From BibleGateway.com.
James 5:1-6
1 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you.
2 Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten.
3 Your gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure!
4 Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you; and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.
5 You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.
6 You have condemned and put to death the righteous man; he does not resist you.
People who have money need to make sure it is not their God. Our riches will pass away and you can't take it with you. People who make their money off the sweat of other peoples' backs need to make sure they deal justly with them. As we know many have made their way to riches and power through many unjust means and God is promising to deal justly with them. Even as a country we must be aware of some of our history and even in our dealings now. At the same time we need to look at countries that are totally run by brutes and deal with them in a better way, even with the realities of their behavior and our needs. Of course, many of those countries consistently vote against us in the UN. One of the great things about our country is that we strive to improve how we deal with others.
Posted by Tim at January 31, 2005 10:44 PMTim, I'm really unschooled in a lot of this, and an agnostic to boot, so I hope I don't sound too pretentious, but one of my favorite parables is Luke 16:1 - 9, the so-called "Parable of the Shrewd Manager." It's such an odd, puzzling story and probably a lot of Christians at the time it was written and, even nowadays, are perplexed by it.
I believe the most common interpretation is that a person should use their money wisely or in a good Christian way in an anticipation of a time when money is no longer of value, i.e., Heaven. For example with all Bill Gates's billions, he apparently donates much, much money to worthy causes helping the less fortunate of the world.
Not sure how good a translation this is, but here's a link: http://bible.gospelcom.net/passage/?search=Luke%2016.1-9&version=51;
Posted by: Tom at February 2, 2005 07:40 AMTom, I'll take a look at that reference tonight. Thanks!
Posted by: Tim at February 2, 2005 09:04 AM
