[Drlee]

This is the whole verse:

While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the leper,a 7a woman came to Him with an alabaster jar of expensive perfume, which she poured on His head as He reclined at the table.

8When the disciples saw this, they were indignant and asked, “Why this waste? 9This perfume could have been sold at a high price, and the money given to the poor.”

10Aware of this, Jesus asked, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful deed to Me. 11The poor you will always have with you,b but you will not always have Me. 12By pouring this perfume on Me, she has prepared My body for burial. 13Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached in all the world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.”

Selfish Christians have frequently quoted this to justify not helping the poor. Of course they are wrong but all too human. Fundamentalists of the Prosperity Gospel variety are particularly in love with it. If you read the whole verse you see that this was not at all about giving to the poor but rather about Jesus getting ready to die. And it stands in contrast to Judas' accepting money to deliver Christ into the hands of the authorities.

There is no ambiguity in my mind. Christ's entire message can be summarized like this:

6 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

I doubt that any of us would want our neighbor to walk right past us when we are in need. Imagine the father of a starving child saying to a passerby, "No keep your money. I am unworthy of it. I didn't work for it. If my child is to die it is God's will because Jesus said, "there will always be poor".

Then there is this:

"Even though you did it for the least of these my brothers, you did it for me".

No ambiguity.

Maybe Hindsite would like to go back to the 15th verse of the Bible. Right from the beginning the message is the same:

“If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be.

So Godstud, just keep in mind....There are a lot of bad Christians out there and often they are the loudest. Meanwhile there are many many more who are, everyday, doing what they ought to do without fanfare.

[Rancid]

Selfish Christians have frequently quoted this to justify not helping the poor.

REally people will use this as justification to not be charitable?

[Drlee]

:eek: REally people will use this as justification to not be charitable?

Yes. Hindsite did it in this very thread. Look a few posts back.

I find people who do this pathetic. Sadly they carry the day with people who find Jesus' admonition to help the poor inconvenient.

Here is something I have observed first hand though. The poorer people are the more generous. Why? Perhaps because they know how painful it is to be poor. Perhaps because they recognize just how dependent we all are upon one another.

The thing is that there are a great many Americans who are suffering while working very hard and full time so that we can indulge the very wealthy. Look at Amazon. It was built on minimum wage workers. Only recently did it deign to raise wages a little. And who benefited? Bezos, the owner who is worth, wait for it, $150 billion. And we tolerate this. One man earning more than the entire GDP of Hungary, a European country of 10 million souls. And Amazon has full time employees on food stamps.

And our poor are left to fend for themselves.

[Hindsite]

Yes. Hindsite did it in this very thread. Look a few posts back.

Why do you liberals have to lie so much? I have never said one should refuse to help the poor. I used that verse as Jesus did to point out that there will always be poor among us and we can help them whenever we wish, but there are also other important things that need to be done. Anyway, it is clear that Judas was not that concerned about the poor, since he was stealing from the money purse (John 12:6).

“Why wasn’t this perfume sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” Judas did not say this because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief. As keeper of the money bag, he used to take from what was put into it.
(John 12:5-6)

I find people who do this pathetic. Sadly they carry the day with people who find Jesus' admonition to help the poor inconvenient.

I find it not only pathetic, but also offensive, that liberals resort to lying about others to build themselves up as more credible and virtuous. If you really want to show how virtuous you are, why don't you sell everything you have and give it to the poor? Jesus said that too (Luke 18:22).

On hearing this, Jesus told him, “You still lack one thing: Sell everything you own and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.”

[annatar1914]

Why do you liberals have to lie so much? I have never said one should refuse to help the poor. I used that verse as Jesus did to point out that there will always be poor among us and we can help them whenever we wish, but there are also other important things that need to be done. Anyway, it is clear that Judas was not that concerned about the poor, since he was stealing from the money purse (John 12:6).

“Why wasn’t this perfume sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” Judas did not say this because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief. As keeper of the money bag, he used to take from what was put into it.
(John 12:5-6)


I find it not only pathetic, but also offensive, that liberals resort to lying about others to build themselves up as more credible and virtuous. If you really want to show how virtuous you are, why don't you sell everything you have and give it to the poor? Jesus said that too (Luke 18:22).

On hearing this, Jesus told him, “You still lack one thing: Sell everything you own and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.”

So, if it is good for a Christian to go and sell all they have and have all in common with each other (as Monks still do today, dedicating their lives to God and loving one another), then surely the opposite, seeking wealth and health and material prosperity in this life, would be considered foolish and evil. And so it is, as can be demonstrated from Scripture.

[Drlee]

I have never said one should refuse to help the poor. I used that verse as Jesus did to point out that there will always be poor among us and we can help them whenever we wish, but there are also other important things that need to be done.

That was not Jesus' message.

But tell me sport. What is more important for a Christian than helping the poor?

[Pants-of-dog]

When I was at church the other day, the pastor told me a story about Luther having a few beers with a friend.

Luther said that drinking helped one sleep, and when you sleep, you cannot sin, so drinking is a good thing.

Glug glug!

[annatar1914]

That was not Jesus' message.

But tell me sport. What is more important for a Christian than helping the poor?

Love of God. It's not exclusively ''helping the poor''/love of neighbor, even though God asks us to, because we cannot ''earn'' our way to Heaven, life with God, either.

[Hindsite]

That was not Jesus' message.

But tell me sport. What is more important for a Christian than helping the poor?

Helping Jesus.

HalleluYah

[Godstud]

WTF does Jesus need help with... holding the nails?

[Hindsite]

WTF does Jesus need help with... holding the nails?

Spreading His gospel.

[Godstud]

If your God is a god, then it doesn't need the help of stupid puny mortals that it made, to do that. Your god isn't as all-powerful or omniscient, as you think, it seems.

That's not a justification to ignore poverty, either. It's an excuse.

[Drlee]

Helping Jesus.

To do what? You said spreading the Gospel. That is not what Jesus said to do first.

What did Jesus say the greatest commandment was? And the second?

Just for the record. Did Jesus command his followers to feed the hungry, heal the sick.......etc?

[Hindsite]

:lol: If your God is a god, then it doesn't need the help of stupid puny mortals that it made, to do that. Your god isn't as all-powerful or omniscient, as you think, it seems.

It is not a matter of what God needs or does not need. It is a matter of what Jesus wants his believers to do.

That's not a justification to ignore poverty, either. It's an excuse.

I am not trying to justify ignoring poverty or wealth.

To do what? You said spreading the Gospel. That is not what Jesus said to do first.

What did Jesus say the greatest commandment was? And the second?

Just for the record. Did Jesus command his followers to feed the hungry, heal the sick.......etc?

The Following is the last commandment to his followers:

Later as they were eating, Jesus appeared to the eleven and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
(Mark 16:14-16)

Praise the Lord.

[Suntzu]

They all believe their god is the real god.

[MrWonderful]

The poor where? The poor get poorer all over the world.

You have absolutely NO IDEA whereof you speak.
NO IDEA whatsoever.

The "poor" in America generally live as well as the middle class anywhere else in the world.
Why else is everyone trying to come here, many as college students, after which they remain and bring all the relatives they can.

[Godstud]

Ah, I can see @MrWonderful has never actually travelled, or he'd know this isn't true. Another know-it-all American.

[Red_Army]

You have absolutely NO IDEA whereof you speak.

Prove it, pointdexter.

[MrWonderful]

Ah, I can see @MrWonderful has never actually travelled, or he'd know this isn't true. Another know-it-all American.

Your ad hominem attack on me exposes your own pettiness and ignorance as well.

You need to grow up.

I have toured Europe many, many times, walked on the Great Wall of China, the Berlin Wall at Checkpoint Charlie, and climbed the gate at Chateau Versailles after it closed.

As to the "poor" of America:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2013/06/01/astonishing-numbers-americas-poor-still-live-better-than-most-of-the-rest-of-humanity/#499dc9d554ef

[MrWonderful]

https://veeroesquotes.com/lion-quotes-inspirational/