[21] Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.
[22] But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.
[23] Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.
[24] And again I say unto you, 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.
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I was wondering how you went about selling what you had and given to the poor. Did you need a lawyer and accountant to handle the paperwork? What sort of taxes, if any, did you have to pay? How is your life different since you gave up your possessions?
What pray tell, are you speaking of?
This scripture speaks to the point of that which you treasure above anything else is what will keep you from heaven.
With this young ruler it was his wealth. With others it could be their car, drugs, work, sex, or whatever is more important to them than God.
You need to put more work into understanding scripture, because I am guessing you grabbed a couple of verses to make a point that all Christians should give up their wealth. That is NOT what Jesus was speaking of.
That which keeps you from following Christ is what your treasure is. It is not money that will keep you from heaven, but the LOVE OF MONEY. Or, the love of anything you hold to be much more important than God.
Rich men can and do get to heaven, because that is not where their love is. Did you know that poor people love money more than God? Yes, often times, those with very little money are more in love with wealth than those who have much wealth.
See, Christ said it is much more difficult for those with much wealth to enter into heaven, because many times they will allow the money to run their life, instead of God. Case in point of a couple of rich men who did not allow their wealth to blind them from following Jesus, was Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. Both men were wealthy, but Christ did not tell them the same thing He did to the rich young ruler. That is because their wealth was not what they worshiped.
As the scripture tells us, Joseph was a disciple of Christ but secretive, because he was worried about the Jews finding out. So his problem was the same as Peter had, fear of reprisal for following Christ. Peter denied Christ three times, Joseph followed Jesus in secret. We all have our hangups, but as we learned Peter got over his, and tradition tells us that Joseph of Arimathea also got over his fear of the Jews persecuting him. However, it was not their love of money, nor their possession of much wealth.
The point being, that which you love much, or even are addicted to is what you worship, and that is what you treasure on earth. You could be addicted to money, sex, drugs, work, sports, cloths, the internet, or even video games. What ever you put above God, whatever keeps you from going to Christ is what you hold near and dear.
As for the rich young ruler, Jesus knew his heart. Jesus knew that his wealth is what he worshiped because that is where his heart was. He was a perfect example of a how the love of money is evil. Not money.
To say money is evil, is like saying guns cause death and destruction instead of the evil person using them. Or that SUV’s cause accidents and kill, instead of the driver behind the wheel.
You need to learn how to read the Bible for all it’s worth instead of cherry picking scripture that you think says what you want it to say.
Should you ever have other questions about questionable Scriptures, feel free to ask away, and I will help educate you on the truth.