How Godly is money?

God Forbid podcast

In Mathew 19:23-24, Jesus said to His disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

Jesus Christ was a carpenter, not a high income career choice back then, as was his father Joseph, and he preached a humble life.

Given that Christianity doesn’t encourage vast accumulation of wealth and warns against greed, are rich believers hypocrites? Can we be truly religious and wealthy at the same time?

And what, then, do we make of some US and Australian Pentecostal churches who encourage wealth accumulation and salary tithing through something called the Prosperity Gospel?

GUESTS:

Dr Brian Rosner – a theologian and a scholar of the New Testament,  the principal of Ridley College in Melbourne, and the author of the books “Greed as Idolatry: The Origin and Meaning of a Pauline Metaphor” and “Beyond Greed”

Julie Macken is a journalist, writer, and a Justice and Peace Facilitator at the Sydney Justice and Peace Office, at the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney

Dr Mark Jennings is a Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies at Wollaston Theological College and the University of Divinity, in Western Australia.