Someone please help me. I try to follow Jesus and his teachings and the Bible. What do the passages below mean?

Why do so many Christians not talk more about helping the poor? And if it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to go to heaven, is it not important to stress not wealth but love?

Why not, for example, buy the least expensive car that suites your needs? A Toyota Corolla will get 4 people around just like a Mercedes will.

There are about 2,100 references to helping the poor in the Bible.

Mathew 19:21
If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven.

Mark 10:21
One thing you lack, go sell everything you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven.

Matthew 6:19
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on Earth.

Matthew 6:24, Luke 16:13
You cannot serve both God and money

1Timothy 6:10
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil

Hebrews 13:5
Keep you lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

Psalm 113:7
“He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ashes.”

Proverbs 19:17
He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and He will reward him for what he has done.”

Thanks,

Teft

These are the sentiments of a very poor and oppressed people.
Not having money or power, they did their best to make lemonade out off their lemons. The attitude toward wealth changed in Christianity as it came into dominance throughout the old Roman footprint. It was once illegal to lend money to another and expect to receive interest on the loan. Earning such a profit was called usury.
We've come a long way.

I'm not sure what you point is. Earing a profit it seems has now made Christianity better? Jesus was, I believe, not anti-capitalist, but anti-unfeeling. We've come a long way because we can now charge interest? Seems like money is what counts anymore.

Give to the poor is mentioned so much in the Bible. Pity we seem to not understand such a simple sentence.

Teft

Long time readers would know that I was being ironic. My apologies to you for the misdirection.

Teft[/quote][/quote]
Long time readers would know that I was being ironic. My apologies to you for the misdirection.[/quote]

I totally am awake now And I like lots of your posts. Keep it up.

Teft

Long time readers would know that I was being ironic. My apologies to you for the misdirection.[/quote]

I totally am awake now And I like lots of your posts. Keep it up.

Teft[/quote][/quote]
I have no intention of letting it down. Thanks

Helping the poor does seem to be a corner stone for the early christian church.

I think Jesus asks his followers to give to the poor because it is an outward sign of the nature of his teachings.

By giving to the poor and helping others the religion gained popular following from the poor. Since the majority of people are not rich, (90% of wealth always seems to end up owned by 10% of the people) the followers grow in number as every poor person helped feels a kinship with those that helped him. Working together with others gains a community and a sence of belonging, and all those people do better and are able to help more people. I think it is natural for some to want to help others and Jesus teachings got those people to join together.



One altruistic person on his own is fool as selfish people will exploit him.

But a group of altruistic people working together do better and they can identify each other because they are part of the same group, this defends them from the selfish individuals.

Of course once the group gets very large, it is open to inflitration by selfish individuals who use the group as cover for their selfish behaviour.

Being generous to the poor, is a good thing. If your faith gives you extra reason to do this, then that is a good thing. But you dont need to be a christian to be generous, just as you can say you are one and still remain selfish.

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