The problem of being rich

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TheLearner

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#41
What are you referring to when speaking of blindness?

My point was simply that some people, even those in the Bible, were/are financially blessed, and that it was God who chose to give them that blessing, as directly stated in the Bible.

What they do with the blessing, of course, is their own choice, whether for the Kingdom or not.
Isaac went blind.
 

TheLearner

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#42
Gen 26:1 NCV
Isaac Lies to Abimelech26 Now there was a time of hunger in the land, besides the time of hunger that happened during Abraham’s life. So Isaac went to the town of Gerar to see Abimelech king of the P…
 

TheLearner

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#43
I don't think you understand what exactly I was stating in my reply as I was saying that this member will have his riches in heaven. The verses you provided say nothing at all about treasure in heaven but only pertain to the pursuit of worldly gains.
That is the point of the topic. Not riches in heaven.
 

seoulsearch

OutWrite Trouble
May 23, 2009
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#44
Genesis 27:1 -- "When Isaac was old and going blind..."

Isaac's blindness seems to be associated with the normal aging process, and not that fact that God had blessed him materially.
 

TheLearner

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#45
Two things I ask of you; deny them not to me before I die: Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the LORD?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God. (Prov. 30:7–9)

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. . . . No one can serve two masters, for 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. (Matt. 6:19–24)


Mark 10:17–25
17 And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” 20 And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” 21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22 Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

23 And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” 24 And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
 

TheLearner

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#46
Luke 12:13–15
13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” 14 But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” 15 And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, “What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?” And he said, “I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’” But God said to him, “Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. (Luke 12:16–21)


1 Timothy 6:6–8
6 But godliness with contentment is great gain, 7 for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. 8 But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.

But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. (1 Tim. 6:9–11)
 

TheLearner

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#47
“Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you’” (Heb. 13:5).

“You cannot serve both God and money” (Matt 6:24).
 

TheLearner

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#48
Concerning the one who went blind from age. Why do prosperity preachers age? If one can change reality by confession, then it makes sense to role back the clock to a heather age in one's life.

Also, it was only a handful of people who where in the line of Christ that God blessed in that way. Most people where not blessed and cursed in such a way.

The key point is such is a rarity, not the norm.
 

TheLearner

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#49
I was wrong a key point should be laying up treasures in heaven not on earth.

I am dealing with always being tired again. Sorry abotu that.
 

cv5

Well-known member
Nov 20, 2018
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#52
I always find threads with warnings to the rich to be interesting, because "the rich" are always painted as being "those other people", and not us.

Many of the most famous men in Scripture (Abraham, Isaac, David, Solomon, Joseph of Arimathea, etc.) were not poor, and the Bible says that it was God Himself who gave them their riches, so apparently He knew that they would be able to handle them.

I often wonder, "Who, exactly, are the rich?"

This 2018 article from The Washington Post states that:

" ... Even the developed world's poor and middle classes are, by global standards, extraordinarily rich. After adjusting for cost-of-living differences, a typical American still earns an income that is 10 times the income received by a typical person in the world."


(https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-matter/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.4f932ffbd6e1)


I often see articles written as warnings of "Woe to the Rich!"

But what if God is pointing His finger at us and telling us that we are the very rich people that we think need to be warned?
The matter at hand is where your true satisfaction lies, your true priorities, your true love. Jesus was quite clear on the matter in Matt 6:24. To those who have the aforementioned properly ordered, the problem of wealth is of no concern, as the wealth itself is of no concern.

The unsaved wealthy never have enough, or find the utmost satisfaction in what they have. Christians don't give a hoot about this present age that is perishing. Why? They know better.
 

Lanolin

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Dec 15, 2018
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#53
Abraham, though wealthy, didnt have a true heir until sarah gave birth to Isaac.
So even though he was wealthy, it meant nothing to him if he couldnt give it to his children.

Isaac directly inherited the blessing.

David, cos he replaced saul as King became wealthy, but his covetous and lust led to his downfall. He already had several wives yet still went after Bathsheba. And he was idle rich. He stole from the poor man as Nathan pointed out.

Solomon then inherited the throne and then of course, his material wealth and extravangant indulgence was his downfall too as shown in ecclesiastes, it was all vanity, the entire kingdom ended up splitting in two and not only that, the taxes required to upkeep the temple crippled the nation.

If one does have wealth, God requires that you give it away, Joseph of arimetha was generous he gave a poor man Jesus his tomb. He didnt keep it for himself.
 

Lanolin

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Dec 15, 2018
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#54
Sometimes God may test us or have us go through trials like Job.
Did Job really love God or was it just the wealth he got from God who had blessed him. So satan took everything away, to see what would happen, would Job end up cursing God just cos his circumstances changed?

Job was incredibly wealthy its listed how many children and cattle, and other abundance he had, more wealthy than anyone else living at the time. He was like the Bill Gates of his day.
 
Apr 3, 2019
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#55
(James 5:1 Come now, you rich! Weep and cry aloud over the miseries that are coming on you.)
 

posthuman

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Jul 31, 2013
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#58
What about you? Do you think Jesus was materially poor, when he was preaching during the 4 Gospels?
who is poor that they can turn water into wine and stones into bread?