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Did Jesus Really Say You Won't Get Into Heaven If You're Rich?

By: Kalinda Rose Stevenson, PhD..

On the matter of Jesus and money, there are three types of people in the world.

1. Some people don't know what Jesus said about money and they have no interest in finding out.

2. People who care profoundly about what Jesus said about money and do their best to be obedient to those words.

3. The people who know what Jesus said about money-or at least they think they know-and wish they didn't.

If you want an example of the third type of person, consider the statement I overheard at a seminar about becoming a millionaire. As I was going back to my seat after a break, I passed by a man who was asking the speaker a question. He said: "How can you say it is good to be rich. Jesus said that a rich man can't get into Heaven."

My candidate for the Bible verse most likely to convince people that they have to choose between riches and salvation is the comment by Jesus about a rich man and the Kingdom of Heaven. Of all of the words of Jesus about money, this is the one that is most misinterpreted.

The distressed questioner had misquoted the verse itself. Jesus did not say that a rich man can't get into Heaven. In the three biblical versions of the story, Jesus made a statement about a rich man entering the Kingdom of God or Kingdom of Heaven. By identifying the "Kingdom of Heaven" with "Heaven," the questioner had significantly missed an important point.

The Kingdom of Heaven concerns the economic reality of people alive on planet Earth. The Kingdom of Heaven is not the same as Heaven.

What is the best way to liberate people from such misunderstanding? The only way is to put the words of Jesus into context. What did the words mean in the context of the story? And what did the story mean in the context of the economic system?

If you don't put these words into context, you can spend a lifetime feeling guilty about wanting to have money. This seemed to be what happened to the man at the seminar. The first reason for his inner conflict was that he didn't even have the words right. He was stuck in the "Eye of the Needle" about money because he had missed the real point of the story.

Jesus told the story as part of his condemnation of an unjust economic system. He was not glorifying poverty. He did not say that the rich cannot get into Heaven.

Article Source: http://ezine-articles-planet.com

What if most of what you were taught about Jesus and money is not biblical? Don't let misinterpreted words of Jesus prevent you from living an abundant life.
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