[Vision2020] FW: In other words . . .

[Art Deco]

Scott writes in part:

  "b) Wayne's suggestion - Put this in context of Mathew 19:24 'And again I
say unto you,it is easier for a camel to go through an eye of a needle,
than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God'
  c) Scott's viewpoint - 'Jesus seems to be saying that in order to be
perfect you need to become destitute by giving away all of your worldly
possessions to the poor which will result in them in temporarily not being
destitute / perfect.'  *I'm guessing there's more to this particular story
that probably puts everything into a much more logical context.**"*

If there is more Scott, please enlighten us by citing where we can find
it.

The issue raised here is about the relative importance of acquiring wealth
versus earning salvation is very clearly focused in the the passage, and
others from Matthew, the first of the Synoptic Gospels, and of which there
is very wide agreement among biblical scholars that Matthew reflects the
most accurate rendition of the [alleged] words of Jesus.  To understand the
further context of this statement, it should be read in conjunction with
Matt 25: 31 - 46 (see below).

Attempts to discredit these words by the wealthy and certain Christian
sects have taken several forms:

The words are a mistranslation.
Jesus never uttered them.
They are not to be taken literally.

Etc.

A few months ago a group of conservative pundits and their wealthy backers
suggested that the bible be rewritten to edit/remove that passage and many
others from both Testaments that have/could be interpreted to be opposed to
the accumulation of wealth or seem tobe supportive of anything that smacks
of socialism.

As a nonbeliever that Jesus uttered something carries no more weight than
anyone else.  Statements are knowledge claims that need to be evaluated on
the basis of current knowledge and frequently call for further
investigation.  It is not clear what kind of investigation relying on
empirical evidence would provide a hint of the truth of the passage at
issue.

[Matt 25: 31- 46]:

31 ‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him,
then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32All the nations will be
gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a
shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33and he will put the sheep at
his right hand and the goats at the left.


34Then the king will say to those at his right hand, “Come, you that are
blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world; 35for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was
thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you
welcomed me, 36I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you
took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” 37Then the righteous
will answer him, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you
food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38And when was it that we
saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? 39And
when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?”

40And the king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to
one of the least of these who are members of my family,* you did it to me.”

41Then he will say to those at his left hand, “You that are accursed,
depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels;
42for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me
nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and
you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.”
44Then they also will answer, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or
thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care
of you?”


45Then he will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to
one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.” 46And these will go
away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.’



-- 
Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)
art.deco.studios at gmail.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20121126/10c03f70/attachment-0001.html>