iano writes:
It's so long since you heard a sermon, you've also apparently forgotten how to extract the message from it.
Oh, I still read them, obviously.
I got your drift just fine. It's only that your drift is bollocks.
I'm just not doing as Crashfrog does in supposing "rich" restricted to only financial wealth.
I don't think Crash supposed any such thing. He pointed out that Jesus's words were clear and direct about the unlikelihood (if not flat impossibility) of a rich man getting into heaven vs. the standard condemnation of all sin that is applied to homosexuality by others.
As in wealthy. As in money.
You seem to have explained the plain meaning of Christ's words away.
(p.s. what on earth is a "material Christian"?)
Ah, that's in part a pun on Madonna's song of years ago, Material Girl.
Mostly, though, it is my term for Christians who, while enjoying the remarkable benefits of modern affluence, explain how Christ really didn't mean what he said about material wealth, or, if he did, it doesn't apply to believers, who are rich because God wants them to be.
You're probably more familiar with the term "prosperity Christian"--if not, google it for an eye-opening examination of the material ways in which God rewards his own.
I figure we'll have golden virgins and platinum Visa cards on offer in heaven soon.
I know there's a balance, I see it when I swing past.
-J. Mellencamp
Real things always push back.
-William James