Bit of Clarity - RICH
Mat 19:24
And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
I'll skip ALL the historical problems with your answer, and just get right to the intent of the scripture.
Jesus:
Jesus was NOT having an economic debate, or creating economic policies.
He was making only a VAGUE statement about financial status in order to make a CLEAR statement about morals - that if you have a lot of money, you will probably care more about the money than about God.
His statement was NOT about economic theory, or economic policy... he wasn't talking about economics at all... he was explaining a moral issue.
Socialism:
1. If you want to use the word "rich" in a biblical context, to explain only MORAL ISSUES about GETTING INTO HEAVEN... then you can be VAGUE about the definition of rich... just like Jesus... because the FOCUS here is on MORALITY and SPIRITUALITY, and NOT ECONOMICS.
(Though from an historical context, it's very likely that a specific definition was actually implied... so I'm not positive you can even get off the hook from this angle.)
2. If you want to use the word "rich" in discussing economic theory, and economic policies, then you will, by definition, have to DEFINE THE THING YOU'RE DISCUSSING, because you ARE talking about economics.
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