From Luke 16:1-9...
Jesus told his disciples: "There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. So he called him in and asked him, 'What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.' The manager said to himself, 'What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I'm not strong enough to dig and I'm ashamed to beg--I know what I'll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.' So he called in each one of his master's debtors. He asked the first, 'How much do you owe my master?' 'Eight hundred gallons of olive oil,' he replied. The manager told him, 'Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred.' Then he asked the second, 'And how much do you owe?' 'A thousand bushels of wheat,' he replied. He told him, 'Take your bill and make it eight hundred.' The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shewed in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings."
Anyone care to explain?
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Jesus Promotes Dishonesty?
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8 comments:
I was hoping you could expalin this to me.
I'm not sure what it means, but could I buy you a cup of coffee?
Why don't we make something up, and then use this passage for our proof text. We could claim to be the only true Christians and condemn everyone else who disagrees with us.
Sorry..... I couldn't resist.
Speaking of prooftexting, the context of the passage sheds a little light. Here's what Jesus said in the following verses..."Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly weatlh, who will trust you with true riches?"
In light of that some commentators think that when the man was reducing his master's bills he was forgoing his "commission." Thus, he was leaving his dishonest ways and recouping his master's money by being unselfish about his portion. In that light the reference about "using money to gain friends" is talking about generousity. Makes sense, but it still sounds a little like we're trying to explain something away.
At any rate, two things are clear. Jesus expects us manage our money wisely and he apparently appreciates shrewdness. Which according to the dictionary has two possible definitions--1. characterized by keen awareness, sharp intelligence, and a sense of the practial or 2. cunning practices or tricky. I like to think Jesus was referring to the former.
Garyneat..Isn't it odd that the person who claims to not judge,who loves and accepts all, seems to also be the person who throws out snide,sarcastic remarks at others. If you so badly hate the people who make up the church of Christ, then you should go to a place that does not use His name at all.
Dear Anonymous,
Who said anything about the Church of Christ? Why would you make that assumption?
When did I make all of these claims that you say that I made?
I sincerely appologise if my cynical remarks offended you.
This Blog is a Safe place where people can be open and honest - that is all I was doing.
Please believe me when I tell you : I do not hate anyone - especially those who are members of the Church of Christ. Jesus did not hate the Pharesees even though he had some very harsh words for them.
Gary A.
Russ-
Just a technical question...
How did you format your blog so that comments are all shown with the post? (I would like to do the same, but I'm having problems.)
Justin,
I think they are only that way when you click on the titles of specific postings...whenever you go to the home page it just puts the link for the comments. At any rate I don't remember setting anything up to make it do it.
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