Gnats And Camels

[poliphilo]

Judy sent me an article about Pat Robertson's mining interests and how his charities stand to make money out of Katrina. I understand that the man's sailed pretty close to the wind in the past, mixing God's business with his own.

When I was studying the Bible the thing that really stood out for me (and made me feel extremely uncomfortable) was the bit about how hard it is for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. I wasn't exactly rich back then, but I was comfortably middle-class and it gnawed at me that I wasn't poor enough to satisfy God. It was reading the Bible that made me a socialist (of sorts.) I didn't (and don't) see how a serious Christian can jump any other way.

You have to go through the Bible with a fine tooth-comb to find (debatable)texts condemning homosexuality, but the ones condemning the rich are lying about on the surface in plain view. The New Testament says that people who concentrate on obscure, fiddly bits of doctrine and miss the bleeding obvious, are "straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel." If Pat read the Bible as closely as he says he does he wouldn't be mining diamonds. He really wouldn't. A wealthy evangelist- it's a contradiction in terms.

Comments

[ex-kalymura481.livejournal.com]

"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." (Matthew 19:24)

How interesting; that lesson has always stuck with me, too. Though, the embellishments of a mountain pass & having to strip your camel of luggage in order to enter Jerusalem appealed to me, so that may be why. I tend to read far too much into the bleeding obvious, rather than miss it…

[shullie.livejournal.com]

i use to think i wasn't reading the same book as the rest of the people in the church I use to attend... it got so bad i wanted to stand up and shout in the sermons... i decided perhasp it was time to leave..

[solar-diablo.livejournal.com]

I ws just thinking of that camel-needle allegory yesterday, listening to a conservative talk radio pundit go on and on about how Bush's obscenely low approval rating in the States was the result of a liberal media campaign out to smear him. Last time I checked, this was the same media that spent weeks, months examining every sordid detail of Clinton's sexual escapades and Hillary bemoaned her every misfortune as the result of a right-wing conspiracy.

Conservative, liberal...both sides are bedfellows with the rich and powerful. Both sides would nod at that verse in affirmation, before hopping into their luxury cars and driving back to their mansions. Both sides are clueless.

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

Some evangelists justify their wealth by preaching that if you are doing God's work and trusting God to take care of you, God will reward you with material wealth.

One way televangelists get money is to shame people into sending it in by saying, "God is waiting to reward you! Use your Seed Faith money to show God you're serious! Send us $1000, and you'll get back $10,000!"

I remember seeing a telethon for one of these TV preachers in which they were praising an old woman for sending "half her social security check, stepping out in faith!"

How these people get away with such scams, how they avoid the tax man, is mind-boggling.

[saskia139.livejournal.com]

The Old Testament and the New Testament are both *so* clear on the pursuit of wealth and the power of wealth being wrongheaded, misguided, and just plain wrong, and yet we don't listen. The Old Testament is also very very clear that exploiting the poor inevitably means exploiting the *land*, and vice versa. There is plenty of support in Christianity for environmentalism as well as socialism, so why are we sitting on our asses?

Love my tradition, hate the institution. Choir starts again on the 18th. *sigh*