It’s a slippery slope. First they said it was okay in the outside world. Then they said we should tolerate them. Now they’re trying to infiltrate our churches. That’s right.
Rich people.
Don’t get me wrong. I have no problem with rich people, per se, so long as they don’t try to convert us to their money-loving ways. I hear some churches are letting rich people marry other rich people, and without either one having confessed the sin of not selling all their possessions and giving the money to the poor. What is this world coming to?
Enough is enough! I know that our culture loves to celebrate wealthy lifestyles. They parade down the streets in their flamboyant CRVs and Escalades or set up shop in Credit Unions on the Main Streets of our southern Manitoba towns. Why do they insist on pushing their money-loving lifestyles on us? They should keep that sort of thing in the city.
The Bible makes it perfectly clear: it’s one man, one dollar, for life. After all, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of needle than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of Heaven. The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. This isn’t just my interpretation. Scripture is unequivocal on these matters.
Ah, but you might say that I’m taking things out of context or that times have changed. Well, I’m sorry, but the scripture has not changed. It’s not just a few verses here and there. This anti-wealth principle goes all the way back God’s original plan set out in the Garden of Eden, where God established the ideal moneyless lifestyle. There were no banks or stocks or currency. Adam and Eve lived by faith like the lilies of the field and birds of air. There was no accumulation of wealth. Now we’ve perverted God’s ideal, but God’s law against wealth has not changed.
“But I’m not actually rich!” you may object. Oh, really? I’m sick of the Christians continually pushing and testing the boundaries. Why must we try to come as close to sin as possible? Instead we are to flee from it. “So how much money do I have to have before I’m considered rich?” All I can say is if you’re asking that question, you’re probably way over the line.
Friends, it’s time we go back to interpreting scripture plainly and literally. It’s time we were consistent. Sin is sin. We must take the beams from our own eyes.
But who am I kidding?
That’s too much work. Instead we focus on the specks of sawdust in other people’s eyes. Often times, the beams in our eyes are so large that we point out specks of sawdust that don’t even exist. We preach angry sermons and hold rallies to defend our wealthy lifestyles, all the while saying that it’s those “people over there” who are to blame. “Those people” are the problem. Not us. It’s never us. It can’t be. We’re the good ones, right?
So, can you be both Christian and rich? The answer is clear … but no one dares even ask the question.
Next week on the Daily Bonnet, we’ll tackle another fun quandary: Can you be both Christian and own a gun. Good times!