Christianity and Capitalism

People, in this nation, who consider themselves to be both Capitalists and Christians are only Capitalists.

Mark 10:21-22   Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, "You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

Luke 12:16-21   Then he told them a parable: "The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, 'What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?' Then he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, 'Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God."

And my personal favorite:

Matthew 19:24    Jesus said "Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God."

Think happy thoughts.

And enjoy your Sunday.

Link:  9 Jesus Quotes About The Poor

Day of rest

Okay, it's the first Sunday of "the blog" and a couple things come to mind.

First, why don't people remember this part of the Bible:

Mat 6:6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

And if they did, why would they need so many bloody federal and state laws, declaring their need to pray in public? Some knucklehead here in Missouri just wasted the time of the legislators and so, the tax paying public, passing a law for just such nonsense.

Just wait, in a few years there will be Muslims and other religions, demanding the right to this prayer in public and people will be climbing off this little pedestal really quickly.

Then, two, this next one:

Mat 6:7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen [do]: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

This one always makes me think the Catholics took this right out of their book. There's NO WAY this could be in their bible. Holy cow, week after week those people say the same things. They show up, do their sitting, kneeling and standing, say the same prayers and punch out. All that matters is that they show up and go through the motions. (I should know, I was raised in this group).

I've come to think that Catholics, of all the religions, did heaven, hell, fund-raising and church attendance best, from a business standpoint. It's perfect. If you have rules, threatening members of the church with hell, for pity's sake, if they don't attend--right there, you've got great attendance. Those people HAVE to show, every week. That, in turn, is good for the collection plate. It's church-sanctioned extortion, plain and simple. And it's blessed by what's supposed to be the most sacred institutions in the world: your very own religion and government.

I tell you, it's the perfect business. You almost have no product at all and you've got people giving you money. How else do you build a place as big and beautiful as the Vatican?

Want a good read on religion? Get Robert N. Minor, Ph.D.'s book: "When Religion is an Addiction". Search for it at Target's website. Amazon.com has it, too, of course.

On a last, more immediate, completely different topic: Note that today it was 88 degrees in San Antonio, Texas, ladies and gentlemen and they call for the same tomorrow. This on February 24. That is extremely early for this warm a temperature, I can tell you. And they've had very little rain for the last 5 months. Global warming or no, that's not a good harbinger for the coming Spring and Summer. Food for thought.

Let's have a good week, campers.