Jesus was historical, and inspired too!

iconoclastic

Jesus said something that only our generation could provide an avalanche of proof. He said: “It is easier for a camel to get through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to get into the kingdom of God.” (Mathew 19:24)

Our generation has produced more number of rich people! Look at what they are doing and their attitude.

1) They filled the earth with arms and ammunitions;

2) They polluted the land we reside in, water we drink, and air we breathe—bringing climate change, sea-level rise, increasing number of diseases, natural calamities, wars …

3) They produce processed food and make us pay for eating their (false) food which fills our stomach with wastages and toxins which provide a fertile environment for disease causing organisms to multiply, inviting diseases.

Action and attitude of the rich is that ‘we are determined to create hell for ourselves and others’ (like the one who tries to cut the very branch he sits on). Degree of, or intensity of fulfillment of Jesus’ words is so overwhelming that it even neutralized another verse of Jesus: “Foxes have dens and birds of heaven have roosts, but Son of man has nowhere to lay down his head.” (Mathew 8:20) Look at the way the rich have created concrete jungles with skyscrapers in such a way that sons of men have place everywhere to lay down their head, but foxes and birds have less and less places to lay their heads (deforestation destroys the forest as big as Great Britain in a year)

Mephis

The gulf in wealth inequality in some countries is as bad as it's been since, well, the 1920s and before. Which generation do you mean? The never-ending one since 1914? The generation of 1874? It's absence of records pre-C19th which really hinders anything but educated guesswork prior to then. But I'd suggest a slave in the Roman Empire, a serf in the Middles Ages etc etc. would wonder why Jesus forgot about them if this can only apply in the year 2015.

I'd be a little more convinced if Jesus had predicted climate change as a result of industrialisation. But he forgot that part in his 'signs'. He'd have saved far the lives of far more people if he'd remebered to mention bacteria and viruses to someone too.

Saintbertholdt

Our generation has produced more number of rich people! Look at what they are doing and their attitude.

hmmm... Two of the three richest men on earth will donate ALL of their wealth to charity within ten years of their passing: The first is Bill Gates and the second is Warren Buffet.

1) They filled the earth with arms and ammunitions;

The most prolific weapon of war on earth today is still the AK47. A product of communism.

2) They polluted the land we reside in, water we drink, and air we breathe—bringing climate change, sea-level rise, increasing number of diseases, natural calamities, wars …

Humans are getting more food today than in our entire history:

We're living longer:

I'm bored. You don't read and take in the responses otherwise your arguments would be progressing.

Dude/Dudette, please take some time to thoroughly think about your point of view and post something that will really make us think hard. C'mon man!

Hints: Anthropomorphic climate change. The historicity of Jesus. The wisdom of Jesus with teachings like the golden rule, speeches like the sermon on the mount, the story of Lazarus (where he actually showed some heartfelt emotion) etc. Foxes have Dens doesn't cut it. He was trying to show how different, superior, unique he was. To apply it to the poor is a stretch.

iconoclastic

Mephis

Which generation does not matter, what I said: our generation provides “avalanche of proof” which means other generation too provides proof, but not in the quantity of our generation.

iconoclastic

Saintbertholdt

To see the fulfillment of what Jesus said, I do not have to be a high-profile scholar. Just common sense is enough. I remember seeing a picture published in many news papers during Vietnam War—half of it showing the hapless victims who lost all their properties and became physically disabled, and the other half of the picture showing the bungalow and paradaisic surroundings of the owner of the Dow chemicals that supplied napalm bombs. This shows in most cases one can become materially rich at the expense of other’s suffering, hence rich man is convertible with disregard for others’ wellbeing, hence will have to be in the hell he himself creates for him and others (which means: disregard will never brings joy, hence gives hell, whereas regard and care for others make one feel as if he lives in heaven).

jws

There have always been rich and poor, especially in Jesus's day.

Probably thinking back at those days was even worse. There really wasn't a moral force that tried to equalize everyone, so rich privilege was probably rampant. In today's world, I believe there is a morality being put forth. Not by the Bible, but by stories. Movies, TV, literature, and other forms of communication. These are putting forth ideas like it's not good to be just rich. Think back to things like Citizen Kane. Your life should mean something to make you happy and money alone doesn't do it. I don't think any leader thinks they descend from gods these days. Except, perhaps, in North Korea.

Pure speculation, but I would think in days gone by, the rich were much worse. So I see no reason why the underclass of society would see it as hard for a rich man to be good. This wasn't some divine insight that nobody but a son of god could see. This proves nothing. It would have been common opinion regardless of whether a street preacher said it.

berrygerry

Further to the life expectancy chart above - this is the life expectancy from 1900 to 1998 (including the famed 1914).

http://demog.berkeley.edu/~andrew/1918/figure2.html

The fight against poverty, disease, hunger improves things year by year.

There has NEVER been another period in history for which the average person could be alive.

Not the way WTS predicted.

SecretSlaveClass

Icono:

To me it sounds like you harbor some serious biterness for the wealthy. I'm not a fan of multinational corporations myself but laying all the blame at the feet of the rich is a bit of a stretch. In the end we as a species have caused our own bad situation through our shortcomings. If every humans stopped playing the blame game and accepted their smallest responsibilities our future would look so much brighter.

An example would be: instead of complaining about global pollution, pick up that wrapper we just walked passed instead of making it someone else's problem. Better yet - don't throw down our wrappers because we don't think it's a big deal.

Accepting responsibility for our own actions and attitudes is where changing the world begins.

iconoclastic

SecretSlaveClass

I do not harbor any “serious bitterness for the wealthy.” I have worked under some of the billionairs—one of them was very humane, whereas others were very mean, treating fellow humans as mere objects.

Here the point is not about how I view the wealthy, but why did Jesus say they will not inherit the kingdom of God? I do not think Jesus was expecting us to interpret what he said and to arrive at conclusion just opposite to what he had in mind. He meant what he said, and reason is most of the wealthy fail to treat the fellow humans as fellow humans.

LoveUniHateExams

@Iconoclastic

Your OP is referring to the 0.01% of people who have hereditary wealth, have stolen wealth, have political power, etc.

Some of these do as you described and it's wrong. However, the modern world (at least in the West) allows ordinary people to get ahead through education, hard work, etc. This is good. These people can pay all their bills and have more than enough left over to live a comfortable life. This is something that should be celebrated. Materialism isn't always bad.

Jesus was historical, and inspired too!

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