Money and Religion

[EmpressV]

Here in lays the trap. The omnipotent popes and bishops that reworded the text had riches in mind. They wrote about taking from the rich and giving to the poor but what they really had in mind was taking from the poor and giving it to the rich churches. This practice is still used today, but in all fairness I have to say that people have wised up to them these days. Besides people have no money to give them thanks to our governments. They are the thieves of the new millenium.

[101]

Yes the government loves my money and I need it just as much as the people on Welfare. I mean the people who are on borderline poverty levels are not allowed to recieve help from the goverment for food. This only happens if you have a nice car. So what to do buy a junker and take your children around in an unreliable vehicle. While others just lie and recieve food and medical care. I wish I could do the same but I don't lie to get help. For I am doing the best as anyone in my situation can. You just put your children first and earthly pleasures last.

[+Sherapy]

Very well said curiousity

[+Link of Hyrule]

This is the answer I always receive to this question.

Ok, let's look before that passage then. The rich man asks Jesus what he must do to receive eternal life. Jesus replies:

Mark 10:19-20

You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.'" "Teacher," he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy."

These are only six of the ten commandments. The ones that we can all do, as Christians, or non-christians. Be good people. Do not murder, steal, covet etc.

The first four commandments are God-centred commandments (Have no other Gods before me, for example).

Jesus cut to the heart of the rich man's problem. Money was his God. "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." (Matthew 6:24).

But if you choose to view passage in an absolutely literal sense, go ahead. I won't stop you from believing that.

Regards, PA

[sublime_serenity75]

Money and Religion

Would organized religions exist without it?

How has money affected/effected organized religions?

Well, it takes money to do a lot of things. Just think of the sheer number of elementary, secondary, and university institutions of learning that have been built by churches. The sum of money is monstrous. You couldn't replicate that kind of thing by eating bread and drinking wine with your neighbors and exchange money at all. Not only that, but money is required to fly goods into certain nations that undergo problems and various city missions wouldn't be possible without it. Then again, it's perhaps the purposeful structuring of society that is responsible for many of these things to be built in the first place.

To me, it has affected it in a negative way. The humble early home meetings of Jesus with the disciples and other followers is in no way similar to what is common today. I'm deeply bothered by television ministries that aim for people's pocketbooks.