'Jesus said to the rich young man,

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‘Jesus said to the rich young man, “Go, sell all that you have and give I to the poor. Then come and follow me.” In the light of this, Christians in the First World cannot justify their wealth.’

Do you agree? Give reasons to support your answer and show that you have thought about different points of view.

c) God could have created the world in such a way that resources would be distributed to each according to his need. He chose not to do that. He distributed resources, and allows us to develop and redistribute resources, in such a fashion that some have much more than they need, and some have much less. It cannot be denied that resources, and also the opportunity to access resources, are far from being equitably available to all. Either God is unfair, or God does not care, or else there is a purpose to this scenario of disparate resources. The purpose is actually quite obvious, and leaps to mind as soon as we pause to ponder the subject. God intends for us to derive the spiritual benefit which comes from sharing with each other, providing for each other's needs. We are to live as family, and care for each other as family. In case of the First and Third World this balance is not achieved, but does this mean that every Christian should curse their own wealth and prosperity, and dedicate every financial asset to the poor and needy? Theoretically, this may sound a valid idea, but practically, it is nieve and implausible.

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There is nothing wrong with the rich, or with riches, as long as they do not put those things before God. The rich are the ones who give to charities and support the building fund. We need the rich as part of the body of Christ. Everyone has a different calling, and the calling of the rich is to support charities. There are two huge fallacies here. We'll start with the merely absurd, and move from there to the flagrantly wrong. The absurd assumption is that there is some sort of a natural connection between spending money on personal luxuries, ...

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