CNN: Passions over 'prosperity gospel': Was Jesus wealthy?

[Destino]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/wayof...sus/index.html

Each Christmas, Christians tell stories about the poor baby Jesus born in a lowly manger because there was no room in the inn.

But the Rev. C. Thomas Anderson, senior pastor of the Living Word Bible Church in Mesa, Arizona, preaches a version of the Christmas story that says baby Jesus wasn't so poor after all.

Anderson says Jesus couldn't have been poor because he received lucrative gifts -- gold, frankincense and myrrh -- at birth. Jesus had to be wealthy because the Roman soldiers who crucified him gambled for his expensive undergarments. Even Jesus' parents, Mary and Joseph, lived and traveled in style, he says.

Here is my favorite part:
"Anderson says Jesus never would have had disciples or a large following if he was poor. He would not have been able to command their respect"

Got to love the prosperity gospel. If you don't have money then well, God doesn't like you.

[Larry]

Here is my favorite part:
"Anderson says Jesus never would have had disciples or a large following if he was poor. He would not have been able to command their respect"

Got to love the prosperity gospel. If you don't have money then well, God doesn't like you.

I would observe that your "favorite part" says absolutely nothing about whether God likes you. It's an observation about the kinds of things that people respect.

(Although I suspect that I share your opinion on this "prosperity gospel". I'm not disagreeing with your opinion. Just pointing out that your post doesn't support it.)

[GhostofSparta]

First of all, Jesus was born in a manger in Bethlehem because his father had to travel from his perfectly good home in Nazareth for a government census issue by Augustus. (Supresses every urge to rant about stupid governmental ideas that seemed good at the time).

Next, Jesus' father Joseph was a carpenter. While I doubt this made them rich, they certainly wouldn't have been destitute, and Jesus did grow up learning his father's trade to use later in life.

Finally, Jesus had at least 12 followers at all times, and that doesn't even include people who would join him for a while before heading out on their own. When you have 13 people doing everything together, it wouldn't be the worst idea in the world to pool any money you might have/make and have 1 person in charge of it all.

[twa]

Name it and Claim it brother....Daddy needs a new Benz.

Whatever floats his boat....or I guess yacht

[boobiemiles]

Of course Jesus had money. His father was a carpenter for Christ sake. We are talking about a time when you had to be born into a profession. If Jesus was making the same hourly wage as some carpenters, he was paid. Plus the only violent act Jesus committed was turning over the money trays in the Temple of David during pass over. Jesus was well read as well. And when he died, they didn't leave him on the cross to get pecked at by crows and vultures, instead they put him in a tomb. Tombs were for weathly people. I say it now, and I say it again, Christanity has it all wrong. Jesus would speak out against the religion in his honor. Jesus was a nostic. Christanity does not emphasize the ideas of nostism. How many people dies in the name of Christ, without the smallest idea of who he really was. And he was black. He looked just like Osama Bin Laden, long wooly beard and all. He just loved instead of destroying things.

[Zguy28]

Nazareth is thought to have been a back-water or ghetto town. It wasn't exactly a metropolis.

There is even mention of it by Nathanael (one of the disciples) with the comment "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?"

[GhostofSparta]

Christanity does not emphasize the ideas of nostism. How many people dies in the name of Christ, without the smallest idea of who he really was. And he was black. He looked just like Osama Bin Laden, long wooly beard and all.

So Osama Bin Laden is black?

[Ellis]

Not only is Osama black, he's also 5 ft tall. :P

[Destino]

Of course Jesus had money. His father was a carpenter for Christ sake. We are talking about a time when you had to be born into a profession.

So in a time of virtually no middle class... you think carpenters were in the upper or lower class? This idea of well paid skilled labor is relatively new. For most of human history there were those with land and wealth... and those that worked for them for breadcrumbs.

[Prosperity]

Jesus definitely wasn't poor

[HOF44]

Nazareth is thought to have been a back-water or ghetto town. It wasn't exactly a metropolis.

There is even mention of it by Nathanael (one of the disciples) with the comment "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?"

So your saying Nazareth was the Dallas of its day????

[Midnight Judges]

ok ignorant atheist question here: You guys know for a fact this dude was the son of God and you have hundreds of direct quotes from him but you don't know if he was rich or poor?

[Titaw]

Jesus had the following he did because he could perform miracles. Turning water into wine, taking a single loaf of bread and feeding an entire town, ridding diseased individuals of their afflictions, etc.

Jesus was also brought these extravagant gifts from the three wise men or kings, whichever translation you choose, because these cats knew he was he son of god, so they had to give him the most valuable things they had on the day he was born.

As far as Jesus being black, highly unlikely. Just as unlikely that he was white. The fact of the matter is simple he was middle eastern. Neither black nor white. The only way that he could have bee white is if Mary and Joseph were of Roman descent, but that was unlikely as him being black. Oh, and why does this matter? I don't care what color Jesus was, the fact that he lived, and will return, is all that matters.

[GhostofSparta]

ok ignorant atheist question here: You guys know for a fact this dude was the son of God and you have hundreds of direct quotes from him but you don't know if he was rich or poor?

I'll give you a simple answer, since I'm no biblical scholar, and let others with more knowledge go more in-depth later.

Jesus being the son of God is the key component of Christianity. It's why there's the focus on his lineage, his teachings, the miracles, etc. If I had to guess, I'd say Jesus' socio-economic status isn't mentioned because it's as important to his message as his skin color is. You assume that Jesus would have looked like your typical palestian Jew of the time, just like you can assume that, as the son of a carpenter, he would've been somewhere above dirt poor but below wealthy.

IOW: If Jesus isn't the son of God, especially after claiming so himself, then there's no reason to listen to/follow him. But whether he's rich or poor, things like "Love your neighbor as yourself" and "Forgive your brother" are good life philosophies.

Does that help at all?

[Chachie]

Got to love the prosperity gospel. If you don't have money then well, God doesn't like you.

That's sort of the way it breaks down in today's world.