Can you be both rich and a good Christian?

Question

"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

Answer 1

Both yes and no...

Yes you can, but it depends on how you regard your wealth and what you do with it.

Mark 10:17-22 talks about a man whose wealth was more important to him than following Jesus... Rich or poor where do you place possessions on your list of priorities?

If it came down to it, would you sell EVERYTHING to follow Jesus?

Are you using your wealth to further His kingdom or just using it to gather more wealth for yourself?

Answer 2

It is believed that this quote is a translation error.

There is a view that the 'eye of the needle' is an archway where a camel had to stoop to get through. However, it's been shown that this view was started in the 15th Century (some say 9th Century, although there is less evidence supporting this). This is absolutely no evidence to support this view, and those who have researched it tend to discount it. Also, it doesn't make great sense. If all the camel has to do is stoop slightly, then it's not that much harder for the rich to get into heaven than it is for the poor - to me, this seems to go against the gist of the message.

The view I agree with, is the translation error I previously mentioned. The bible was translated from the Greek, and kamilos and kamêlos are similar words. One means camel and the other means rope. So, I believe this phrase should read 'it is easier for a rope to go through the eye of a needle...' which is clearly the better phrase. It also makes more sense - there is no reason to believe the rich can't get into heaven (and you could not get a camel through the eye of a needle), but it is that much harder (and a rope through a needle would be hard indeed).

There are of course other views, but this is the one that makes most sense to me. Of course, I should point out that I'm an atheist and maybe it's all about faith. But I still stand by my answer.

Answer 3

Being a good Christian isn't a matter of whether you are rich or poor, it's a change of heart that involves every part of your life and your outlook.

Having said that, I can't just ignore or explain away Jesus' words by saying that the amount of wealth you have doesn't matter. The quote you mention is clear and unequivocal, I feel.

However, if you look again at this passage in context, His disciples' response to this statement was
"How, then, can any man be saved?"
To which His response was
"With man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

My own belief in this respect is that if anyone truly follows Jesus whole-heartedly, they will never reach the stage where they could be considered 'wealthy' because as quickly as they received money, they would be using it to do good works and help others.

Answer 4

The quote you're using is a little misleading. At the time, one of the gates into Jerusalem was called "The Eye of the Needle." It was a smaller gate, and a camel had to duck its head to get through, but it was possible. So He meant that a rich man may have to work a little harder to reach heaven, but it could still be done.

Answer 5

I think people miss the point entirely. I'll connect the dots so that people can follow what I'm saying.
Very few people get rich by accident. To get rich you have to want to be rich.

To desire to be rich is to wish for much more than you actually need.(No one actually needs a mansion or a luxury car a 5 bedroom yaught or anything that is associated with being rich.)

To desire for more than you need is to be greedy.

Greed is quite clearly falls in the "Bad Christian."

If one person is rich, his wealth can be used for things like food for the poor or shelter for the homeless, and when you have the ability to things like that, wearing a $10,000 ring just doesn't seem like the Christian thing to do.

What do you Christians honestly think Christ would have done with a huge fortune if he had come across it in his life time?

Answer 6

But there are a few of these rich Christians in the Bible. It was a rich believer who used his influence and affluence to bury Jesus. Wealthy believers allowed their homes to be used as house churches and used their assets to help others (e.g. Dorcas). If you are wealthy and have the spiritual gift of giving, then your wealth becomes an asset rather than a liability. In short: wealth can be an obstacle, but not an insurmountable one!

Answer 7

That verse means you can't buy your way into heaven. There is nothing wrong with being rich. It's what you do with it that counts.
Many rich people use their money to create jobs for others, feed the hungry, support schools, build churches, etc. On the other, you have the "Hollywood" rich. Nuff said.

Answer 8

It is quite easy to be a rich person and a "good christian".

It is also possible to be rich and a good human being, without all the religion stuff.

Answer 9

The saying goes, the more you have the less you need God. If your rich and live simply, then yes indeed, thats a good christian.

Answer 10

But with God all things are possible. Use your riches for God's work, set up a scholarship fund for poor students, feed the hungry, house the homeless, heal the sick.