, but not all rich people have all of those attributes.
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I sure hope you're only talking about non-Christians here .... but even then, you sound extremely cynical, judgemental .... and jealous !!



coffeelover said:
Yes I couple with no kids living in a 4000 square foot house driving his and hers lexus' are rich. Whether they are Christian is harder to answer. They certainly aren't following the example of Christ.
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Since when did Christ ever forbid Christians from being rich and wealthy ??? ..... :confused
 
Tina said:
Are you saying that true Christians are meant to be poor ??? ..... :help


Since when did Christ ever forbid Christians from being rich and wealthy ??? ..... :confused
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I wouldn't say Christians are meant to be poor, or are commanded to be poor, but it certainly wasn't the example set by Christ himself.

If one is rich then that means one is holding on to money for the sake of money. I can't see a person following in Christs example driving a hundred thousand dollar Mercedes or eating out at expensive restaurants all the time or having a bunch of expensive jewelry or having thousands of dollars in expensive clothes.

Money is a tool. One can use use it to be rich, appear rich and live in luxury. That IMHO is not Christian. If one lives a reasonable life and helps and loves others, and guides them to be a better person in the lord that is a good Christian.

Jesus was a carpenter not a capitalist.
 
coffeelover said:
Tina said:
Are you saying that true Christians are meant to be poor ??? ..... :help


Since when did Christ ever forbid Christians from being rich and wealthy ??? ..... :confused
Click to expand...


I wouldn't say Christians are meant to be poor, or are commanded to be poor, but it certainly wasn't the example set by Christ himself.

If one is rich then that means one is holding on to money for the sake of money. I can't see a person following in Christs example driving a hundred thousand dollar Mercedes or eating out at expensive restaurants all the time or having a bunch of expensive jewelry or having thousands of dollars in expensive clothes.

Money is a tool. One can use use it to be rich, appear rich and live in luxury. That IMHO is not Christian. If one lives a reasonable life and helps and loves others, and guides them to be a better person in the lord that is a good Christian.

Jesus was a carpenter not a capitalist.
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Amen.

Tina, I’m assuming you are rich. :D
Jesus said that if we have two garments, we should give one to some-one that has none. I live in a Third World Country where people are starving. There are people here that will give all they possibly can to support my charities, but the bulk of people couldn’t fathom giving up that extra bottle of single malt whiskey or a trip to the nail salon.

I guess what I am trying to say is that when we meet our Maker one day, will He ask how pretty our nails looked / what car we drove or will He ask how many people we fed and clothed? What is important to GOD?
 
Am I bad for spending $1000 or more on a gun?

How much should my car cost?

How about my house? How big should it be?

Right now there are 6 of us and my house is 2600sq ft, is that awful?

:confused

In arkansas I could make $50,000 a year and live well. It would take $172,000 for me to live the same way in NYC.
 
in the bible it says

you cant have 2 masters its either you choose wealth or God, one will get abandoned and the other one he will follow

i dont know where in the bible tho :study
 
jasoncran said:
some here in the states, hunt and also use guns for protection. a pistol or rifle sometimes are costly.
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Hey, I live in South Africa. Can’t tell me anything about crime and the need to protect yourself.
My point is just, Dukey, do you need 3 cars for a two person house hold? Do you need more than one television? Do you need a television at all? What would you do with your money if Jesus was standing right next to you? Would you buy yourself another brand name pair of jeans or would you spend it on a blanket for a person who needs it?
 
l'Chante said:
jasoncran said:
some here in the states, hunt and also use guns for protection. a pistol or rifle sometimes are costly.
Click to expand...

Hey, I live in South Africa. Can’t tell me anything about crime and the need to protect yourself.
My point is just, Dukey, do you need 3 cars for a two person house hold? Do you need more than one television? Do you need a television at all? What would you do with your money if Jesus was standing right next to you? Would you buy yourself another brand name pair of jeans or would you spend it on a blanket for a person who needs it?
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i dont have more then i need. btw. i neither watch tv, havent in one year. nor do i have to have any form of entertainmant. none of us do to survive, but thats not what the lord wants for us to judge others and tell them what to give, they must do so of their own accord.However god didnt want us to sit around and not have some form hobby or release.

we arent called to be in austerity as a command.
 
You know what, Dukey? You’re right. I really shouldn’t be this way. It’s just hard to look in the eyes of people who haven’t eaten in three days (over weekends when I do my charity work) and then listen to people talking about spending money on luxury items on a Monday. I’m sorry. :sad
 
Should we be judging others based on their monetary status? I should think not!

Is Bill Gates rich? You betcha. How much has this man given away? Loads. How much more does he plan on giving away? More or less all of it. Aside from a meek (compared to what he has) inheritance Billy is giving every last dime to charity. Doesn't that count for something? :shrug

Hate to break it to the rest of the Americans on the forum... but compared to the rest of the world, even the poorest people in America are rich. The poverty line in America is so high it is ridiculous! Even when compared to other countries that we consider "well-to-do", like England or France, our poverty line is crazy high.

What's the point I'm trying to make? Well, you guys are comparing people's monetary status based upon the wealth of others. If we are gonna do this, and then take Coffee's sweeping declaration:

coffeelover said:
I would say that one can't be a true Christian and at the same time be rich.
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Guess what? No American can be a true Christian. Not based on the way we are using to compare wealth and then taking Coffee's words. By this view, ever American is s-c-r-e-w-e-d!

However, I highly doubt Jesus is gonna judge us in the same means the rest of the world judges us. We are applying our human judgment to make sweeping statements about the way a Being so much higher than us will judge.

We cannot know how the rich will be treated before Jesus.

Besides all that, where in the Bible does it say that a true Christian not only has to confess the Lord Jesus and love Him with his heart and walk with the Holy Spirit, BUT also has to be poor or no higher than middle-class?

Compared to the time of Jesus we are ALL rich! We have computers. We have internet. We have beds. We have roofs. We have loads of clothing. We have running water. We don't go to the bathroom in a dirt hole, but in a porcelain throne!

If someone professes Christianity and is rich, my conclusion is not "Well, gee, they can't be "real" Christians." my conclusion is, "Well, gee, God has surely blessed them!"

What I find interesting is we use the scripture that refers to being rich, like the camel through the eye of a needle, and apply it to wealth. But the moment we see a reference in scripture to being poor we tie it to being poor in spirit...
 
Pard said:
Hate to break it to the rest of the Americans on the forum... but compared to the rest of the world, even the poorest people in America are rich. The poverty line in America is so high it is ridiculous! Even when compared to other countries that we consider "well-to-do", like England or France, our poverty line is crazy high.


Compared to the time of Jesus we are ALL rich! We have computers. We have internet. We have beds. We have roofs. We have loads of clothing. We have running water. We don't go to the bathroom in a dirt hole, but in a porcelain throne!
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I understand you are a young man Pard so I take it you haven't traveled around our great nation, but let me assure you that your assessment that the poorest Americans are rich when compared to the rest of the world is incorrect. There are many Americans who live in true poverty right here in America. The poor live in the inner city, Appalachia, the deep south. There are people including children who don't have enough to eat. Just do a little research, and it will be easy to see people who suffer right in your own back yard. Don't let your heart harden and dismiss them as well they are American so they are rich compared to an emaciated person starving to death with fly's on their eyes in Ethiopia.
 
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