Rather Challenging? THAT gets the award for understatement of the week, Scott.

When I’m feeling sarcastic, I wonder how many fundamentalist biblical literalists have followed the directive of this text? I don’t see Rick Warren preaching to his congregation that they should follow this command literally.

And yet, I agree, this IS the fundamental of Christianity. Agape Love.

I recently wrote a blog saying is it immoral not to have Single Payer as part of the discussion for health care reform. And the main point was how can we the richest nation in the history of humanity have over 40 million of our citizens without health care? Isn’t that a moral failure. ‘Sell all you have and give it to the poor’ is very far away, most aren’t even willing to share a little with the poor (sharing by the way that would enrich them as well long term).

When we get past the sparring, all religions are at present facing the same problem; which is all faiths are losing people. People in all faiths seem to be moving away from faith. As a reaction to this some people in all faiths are becoming very ‘conservative’ (I prefer the term dogmatic) as a way that they see to hang on to something very strong. There are many reasons proposed for why this exodus is taking place…..we live in a materialistic world etc. But the real reason is that religious people aren’t just not following their faiths most important principles, they are actually doing almost the opposite. The core in Islam is Submission to the Creator. Charity is very strongly encouraged as is spending for community. But Muslims in general too also fall very short of their goals.

Another view of giving is not that of an act of love or charity, but giving up the pretense that we need anything. The transformation, or cleaning up, of an inauthentic view of God’s world.

The freedom provided by this example of the “rich” people of the world giving up the notion of riches would truly free the poor of their burden.

The idea that we continually acquire out of need, including the need to give as an expression of love, is contrary to the world that God has provided for us. All is provided for us, including love.

Interestingly, Jesus counsels the young rich man to “sell” everything, and give it to the poor. To his disciples, he asked only that they leave it.

The core of Christianity is a relationship with God, that is, surrender to His will according to the example of Jesus Christ. Possessions that are more important than this relationship are a diversion. Concentrate on the relationship. Love and freedom are more an endeavor than an activity and much more than possessions. Everything belongs to God, including our lives. How can we give anything away?

People must realize that attaining this kind of love is not natural and cannot be attained without the love of Christ/God operating at the forefront within one and even then, we still run into situations and people and have conflict with ourselves still experiencing this type of selfless love.

However, when we do find that we are having difficulty loving the way God has called us or even letting go of things, we must acknowledge that our feelings are not how God desires our hearts to be fixed and just do the right thing regardless of how we feel and just pray to God to fix our hearts to be willing and desiring to be as He sees things towards all who cross our paths and in all situations. Most of the time what we feel in our hearts isn’t good and right but we must be willing to examine what is in our hearts with what The Word of God teaches us because it is more likely that we are struggling with doing what God says to do than anything else in most situations in our lives and this world.

What is always mind boggling is when people say that they are reacting based upon the mind-set of being a Christian but are still so out of alignment with God’s word, justifying their every ungodly thought. In cases such as these, what can one do except just turn these people when they cross your path over to God if they can’t or refuse to see and cease becoming so worked up over these type people. This is what I am attempting to master.

To/ Steve SteinkerchnCan OP,
Can you please clarify something - The original question “What must I do…” has the answer ‘Love for the Poor’.
Is, ‘Love for the Poor’ the answer to the original question about Eternal Life - am I understanding this correctly?
And if that is the answer, then does giving to the poor, become merely a vehicle for one’s eternal salvation?

I am not Christian, I did graduate from SLU, and count the Jesuits among the greatest teachers and thinkers, that I have encountered.

I find the original question “What must I do…” something, that Never crosses my mind.
My family always taught us that charity and caring for others, was ‘a given’.
But - there was never a corollary between charity/giving and Eternal Life.
Personally, I would find this corollary very offensive.

Can you delve a bit deeper, and explain your original conclusion.
Thank you.

Scott, Love that transcends a sense of justice. That seems to be the key element of mature Spirituality. Peace, Ed

Love is. We transcend to its presence.

cynthia siegel neal,

“What must I do to inherit eternal life?” His response at first is rather prosaic, citing the Ten Commandments in a sort of “Golden Rule” way, but then he is pressed and replies, “Sell all that you have, give it to the poor, and then come follow me.”

In that scripture it was only what Jesus was telling that particular man that he must do to have eternal life. In that story, this particular man followed from what we can gather, the Ten Commandments” to a tee. He was rich and Jesus saw that this man’s wealth (money) was really what he worshipped and loved more than God, so Jesus told this man that in order for him to have eternal life, he would need to sell all his possessions and give it to the poor in order to have eternal life. Well, Jesus knew who this man’s God was because the man walked away choosing his wealth over Jesus/God.

So the moral to the story for all us Christians is, if there is anything in our lives that we cherish or love more than we do Christ, which is to be reflected by our behavior as the only requirement for being accepted by Him as belonging to Him, we are to love others as He did. This story shows us that if we do not strive daily to perfect this type of love within our own lives no matter how good we see ourselves being, we will not have eternal life and be accepted by Christ as one of His.

In this story, after the man walked off, Jesus told everyone, “…, I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God.”

This also warns Christians and others of the strong power money have over human beings and that we must be careful not to allow it to become our god because that is the norm as Jesus is telling us.

To/ D.Walker,
Thank you soooo much for the very informative answer to my question.
You were clear and concise and that really helps when one is discussing issues of faith. Your answer made compleat sense.

I have the New Testament, can you give me the scripture passage information.I would like to read more.

As I wrote before the question of Eternal Life, is not one that I really ever consider.I find this whole discussion very interesting.
Perhaps Father Steve will give us his thoughts as well.

Again, than you for taking the time to write and for such a well thought out answer.