Violating Christian principles and commandments

[Gunnar]

The context is not about literal nations, but people. What are we, as people, doing to do what is discussed in the passage? I believe that most everyone on this forum is in the top 2% of wage earners in the world. If you make 100k, with your spouse or partner, your are in the 1.9% of the world richest people. If you make 50k a year alone your are the same. The device that we are typing on, probably cost us enough to feed a family in a impoverished country for a year or two.

I am certainly blessed and do not do all I can do, not even close. The passage is not about blaming others who have more than us, but about convicting our hearts of those that have much.

I stand convicted.

Great comments, Markk! Thanks!

[Gunnar]

I think this is just one example of a bigger fact. Without exploiting any social infrastructure, and instead relying solely on one’s own skill and effort, one can only get rich by Stone Age standards. You can chip out a good, sharp rock, then maybe kill some animals, scrape their hides, stitch a tent with their sinews, and so on. You’re rich for a Neanderthal. Getting even the most modest wealth by modern standards only happens with immense help from the rest of society, in providing all the many things you need. The idea that anyone is entitled to all that they have because they got it all through their own work or merit is a fantasy.

Another great comment! I wish Trump realized that!

[Kishkumen]

The context is not about literal nations, but people. What are we, as people, doing to do what is discussed in the passage? I believe that most everyone on this forum is in the top 2% of wage earners in the world. If you make 100k, with your spouse or partner, your are in the 1.9% of the world richest people. If you make 50k a year alone your are the same. The device that we are typing on, probably cost us enough to feed a family in an impoverished country for a year or two.

I am certainly blessed and do not do all I can do, not even close. The passage is not about blaming others who have more than us, but about convicting our hearts of those that have much.

I stand convicted.

Good on you for doing something. That makes you a much better person than Trump, who uses charities as another vector of fraud, and Musk, who is the richest man in the world but does almost nothing charitable, certainly nothing anywhere close to Bill Gates, who failed to persuade Musk to do more.

[Philo Sofee]

No, he's advocating the richest man in the world to use his own money to help children rather than to kill them.

Of course! Who can reasonably argue against that?

MAGA, in their own minds.

[Kishkumen]

I want to thank Jersey for collecting some of my favorite New Testament verses, the ones that keep me in the Christian tradition and help me appreciate its beauty, value, and historical importance, even when people identifying as Christian are so disappointing in their clear violation of the teachings of Jesus and Paul. Wonderful work, Jersey! Thank you.

I also want to thank Physics Guy for his lucid, rational explanation of human interdependence and the obligation of those blessed with wealth to care for those less fortunate.

When I first stopped attending the LDS Church, I tried out the CoC. I and an online friend were separately and unbeknownst to each other asked to participate in formative discussion about a new Mormon community. Those discussion quickly dissolved into heated arguments because the leaders of this group were (at the time) besotted with Ayn Rand, whereas I and my friend argued that Rand’s teachings were both unchristian and irrational.

I recall especially an argument centering on Lance Armstrong’s independent greatness in achieving supremacy in cycling. I counter-argued that his efforts were aided by thousands of people across time into his own association, and that he in no way could be thought of as some Randian superperson who did it all alone. The discussion foundered there, and my friend and I were disinvited from future discussions about this movement.

We are all aware by now of the revelations regarding Armstrong and his cheating. I add this not to gloat but to show how this myth of the super-person and their lone greatness is not infrequently a deliberate fraud. Even in a materialist, secular paradigm people crave for the extraordinary, and they will accept illusions and frauds in order to believe. This is also MAGA and MAHA, even though their paradigm is not totally secular. I would argue that they are nevertheless highly material in their posture. Each of them argues that there are secret answers to overcoming secret evils in the material world, and that the right mortal saviors can do this for us.

Anyhow, my friend sadly died a few years ago. One of the discussion leaders for the new Mormon community did come around to emphasizing Christ and attends the CoC, while still investing in the alternate Mormon community.

[Dr. Shades]

This is also MAGA and MAHA, . . .

"MAHA" = ?

[Kishkumen]

This is also MAGA and MAHA, . . .

"MAHA" = ?

RFK, Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again initiative.

[Doctor Steuss]

"MAHA" = ?

RFK, Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again initiative.

One of the divine ironies is that it's also the acronym for microangiopathic hemolytic anemia ("MAHA"), which can be caused from drinking unpasteurized milk (which RFK, and the newest Surgeon General pick, both advocate for).

[Jersey Girl]

I wanted to highlight something from the OP that we haven't talked about here. It's easy to miss it when it's tucked into a lengthy portion of scripture. I'll emphasize it and here it is:

Matthew 25:35 KJV

35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

The current administration and it's leader is made up of people from various faith traditions and likely no faith tradition at all. But it's leader claims Christianity.

Question: Do you see his actions as fitting with the above or not?

[Kishkumen]

One of the divine ironies is that it's also the acronym for microangiopathic hemolytic anemia ("MAHA"), which can be caused from drinking unpasteurized milk (which RFK, and the newest Surgeon General pick, both advocate for).

Wow! Well, the goofy but deadly movement surrounding Trump is rich with abundant ironies.