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Jesus had an "obsession" with not seeking after wealth and how we use it.
Why so much money stuff dude
Several years ago (like 20) I had a friend ask why I bring up money stuff so often in the gospel doctrine class I taught. He thought I had an unhealthy obsession with it (I like to call it a special interest). I was a little shocked and told him that I brought it up as often as the scriptures do. That can seem like a lot to a lot of people because many are skillfully ignoring and stepping around it in the scriptures as I mention in this post here
But just for fun lets take a look at how often Jesus talks about the dangers and uses of wealth compared to other topics. I’m going to be using the book of luke as our sample size just to keep this manageable but I’d be interested in using other sample’s as well
Mentions of Riches/ Wealth and poverty in the book of Luke
Luke 4:18 he hath sent me to preach the gospel to the poor
Luke 5:20,24- Blessed be the poor, woe unto you that are rich!
Luke 8:14- that which fell among thorns choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life
Luke 9:57-58- The son of man hath not where to lay his head
Luke 12:13-21 Man who uses his riches to build bigger and bigger barns. A man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of things which he possesseth.
Luke 12:22-34 Take no thought for these things but seek first the kingdom of god
Luke 14:12-14- When you make a dinner call the poor and disabled and not your friends or rich neighbors
Luke 16:13- no servant can serve two masters God and Mammon (mammon is an aramaic word for wealth)
Luke 16:19-31 The story of the Rich man and Lazarus
Luke 18:18-25 The young rich ruler- “it is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.”
Luke 19:1-10 The story of Zacchaeus the rich man who gave half of his goods to the poor
Luke 21: 1-4 The poor widow has given more than the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury
Sexual Purity/ Chastity
Luke 18:20- In the story of the rich young ruler he tells him to keep the commandments including not committing adultery.
Nothing else
Honesty
Luke 3:12-14- Exact no more than that which is appointed you
Nothing else
Only other topics that come close to being mentioned as much would be some of the following
Faith, love, miracles, sacrifice
As you can see Jesus talked about wealth, whether you should seek after it and what to do with it far more than many of our other favorite sacrament meeting topics. (how often do you hear this as a topic)
This is just Luke but I think you would find some similar results in many other books of scripture.
In the Book of Mormon use of wealth and the dangers of having a divided social class system based on wealth are one of the major themes of the book.
Don’t get me wrong, topics on Honesty, the law of chastity, and other things are important but Jesus seems to have a special interest in our use of money. It’s important because Jesus says it’s important.
I feel like people’s worship of the economy and politics have tainted this in people which is why I bring it up.
You can find the original post here
March 19, 2024
Worshipping our economic system is leading a lot of people to do things that are contrary to the gospel. Many are also preaching things as righteous that are contrary to the gospel as well.
A series of posts on different aspects of this
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