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One of my favorite passages from the New Testament is this:

  Matthew 19:16-30 New International Version (NIV)[1]
  
  The Rich and the Kingdom of God

  16 Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing
  must I do to get eternal life?”

  17 “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One
  who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”

  18 “Which ones?” he inquired.

  Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you
  shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, 

  19 honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”

  20 “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”

  21 Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and
  give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow
  me.”

  22 When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great
  wealth.

  23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for
  someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. 

  24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of 
  a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

  25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked,
  “Who then can be saved?”

  26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God
  all things are possible.”

  27 Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then
  will there be for us?”

  28 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when
  the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will
  also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 

  29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother 
  or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as
  much and will inherit eternal life. 

  30 But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.

This is what comes to my mind each time when I hear about people, who call themselves Christians and their love for property.

[1]: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+19%3A16...



There are numerous rich disciples of Jesus. It is not clear that all of them gave away all of their wealth.

You are correct that love of money and possessions is crucial concern as a Christian, and that Christians are taught to rely on the Lord for their day to day needs.

But ultimately it is the heart attitude towards money. Money is a resource like any other resource, such as time or people. You can be idolatrous about any resource, including money, but it isn't having the resource that is bad.

Anyone who is a true follower of Jesus would be willing to lose their wealth for his sake if necessary (just as it might be leaving family for the sake of being a Christian), but just having wealth isn't the problem.


Jesus words are very clear here and leave no place for doubt. Therefore all of those, who followed him, must have given up on material property, which makes sense, if one accepts the idea, that "Money corrupts."


This also says that you should leave your family. Do you think of this when you hear about people who call themselves Christians but love their family?


Absolutely. And it does not hold true only for Christians. Christianity is just an expression of deep, basic virtues, that are valid for human being at a whole.

Now, ask yourself:

Do you need to abandon your family in order to leave it behind?

Will you lose love to your family, if you free yourself from the bounds of it?

Was his mother at his side, when he died?

Was Jesus was aware of kin-keyness?

Mankind's history is full with corruption by the family, the "folks", and similar peer pressures. One mustn't go the spiritual way: Just check out "Romeo and Juliet" vs. the two "Houses".

Though, I must admit, that I do not find this forum (or any internet forum at all) to be the right place to go deeper into such topics ;-)


How do you leave your children behind without abandoning them?




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