Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!wuarchive!mailrus!ames!sun-barr!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: ilw%chem@ucsd.edu (Ivy Blumberg) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: how rich is rich? Message-ID: Date: 23 Sep 89 07:51:47 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Chemistry Dept, UC San Diego Lines: 23 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article FRN@psuvm.psu.edu writes: What's the ambiguity? Jesus makes it clear >that riches lead to hell; and so he tells the man who asks for advice to >"sell all you have and give to the poor" (not an exact quote, I realize). >That Americans have trouble with these passages--and often work to >interpret them so as to justify their wealth--is, I think, evidence of how >devoted we are to our riches. Here we are, with one of the clearest >directives in the gospels, but because we're so uncomfortable with the >directive--and, of course, selfish--we can't bear to let the directive >appear to be so clear, so we interpret it and reinterpret it until we feel >some comfort. I agree that we are a selfish and materialistic bunch and I know of no group of people who need to be convicted of our greed more than Americans. However, Jesus didn't tell EVERYONE to sell everything, just this one rich man. I believe he did so to expose the man's heart--that riches were more important to him than God. Do you truly believe that in order to go to heaven we all must sell everything we own? I don't see how that's practical. Next you'll be telling us to pluck out our eyes like 'troubled with the SOM'! Ivy