Re: The Condition of the Church in the UK vs USA

In article <479A4B35.1080201@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Quasin <quasin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Since when is a million pounds more than any normal person can spend?
Financial planners around here say a middle class couple need more than
that in invested savings just to live an unimpressive version of middle
class life through old age, and that's with nothing extra on hand to
cover glitches like uninsured medical expenses, lawsuits, kids needing
to be bailed out of trouble.

I don't have any problem with people who happen to earn a lot of money
and who give a generous share of it enjoying the rest even if "the rest"
is more than I'd know how to spend. Christianity isn't about seeking
wealth but neither is it about seeking poverty.

As i understand it, Jesus means his followers to be totally indifferent
to the things of this world.

From Matthew 6:
24 "No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the
other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God
and mammon.
25 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will
eat (or drink), or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more
than food and the body more than clothing?
26 Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather
nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you
more important than they?
27 Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span? 17
28 Why are you anxious about clothes? Learn from the way the wild
flowers grow. They do not work or spin.
29 But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed
like one of them.
30 If God so clothes the grass of the field, which grows today and is
thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you, O
you of little faith?
31 So do not worry and say, 'What are we to eat?' or 'What are we to
drink?' or 'What are we to wear?'
32 All these things the pagans seek. Your heavenly Father knows that you
need them all.
33 But seek first the kingdom (of God) and his righteousness, 19 and all
these things will be given you besides.
34 Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself.
Sufficient for a day is its own evil.

In the light of the last verse especially, it seems to me that we Xians
cannot have any truck with financial planners but must rather live life
as it comes, relying on God's providence. If we do otherwise, we are
serving mammon and not God.
.

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