It's pretty hard to accept the teachings of sin from a REIT manager, REIT's being a pinnacle of property feudalism and inequality. I think before coming after gays and drug users you should consider the sins of usury and wealth hoarding. How will REIT's look on the day of judgement? Not well.
“Go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
A Communist, a REIT Manager, and Jesus Walk Into a Blog Comment...
I appreciate your concern about my past profession, though I suspect the only person more unpopular than a former REIT manager might be a tax CPA. Wait... I was that too. However, I used to be a boy scout, if that helps at all...
Let's Address the Elephant in the Room
You're absolutely right that I'm a sinner. In fact, that's precisely why I need the Gospel I'm writing about.
But here's the fascinating thing: you quoted Mark 10:21 to challenge my credibility, yet you seem reluctant to accept the same Jesus who spoke those words about sexual morality and substance abuse.
The Beautiful Irony
Your argument essentially says: "Don't listen to this sinner about sin because he's too much of a sinner."
By that logic, we'd need a sinless messenger to deliver God's Word. Fortunately, we had one. Unfortunately, they crucified Him for saying uncomfortable things about money AND sexual purity.
Equal Opportunity Offense
You're correct that wealth can be spiritually dangerous. 1 Timothy 6:10 warns that "the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils."
But notice Scripture doesn't say "only wealthy people are sinners" any more than it says "only sexual sins matter."
The Real Question
If my past disqualifies me from discussing biblical truth, whose past qualifies them?
Should we only accept teaching from:
Former drug dealers (like some great pastors)?
Ex-tax collectors (like Matthew)?
Former persecutors (like Paul)?
Bottom Line
I'm not coming after anyone. I'm pointing to the same Savior who offers grace to REIT managers and revolutionaries alike.
The Gospel's offensive to everyone eventually. That's how we know it's working.
P.S. About that Boy Scout thing... it turns out they have scandals now, too. We really do need Jesus.
Thanks for your reply, Thad! Appreciate your detailed post.
In my opinion American Christianity has become neutered by the elite and powerful. Let's break it down.
You're absolutely right that everyone's a sinner. But living Jesus' teachings isn't about simply conceding that. It's about taking the hard path of resisting sin. But that doesn't happen in the American capitalistic system because the elite (Christian and not) do not want to give up their comfort. So we kid ourselves into thinking, sure, we can avoid tax, we can vote for less spending on the poor, we can hold the poor under our yoke of debt to the wealthy shareholders and fund managers. It's all the "free and fair market. What could we possibly be doing wrong! As an economics major and accountant myself I've heard the score.
That's not what Jesus says. Jesus says to relinquish material comforts, love the poor, needy and sick. In the modern day the only way to do that is to resist our comforts. What does that look like? Well, it looks like advocating for redistributiom from the wealthy to the poor. For a CPA, it's about advocating for tax reform and social policy that does that (even if we have to pay more) for medicaid, food stamps, and, dare I say it in the current political climate, refuge and amnesty for foreigners! Yet I see too many Christian Americans supporting the proposed reconciliation bill which cuts lifelines for the poor at the expense of tax breaks for multi millionaires. Sadly, American churches and leaders don't do that. We see them poking away at easy targets for dubious sins not
even mentioned by Jesus like being gay or using drugs. Well, these sins don't challenge their comfort in any way so they're easy to preach out. What they forget is they're judging the speck in others' eyes while missing the log in their own.
As for what we are free to talk about, as educated, financially literate people. The focus should be our own sin, not judgements on others. I want to hear finance professionals talk about the lack of Christian ethics in the policymaking of the financial and tax system, how financial crises have failed the poorest and most vulnerable, and how their own jobs have contributed to an economic system of diffused sinfulness that is easy to hide behind. And hopefully, they have moved away from such practices. My view is that participating in real estate investment, and any kind of fund which extracts money from working class people through use of capital (loans, property, etc), as well as tax avoidance, is sinful. We should be providing policy tools to liberate people from debtedness instead. Cheap, subsidised housing and free healthcare for example. Plenty of other countries do this just fine!
The powers that be don’t support giving money to the poor. They’ve satanically manipulated you into not doing that by calling it “globalist” and telling you that it’s bad.
Thank you! Great post - God bless you
It's pretty hard to accept the teachings of sin from a REIT manager, REIT's being a pinnacle of property feudalism and inequality. I think before coming after gays and drug users you should consider the sins of usury and wealth hoarding. How will REIT's look on the day of judgement? Not well.
“Go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
(Mark 10:21)
A Communist, a REIT Manager, and Jesus Walk Into a Blog Comment...
I appreciate your concern about my past profession, though I suspect the only person more unpopular than a former REIT manager might be a tax CPA. Wait... I was that too. However, I used to be a boy scout, if that helps at all...
Let's Address the Elephant in the Room
You're absolutely right that I'm a sinner. In fact, that's precisely why I need the Gospel I'm writing about.
But here's the fascinating thing: you quoted Mark 10:21 to challenge my credibility, yet you seem reluctant to accept the same Jesus who spoke those words about sexual morality and substance abuse.
The Beautiful Irony
Your argument essentially says: "Don't listen to this sinner about sin because he's too much of a sinner."
By that logic, we'd need a sinless messenger to deliver God's Word. Fortunately, we had one. Unfortunately, they crucified Him for saying uncomfortable things about money AND sexual purity.
Equal Opportunity Offense
You're correct that wealth can be spiritually dangerous. 1 Timothy 6:10 warns that "the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils."
But notice Scripture doesn't say "only wealthy people are sinners" any more than it says "only sexual sins matter."
The Real Question
If my past disqualifies me from discussing biblical truth, whose past qualifies them?
Should we only accept teaching from:
Former drug dealers (like some great pastors)?
Ex-tax collectors (like Matthew)?
Former persecutors (like Paul)?
Bottom Line
I'm not coming after anyone. I'm pointing to the same Savior who offers grace to REIT managers and revolutionaries alike.
The Gospel's offensive to everyone eventually. That's how we know it's working.
P.S. About that Boy Scout thing... it turns out they have scandals now, too. We really do need Jesus.
Thanks for your reply, Thad! Appreciate your detailed post.
In my opinion American Christianity has become neutered by the elite and powerful. Let's break it down.
You're absolutely right that everyone's a sinner. But living Jesus' teachings isn't about simply conceding that. It's about taking the hard path of resisting sin. But that doesn't happen in the American capitalistic system because the elite (Christian and not) do not want to give up their comfort. So we kid ourselves into thinking, sure, we can avoid tax, we can vote for less spending on the poor, we can hold the poor under our yoke of debt to the wealthy shareholders and fund managers. It's all the "free and fair market. What could we possibly be doing wrong! As an economics major and accountant myself I've heard the score.
That's not what Jesus says. Jesus says to relinquish material comforts, love the poor, needy and sick. In the modern day the only way to do that is to resist our comforts. What does that look like? Well, it looks like advocating for redistributiom from the wealthy to the poor. For a CPA, it's about advocating for tax reform and social policy that does that (even if we have to pay more) for medicaid, food stamps, and, dare I say it in the current political climate, refuge and amnesty for foreigners! Yet I see too many Christian Americans supporting the proposed reconciliation bill which cuts lifelines for the poor at the expense of tax breaks for multi millionaires. Sadly, American churches and leaders don't do that. We see them poking away at easy targets for dubious sins not
even mentioned by Jesus like being gay or using drugs. Well, these sins don't challenge their comfort in any way so they're easy to preach out. What they forget is they're judging the speck in others' eyes while missing the log in their own.
As for what we are free to talk about, as educated, financially literate people. The focus should be our own sin, not judgements on others. I want to hear finance professionals talk about the lack of Christian ethics in the policymaking of the financial and tax system, how financial crises have failed the poorest and most vulnerable, and how their own jobs have contributed to an economic system of diffused sinfulness that is easy to hide behind. And hopefully, they have moved away from such practices. My view is that participating in real estate investment, and any kind of fund which extracts money from working class people through use of capital (loans, property, etc), as well as tax avoidance, is sinful. We should be providing policy tools to liberate people from debtedness instead. Cheap, subsidised housing and free healthcare for example. Plenty of other countries do this just fine!
That's a convenient mentality for you to use to get around helping others. I don't recommend it.
Also, if you use Christianity as a tool to pick and choose practices and not give up comfort, you are not Christian.
The powers that be don’t support giving money to the poor. They’ve satanically manipulated you into not doing that by calling it “globalist” and telling you that it’s bad.