Premium Essay

Can Christians Have Wealth?

In:

Submitted By stysvaer
Words 867
Pages 4
Can Christians have Wealth?
Scott Tysvaer
Palm Beach Atlantic University
Investments

Matthew 25: 14 – 30 can be interpreted several different ways. It can be viewed differently. Even today, people find different meanings within the same verses. The true meaning of this parable is going to be explored through the eyes of the ancient Jews and of people today. It is going to be analyzed through textual analysis, interpretation, and application. Textual Analysis
An ancient Jew listening to this parable would have interpreted this verse very differently than people today. One reasons is because this was written after the time of Jesus’ return. This story would have had a deeper meaning to the Jews listening to this parable. There was significance to the delay between the time of the master in the parable leaving and returning to the Jesus ascension and His second coming (Barnes, T., 2006). People listening to this parable could have related the master, in this story, to Jesus and the servants to Jesus’ followers (Chamblin, D., 2014).
Another reason an ancient Jew would have viewed this parable differently is because of their view of a talent. A talent during biblical times as would have had a more substantial weight to it than it has today. Modern day people do not realize that a single talent was could have weighed up to 50 pounds. This was not something that could have just been carried around easily in someone’s pocket (Barron, R. 2014). An ancient Jewish reader would have immediately related the word talent with a something of substantial weight (Barron, R. 2014). In the modern era we lose the heavy significance of this word.
Interpretation
There are many different English translations for the parable in Matthew 25: 14 – 30. The NIV version translates the gifts given as bags of gold, but in the ESV translation the gifts are referred to as

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Is It Fair

...EQUALITY – the belief or state that everyone should have equal rights. IDENTITY – the sense of who you are in terms of attitudes, character and personality. INJUSTICE – where everyone is not treated with fairness. PREJUDICE – judging people to be inferior (not as good as) or superior (better than) without cause. How can Religions Protest against Injustice? Prayers Fasting Pressurise Government Organise Campaigns Collect Money Hold Vigils Why do Christians feel it is their job to help the needy? Christians believe God loves the world and all that is in it. Christians believe that we are all God’s creation, so should all be treated equally. Christians follow Jesus’ example – as he mixed with and respected those who were poor and despised by others. Christians think that Jesus can be seen in everyone, so to help them is to help him. Love is a theme in the Bible E.G the Good Samaritan and this quote “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” (John 13:34) Case Study Name - Christian Aid Religion – Christianity Aim – To stop poverty Motivation – See Christian teachings above. Example of Work – Emergency Aid – Christian Aid provided emergency supplies for people fter the Haiti earthquake. Working in partnership – Farmers can apply for loans to start up a new venture EG In Bangladesh a farmer was given a loan to buy some ducks so he can sell them which has enabled him to send his daughter...

Words: 756 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Biology

...President Obama’s Push for Higher Taxes on the Wealthiest Americans Lennie L. Green REL401/Introduction to Christian Principles December 3, 2015 Dr. Danaris M/’Mworia President Obama’s Push for Higher Taxes on the Wealthiest Americans “While we should not be naive about moral agreement, nevertheless, natural moral law theory offers the believer this strategy: he or she should work for a just state; that is, one in which the common good is in keeping with the natural moral law”- J. P. Moreland We live in a pluralistic culture and country. This means we live in a society or situation in which people of different social classes, religions, races, etc., are all together within in a society. Because of the pluralistic society of which we live each of us may have different interest or traditions. (William-Merriam, n.d.) Being different may make it difficult for the leaders in government to make decisions as they try to determine what the government’s responsibilities are or even how to enforce certain agendas and initiatives in terms of the moral treatment of each and every person in our society. It can even be difficult to determine what responsibility belongs to the one who professes to be a Christian. Since becoming the President of the United States, President Obama has made a push for higher taxes to be posed upon the wealthiest Americans...

Words: 845 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Christianity And Poverty Essay

...growth is the primary means to reduce poverty but there are multiple ethical principles that can drive this conversation. Christianity, liberal egalitarianism, Thomas Aquinas’s natural law and unequal development are prime ethical pillars that can inform debates on poverty. Christianity provides interesting insight on poverty and ones attitude regarding those in need. The absence of material goods is the rudimentary definition of poverty. Christians believe that “Humans are created in the image and likeliness of God.” This infers that people...

Words: 530 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Religion and Morality

...what is right, or wrong in their walk as a citizen of the world. As to the choices of being right this essay is referring to the moral equates of truth, respect, and the honor of human life. As to the choices of being wrong references will be made to lies, sin, and the disregard for human life. Looking at the similarities of Islam and Christianity one can find many common ideologies between the two religions. Although there may be some likeness between these two powerhouse religions there are certainly many differences to be discussed. It would be important to note that in the belief of Islam one similarity between Islam and Christianity are that both believe in one God. The Muslim faith is a monotheistic religion and they are very firm in their dedication and commitment to Allah. Christianity, too, is a belief in one God. Monotheistic in principle; however, some differences exist because of a belief in one God in three persons, The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. These three are one, yet separate. For example, an egg is one, however; it has a shell, a yolk, and the white. These three parts make up one egg. Christians believe in one God with three personal traits. In Islam, Fisher (371) gives an account of a new prophet being born, Muhammed. Many Americans are familiar with this prophet because of the encounter the United States of America had with radical Islamist religions on September 11th, 2001. Islam is a religion that consists of more than one and a half billion...

Words: 2033 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

Live For The Eternal Cities Of Rome Analysis

...his armies sacked Rome. This defeat was a momentous event in Rome’s downfall, as it put an end to the “Eternal” Roman Empire. Christian convert and author Augustine wrote City of God, which described his reaction to the fall of Rome and his view of Rome being a corrupted city, when compared to the infinite and eternal City of God. While Augustine believed that the City of God and City of Man were independent of each other, his former pupil, Orosius, believed that the City of God worked within the City of Man. Orosius, although he was taught by Augustine, held a different view than his teacher. Orosius viewed Rome to be an eternal city that was favored by the City of God and he believed that the City of God and City of Man were connected. Augustine's ideas...

Words: 933 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

History at Its Finest

...oppression is stated to be the exercise of authority or power in a burdensome, cruel, or unjust manner. In history there are many benefits to some people when oppressing a group of people to conquer land. For example gaining wealth, food, clothing, and even slaves to help on this land. However conquering land can lead to gory results in many cases. In the document, A Brief Account of the devastation of the Indies by Bartoleme de las Casas he explained how unfair, and unjust it is when land is conquered by someone. Depending on how its afflicted it’s degrading, and traumatizing. When the Spaniards came to settle in Central America in 1493 they ultimately changed the living conditions forever with their total disregard for the lifestyle of the natives by killing the majority of them, enslaving them, and poorly teaching them aspects of Christianity. Taking advantage of innocent Indians the Spaniards came into their land with one goal, which was to gain wealth. Bartolemé de las Casas was a Spanish priest who devoted a lot of his time defending the Indians and their living conditions under the rule of Europeans. For instance Bartoleme de la Casas declared “Their reason for killing and destroying such an infinite number of souls is that the Christians have an ultimate aim, which is to acquire gold, and to swell themselves with riches in a very brief time and thus rise to a high estate disproportionate to their merits”. The Indian people are described as being humble, obedient, and...

Words: 1069 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Protestant Reformation

...the order of the Christian faith and increase the sense of responsibility in true believers. During this period those blessed with wealth had clergy and others connected with the church in their pocket. Sins were forgiven at the right price as many bought their way into gods favor. However those honest and true worshipers such as Martin Luther and John Calvin could see through this charade and shined light on an obvious but hidden truth through their writings, namely Luther, Freedom of a Christian, 95 Theses and Calvin’s selections from Articles Concerning Predestination and On the Necessity of Reforming the Church. The bible is a written guide for a Christ fearing man to follow, however society had forgotten the rules and regulations that is their foundation and it is up to them to restore order. Understandably this ruffled a few feathers as those that identified with abusing their power could see what a threat these men imposed by simply saying to move forward we must look back to simpler life. Martin Luther was a firm believer in his faith and did not take lightly to those who claimed to be Christians but did not understand what it is to actually be a Christian. Luther spells out what faith is by saying, “… people have considered Christian faith an easy thing, and not a few have given it a place among the virtues. They do this because they have not experienced it and have never tasted the great strength there is in faith”(Luther, Freedom of a Christian). He then goes...

Words: 1484 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Different Cultures: The Crusades

...between two different civilizations such as the Christians and Muslims. Christians and Muslims are two groups of people that believed in different gods and have different views about life and the world, mostly on religion. They both wanted control over the Holy Land and this led to multiple Crusades. Christian Crusaders often waged attacks on cities filled with Muslims, but they also got sidetracked by emperors who asked for their help. They would sack others cities taken over by Muslims, like Constantinople, on their way to Jerusalem, the Holy Land, and a lot of the time...

Words: 632 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Influence of Mathematics on Economics

...If you grew up in an environment that says "money is meant to be spent", you'll never have savings" Psalm 66:12 Every year loads of people are joining the millionaires club! God wants to raise you as a person who can make a difference in your world. It is not true that there is money scarcity in the world, rather every year millions of people cross the millionaires threshold. Don't listen to the what ifs and words of distractions around you. You work towards getting blessed first and watch God teach you how to handle it. There are people who lack the right knowledge to make wealth, some Christians will cry and pray for financial breakthroughs but their financial levels never change because they haven't obeyed the laws of wealth making. There are certain laws you must follow to make wealth, if you don't obey them you can't be a millionaire! The law of gravity doesn't respect anointing! 2Timothy 1:7 To be a millionaire you have to overcome the spirit of fear! Things may not always go right at first but don't let that stop you, God hasn't given you the spirit of fear! The secret of success is that there are no secrets! If you do what others have done you will get the results other millionaires have gotten. God is no respecter of person, colour, gender or age. If you believe Him, He'll do greater things in your life. The richest man in Nigeria, Aliko Dangote is not a Christian even...

Words: 1009 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

3rd Crusade Failure

...Bryant Kang Mr. Ryan Humanities 10 5/4/2015 The Third Crusade The Christians in Western Europe and Muslims in the Middle East were in a constant religious battle during the 12th century because the Roman Catholic Church wanted to take control of the holy land, Jerusalem. In order to conquer Jerusalem, the Church initiated crusades, also known as military campaigns or holy wars. The First Crusade was successful as Jerusalem fell under the European control, but not so much for the following crusades. The Second Crusade was a disaster, as Europeans failed to conquer any land from the Muslims. This led to the Third Crusade in which three kings, ‘Richard the Lionheart’ of England, ‘Phillip II Augustus’ of France, and ‘Frederick Barbarossa,’ joined...

Words: 1293 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

Worldview Critical Thinking Paper

...of life can be confusing because Hindus worship many gods and have many sects. However, Hindus all believe in Braham and see him as God. They believe he is impersonal and an impersonal force. (Halverson p.1) Hindus believe that God and the universe are the same. (Weider/Gutierrez p.65) (Hindson/Caner p.265) Hindus believe that all life form is manifested from God. Hindus often worship plants and animals because they are a source of food. “Mankind should not be viewed or valued as superior in species”. (Weider/Gutierrez p.66) “Humans and animals have a similar essence and should be regarded as partnership in search of eternal oneness”. (Weider/Gutierrez p.67) The Hindu religion has four goals in the meaning/purpose of life. Pleasure, wealth, harmony and liberation. The first two consume the individual as it causes evil and suffering. The other two fulfill the individual. True salvation is to abandon the evil desires (pleasure and wealth) and become liberated (moksha). (Hindson/Caner p.263) Hindus believe that they should release all evil desires and egos and therefore they live through spiritual practices. Yoga, mental discipline and good deeds to all life forms. (Hindson/Carner p.264) Hindus believe in karma and by doing good deeds you receive good karma. Hindus believe in reincarnation, which is where you are born again in a new different body. (Merriam-Webster) Life is an illusion and to end the cycle of reincarnation one but eliminate all desires. You can do this by...

Words: 621 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Marketing

...Luke 16:1-16:18 How Much Can God Trust You? Luke 16:1-18 INTRODUCTION After spending the past few weeks studying the Parable of the Loving Father (sometimes called the Prodigal Son), we arrive at chapter 16 to find one of the most unusual parables Jesus ever uttered. Some Bible teachers merely skip over it or ignore it. I call it the parable of the Crooked Manager. It’s a story about an employee who “cooked the books” for his employer. He used dishonest methods to give an accounting of his company’s assets. It reads much like a deposition from the Enron! It’s a parable about money, which shouldn’t be surprising because of the 38 parables Jesus told, 19 of them dealt with handling possessions. Baptism is important, but there are 16 times more verses in the New Testament on handling money than are devoted to baptism. The Lord’s Supper is important, but there are 32 times more Biblical statements about Christian financial management than about the Lord’s Supper. Since Jesus had so much to say about it, we’d better pay attention. I hope you know you can trust God–but when it comes to handling God’s money, how much can he trust you? Keep your Bibles open because we will read each section of scripture as we discuss it. First, we will consider: I. THE PARABLE: THE GOOD EXAMPLE OF A CROOK (1-8) Let’s just read the parable beginning in Luke 16:1: Jesus told his disciples, “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. So he called him...

Words: 4418 - Pages: 18

Premium Essay

The Crusades: Modern Conflict

...The Crusades - Research paper The Crusades, like so much of the modern conflict, were not wholly rational movements that could be explained away by purely economic or territorial ambition or by the clash of rights and interests. They were fueled, on all sides, by myths and passions that were far more effective in getting people to act than any purely political motivation. The medieval holy wars in the Middle East could not be solved by rational treatises or neat territorial solutions. Fundamental passions were involved which touched the identity of Christians, Muslims and Jews and which were sacred to the identity of each. They have not changed very much in the holy wars of today. --Karen Armstrong, Holy War, 1988 Crusades were by far the...

Words: 996 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Abigail vs Jessica

...their fathers.’ Jessica and Abigail both have a variety of different similarities and differences. Both are from wealth obsessed, single parent families that are controlling and manipulative. Their fathers are seen as protagonists throughout both the plays and similarly are both from a Jewish background. This makes the audience prejudge them as inferior characters with possible sinful traits. On the other hand, both are accepted by the remaining characters in which believe in the Christian religion. As well as similar backgrounds and basic character personalities they also portrait the stereotypical Jewish actions towards situations. In Elizabethan times Jews were discriminated and prejudged in the status focused society. They were accused for stealing, adultery and other Christian sins. In the play, both the father-dependent daughters commit the sin of stealing. Abigail steals from the nunnery to retrieve her fathers’ misplaced wealth. ‘Thus father shall I much dissemble…then father here receive thy happiness.” She describes the money as her fathers ‘happiness.’ This indicates that her reason for completing the sin was to fulfill her fathers’ desire. This shows dramatic purpose because it allows the audience to experience the revelation of loyalty between herself and her father Barabas. A Shakespearean audience would interpret this scene as a negative development of Abigail’s character. She is disrespecting the law and the Christian religion. The audience will begin to associate...

Words: 1069 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Christian Ethics Problem Chapter 6

...Christian Ethics Problem Chapter 6 1. From a Christian perspective, why did Marxist communism fail? Answer: Marx did not believe that there should be religion. This doctrine of atheism would force believers into revolt. When you truly love God, no one can change your heart. Plus, the lack of personal property and instead having commutative property is not supported by Christian doctrine. If there were no incentives to do better, no one would want to do better. We have to be selfless. If we do well, we should share our wealth with the poor. The Bible says “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:6, ESV). The forced distribution of wealth antagonizes this. 2. Which is a more Christian form of government, democratic capitalism or democratic socialism? Answer: There should always be a balance of the two, mixed capitalism and some socialism. If the government is given too much power, the opportunity for sin to seep through is too great. We need the government to provide the three basic functions Adam Smith stated. There will always be humans sinning against humans on this earth. For that transgression, there should always be a process to go through. The law given to governments is backed by God, because He gave it to them. However, too much power should not be given to the people in the free market. There should always be someone stepping in on behalf of the wronged to establish...

Words: 565 - Pages: 3