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| What Jesus Says About Rich People by Stanley Baldwin Posted April 30, 2009 (Warning: this article could be hazardous to your complacency.)
Jesus said, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." (Luke 18:24-25). The typical knee-jerk reaction to that statement is to dispute it. Those who actually heard him speak those words responded, "Who then can be saved?"
But Jesus' warning about the snare of riches does not hang on camel allusions alone. It is supported throughout the Bible. For example, consider what James, the brother of the Lord Jesus, wrote. "Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days" (James 5: 1-3). Rich people today hoard multi-million dollar salaries and bonuses far beyond what anybody could possibly need, and then fight tooth and nail lest they be taxed on it. Meanwhile common people are hard pressed to heat their homes, feed their children, or care for their sick. James further charges the rich as follows: "Look! The wages you have failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence" (vv. 4-5). Luxury and self-indulgence. Talk about hitting the nail on the head. You'd think James had been watching our society! Rich people who fare sumptuously while the poor starve at their doorstep are headed for judgment. The Bible says, "You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter" (v. 5).
Despite the egregious offenses of the rich, James writes that, incredibly, people of faith show favoritism to those very same rich oppressors (see James 2:1-4). Then he writes, "Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? But you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you?" (James 2:5-6). If the above writing seems offensive to you, please note that most of it is quoted directly from the Bible. If you think I have somehow misconstrued it, let me hear about it. Straighten out my misconceptions. On the other hand, if you have an issue with what the Bible itself says, I guess you'll have to take it up with the Author. These days we carry so much cultural baggage with regard to money and the government that we desperately need to have our thinking reoriented by the timeless truths of the Bible. Let's put aside, at least for the moment, the cultural labels: conservative, liberal, progressive, tax and spend, democrat, republican, socialist, because when we use these terms we just tend to talk past one another. Instead, let's study and discuss the biblical teaching on the place of riches in our individual lives and our society. As always, we'll find the Word of God to be profitable for reproof and correction, and we might just make our assets a blessing instead of a curse. Laurel Schunk: Rich people, which includes many, many Americans, must be very careful. It's possible to fall into sin whatever class we find ourselves in, but being rich is a special trap: it confers too much power and influence on its own, and we can all get sucked into that. We have problems with arrogance, mistreatment of the poor and oppressed, and hypocrisy aimed to maintain the systems that keep us wealthy and in power. I believe we must be careful to examine ourselves and not point fingers at others, for we have logs in our eyes. This is not a popular position, and we can look forward to much criticism for it. Stephen Berhar::.
I read your note on rich people and I agree that the love of money and wealth in our society is rampant and that greed is not a good thing. I do not think God is pleased with our society as it is today especially with the murder of over one million of the most helpless (and God is always bent toward the poor and helpless) human beings on earth. So please do not take this as a defense of materialism or our society. My issue is with the "while people make millions others can't heat their home" statement. If that were true, then no one could ever have millions or billions because of course we will always have poor people in society. I would like to respectfully disagree with the context and arbitrary judgment you made for who is rich and who is poor. The average poor person in America is richer than about 75% of the rest of the world. I think that God could give someone billions and they could be a faithful servant while poor person could be an unfaithful servant. Many times I have had people tell me they are struggling and then I find out they are not tithing due to the lack of money. They are living in sin and God will not bless that. Next time you meet a Christian who is struggling financialy, ask them if they are giving 10% to God. In my experience, the answer is usually no. Then there is the example like R.J. Le Tourneau, who made 10s of millions and gradualy as God blessed increased his giving to 90%. The Bible says that God maketh poor and maketh rich. Certainly it can't be wrong to be rich because the Lord at times (and often lately for a short time) makes some rich. 1 Samuel 2:7 The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up. There are many warnings about riches, but also warnings about laziness and it leading to poverty. 1 Timothy 6:17 "Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy." Have a great day! Malachi 3:10 says that it is good to give a tithe to the Lord so that we will have great abundance and even says it is OK to test God with this. My view in short is that all money is the Lord's and He may give us much wealth or little. It is clear to me though that there is no limit to the size (millions or billions) and it is not wrong to ask, and give to the Lord in order to "fill our barns" and have much "wine". Rich or poor, we need to be ready to give as the Lord directs and not ever think we are the source of our earthly possessions or that they make us any better than someone with less. My point is that money is more about the heart and not the amount. Your article seemed to me like you were arguing, as many do that the billionaires are not pleasing God and poor are. Stanley Baldwin: Actually, I agree with you that it is not a sin to be rich. Nor is it a sin to enjoy the benefits of what you possess. Your quote from 1 Timothy 6:17 hits the nail on the head. God is not a Scrooge. As James also writes, every good gift comes from God (see James 1:17). That does not change the basic message of James, nor does Paul, when writing to Timothy, contradict James. Even the very next verse after the one you quote says, "Command them (the rich) to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share" (1 Timothy 6:18). Note also that in the same chapter Paul writes, "People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap" (1 Timothy 6:9). In summary, we don't have to use a packing crate for our table and another for a chair, but the much greater danger to our souls is greed and self-indulgence. |
What's missing in our economic strategy
by Stanley Baldwin Posted April 21, 2009 It's hard to recover from a crisis when you fail to address its root causes. That is exactly what our nation is doing when we spend huge sums to get our financial system back in operation but neglect the far more urgent need, which is to restore integrity and a spirit of service in our financial sector.
The bonuses paid to failed executives of AIG and some of the big banks are cases in point. We need the expertise of these people going forward, or so the argument goes. Therefore, we must pay huge "retention" bonuses or lose their services. I wonder why the word blackmail leaps to mind at this point. Do Wall Street types care only about their own enrichment and nothing about their country? Our citizens in the military endure hardship and risk death for their country and get mere subsistence pay, but we must hand these people millions just to do their cushy jobs? Citizens from all walks, moved by faith or simple decency, care about others in need and try to help, but those largely responsible for our troubles smugly pass by on the other side.
Our forebears knew such people would be deadly to our nation. Benjamin Franklin said, "Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom." He understood that people lacking virtue would prey on others, with either chaos or tyranny being the inevitable result. Similarly, Thomas Jefferson said that democracy depends on a people's "public spiritedness." But we see Wall Street types with the morals of petty criminals, demonstrating only personal avarice.
John F. Kennedy said, "We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty." But these leaders, unwilling to pay even a small price, to bear even a small burden for the success of liberty, are unworthy of leadership and should be fired.
In fact, one could argue, new laws should be enacted that befit the crimes of fraud or dereliction of duty committed by many high-level executives. Call it "crimes against humanity." The human suffering caused by these criminals is beyond calculation. They are responsible for lost jobs, lost careers, lost businesses, lost family units, even lost lives to stress, suicide, and untreated medical conditions.
TS Eliot said that the world will likely end not with a bang, but with a whimper. Right now, it appears he's right. Whimpering is about all one hears from some rich people on Wall Street. But we are still a nation where the people can lead, not just follow. Let the whimpering end. Let the spirit of "bear any burden, meet any hardship" once again ring out not only from the city streets and country roads, from the pulpits and the pundits, but also from the halls of government and the boardrooms of business and industry.
Long live the United States of America.
Janey DeMeo: I wish the whole world would read your article, What's missing in our economic strategy, It's brilliant. Insightful. And true.
I'm a Brit who grew up in England, then lived as a missionary in France for 22 years. Thus, I spent a huge chunk of my life under socialism. I've now been in America for 5 years and, frankly, I'm not just disappointed--I'm disgusted. I was so excited to finally get to live here in a "free" country. But not so. America is following fast in the trails of secular, socialist Europe. It's very scary.
Your article helps put the situation in perspective--at least the present economic situation. There's way too much lauding the liberals, applauding the crooks, and rejecting all sense of ethics. You said it so well. Thanks for writing that article. I hope you get it reprinted elsewhere so more will benefit from its insight. (NOTE: The effort to reprint more broadly is under way. Thanks to Jeannie St.John Taylor for getting it in Cypress Times (Texas). Reader: Can you help? More later, Stan) David Burder: NO ONE IS TO BE BLAMED. NEITHER THE RICH NOR THE POOR. MOST WANT IT THAT WAY. GOD DOES 'LET' IT HAPPEN THAT WAY. BUT IT IS THE, SOME THAT ARE MAKING THE DIFFERENCE IN EVERY NATION, SINCE THE VERY BEGINING OF HISTORY. THEY ALWAYS WILL . WHEN WILL THE NATIONS ACCEPT THIS FACT: THEY COLLECTIVELY ARE ONLY A DROP IN THE BUCKET AND ALL THE PEOPLE IN IT ARE BUT GRASSHOPPERS ? YET, THE NATIONS AND HER PEOPLES CAN LIVE,THAN JUST EXIST ! Carl Townsend: No company or business should be so big that it can volate ethical and moral core values to achieve its mission. The top bailout negotiators (congressmen and senators) were paid almost 20 million dollars by the finance, insurance, and real estate firms during the last two decades to look the other way while Wall Street did their greedy stuff. Now these same senators and congressmen are trying to protect Wall Street and wrote a bailout proposal that stiffs it to the taxpayers. That’s you and me. At the same time, they fixed nothing on Wall Street. Here are the totals:
Senator Chris Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee (Dem, CT): received $13,205,556
Congressman Barney Frank, Chairman, House Financial Services (Dem, MA): received $2,494,611
Congressman Roy Blunt: House Minority Whip, Rep, MO) received $2,000,000
Senator Judd Gregg, Senate Banking Committee, Rep, NH : received $1,000,000 That’s right, these dudes got almost $20 million over the last two decades to protect Wall Street with your money. No wonder there are no CEO pay limits, golden parachutes are protected, and executives can party with your taxpayer money instead of being locked up in a jail. House members say their calls coming in were 50-1 against any bailout deal. Yet they voted for the bailout along with a lot of pork. One earmark is that road to nowhere through West Virgina. These guys should be in jail, not in Washington. And the rest of Congress, by ignoring this, is just as guilty. They kept pouring money into AIG and their bonuses, yet their own pension fund is funded by AIG; i.e., we are paying for their pensions twice. I say send them all home and jail.
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