The Gospels reveal that Jesus was hardly concerned for money at all; in fact, He had a sharp disdain for it. Jesus advocated more for His followers to subject themselves to poverty since poverty removed many of those things which would have been distractions from spiritual focus.
Jesus is not unique in this wisdom. Buddha, for instance, was the son of a wealthy ruler and an heir. His change of heart didn't happen until he met with the "unpleasantness" his father tried to protect him from. He discovered the "middle way" after a period of harsh self-deprivation, and the "middle way" of moderation was what he taught his disciples. Basically, it's the idea of surviving on what the body needs, having the discipline to avoid excesses, and focus on survival in order to discern "Truth." I mean, if you look at the Noble Eightfold Path from a universal perspective, there is very little (none that I can think of) that Jesus didn't cover, and neither the Eightfold Path nor Jesus' teachings have anything at all to say regarding the accumulation of wealth.
I mean, you almost have to wonder if Jesus was just some ordinary guy if He'd been influenced by early adherents to Buddhism. I'm sure it's possible, but I doubt its likelihood. It depends on how widespread Buddha's teachings were in the Near East within 400 or 500 years of his teachings.
The thing that sets Jesus apart from Buddhism, or any religion for that matter, is that He is the answer to all of life's questions. Let's say we analyze the Gospel according to the Eightfold Path:
1. Right View: The right view is the fallen nature of all humanity. God has provided a means of universal atonement through Jesus, guaranteeing eternal life for all who believe.
2. Right Intention: All believers are to be motivated by God's purpose, denying our own self-centered, self-motivated desires.
3. Right Speech: All believers are to encourage each other to do what is right and to rebuke each other when we are in the wrong. We are to show God's compassion to the rest of the world and invite them to join us in our faith.
4. Right Action: All believers are to help each other and the rest of the world by healing the sick, feeding the hungry, meeting the needs of the poor, and so on.
5. Right livelihood: In short, believers are not to engage in work practices that are seen as unethical or harmful in any kind of emotional, physical, financial, or other way. The OT, for instance, forbids loaning money or other goods and charging interests to your own people, and even forgives debt after a specified period of time. How much better it is to provide goods and services expecting nothing in return, but rest in knowing that help will come if you yourself should ever need it. Further, believers ought not engage in businesses or trades that violate God's commandments. The message of the Gospel is peace, not war (though the message inherently brings conflict). If everyone believed and engaged in fair and equitable trade practices seeking to resolve or even avoid any economic or political conflict, what need would there even be for weapons and war? By choosing a livelihood that seeks to glorify God, one solves what I see as perhaps one of the most difficult items on the Eightfold Path.
6. Right effort: This means purging one's self and mind of all harmful thoughts and intents. A believer may do this by careful scriptural study and prayer.
7. Right mindfulness: For the believer, this is discipline over thinking and emotion. One should carefully consider what he says by first understanding that the believer is a spokesman for God. Do your thoughts, words, and feelings accurately express how God wishes Himself to be understood? When we speak our mind, do we lead others to a better understanding of God's true intent? Or do thoughtless words and actions obscure God's work in us? Nothing we say should be an accident. If our hearts and minds are guided by God's Spirit, then we ought to speak freely in faith that the Spirit is speaking through us. But if it is we who are speaking and not the Spirit, we must be careful that we are understood, making are words and deeds consistent with this and the other steps of the Eightfold Path (and Christ's teachings).
8. Right concentration: The believer's source of information is the Bible, and seeking reliable teachers in Biblical instruction aids in understanding. As I've mentioned in other threads, the Bible I'm reading through includes wonderful study notes that help show the historical and cultural context surrounding various passages. Some study Bibles may have devotions, articles, biographical information on various theologians, philosophers, and other writers which help the reader understand the background of various doctrinal points that may not be available to an ordinary "straight" Bible translation. The King Jimmy you'll find in hotel rooms placed by the Gideons is a beautiful translation, but it won't help you get past the irrelevancy of the king's words and phrases to modern-day language, nor does it solve the difficulties of idiomatic translation of Greek and Hebrew figures of speech into English. It also won't aid in an understanding or comparison of ancient manuscripts. Depending on the believer, such an in-depth understanding of may not be necessary. But at the same time, that won't lead to a decent understanding of what Moses, the writers, and the prophets MEANT when they wrote down inspired words. By delving into the "facts" of Hebrew practice and early Christian practice, one gains a thorough knowledge of the Bible and what it means to believe.
Legit knowledge and wisdom can come from any source, especially in the context of how the Eightfold Path can be applied to Christian life. This is valuable to any believer, and it's not the first or only time it's ever been done. Consider the Proverbs of the Old Testament. Some small portions of the Proverbs are copied almost directly from an Egyptian source that predated Solomon. The reason is obvious: Solomon married an Egyptian princess and was aware of Egyptian wisdom writings. Since we believe all true knowledge and wisdom is sourced from God, whether we recognize God as the true Source or not, there is no blasphemy in borrowing wisdom from other sources. What is important is that the wisdom is consistent with scripture.
Thus the overlaps between Jesus and Buddha.
And I'm sure with a little digging, you can find other teachers from a variety of other religions and philosophies that shared the attitude of poverty and even its value.
"Prosperity" teaching of Hinn, Copland, and others is contrary to the Bible. They are pseudo-Christians and pseudo-Christs. If the Bible proves that God blesses all with wealth and power, then how do you explain the contrast between the book of the Proverbs which admonishes the seeker in the ways of accumulating and maintaining wealth and the book of Ecclesiastes which focuses on the fleeting nature and essential worthlessness of it? You can't ignore one book of the Bible for another, and any teacher or "prophet" (using that term loosely) who fails to present teachings that provide a balance between the two is a false teacher. And, by the way, the Bible tells us how to recognize false prophets: They make predictions that don't come true. The writers of prophetic OT books and the NT book of Revelation did not stamp a date on the end of the world. Why? God did not wish to make that known. What they DID write about were prophecies that are now known to have been fulfilled, thus we may trust their future unfulfilled prophecies. According to Watch Tower, Jesus returned in 1914 invisibly. The contradicts the teaching that Jesus' return will be made known to ALL people. Further, they and others have made predictions that are known to have failed. Hence those predictions define them as false prophets. I can't speak for Witnesses, but I do know that prosperity teachers have a LONG reputation of seeking wealth for themselves drawn from their devotees. It's a big, greasy, slimy business. I believe most congregations distance themselves from these beliefs and practices, and Benny Hinn should NOT be considered as representative of Christianity as a whole.
07 Aug 2010, 5:12 pm
.
