Can Rich People Go to Heaven?

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

The following is an excerpt from the book DoesYour Bag Have Holes.

Many people believe that money is bad. The truth is money, in and of itself, is not good or evil. You could put a billion dollars into a room and it would never do anything good or bad. Money is good or bad depending on the person who possesses it. A person’s personality and character are magnified by their use of money. C. S. Lewis taught, “Surely what a man does when he is taken off his guard is the best evidence for what sort of a man he is? Surely what pops out before the man has time to put on a disguise is the truth? If there are rats in a cellar you are most likely to see them if you go in very suddenly. But the suddenness does not create the rats; it only prevents them from hiding. In the same way the suddenness of the provocation does not make me an ill-tempered man: it only shows me what an ill-tempered man I am.” Likewise, money does not create greed, pride, or any other negative trait. It simply magnifies a person’s character to a point where their strengths and weakness cannot be hidden.

Thus, it is not virtuous to be poor nor is it virtuous to be rich. It is virtuous to be virtuous. Money is a tool that expands our ability to do both good and evil in the world. For example, the invention of the printing press has enabled us to mass produce positive materials such as the Bible. On the other hand, it has also increased the availability evils such as pornography. The printing press by itself is neither good nor evil. Good people utilize the printing press to improve society. Bad people use the printing press to degrade society. This same analogy can be applied to the television, radio, telephone, Internet, and other advances in technology. With each advance our ability to do both good and evil increases. Money, like all tools, is good or bad as a result of how it is utilized. 

If having wealth increases our power to do evil, is the solution to not be rich? Of course not. This solution would be as silly as doing away with the printing press and Internet because of pornography. Some are concerned about obtaining wealth fearing that it will corrupt them. This would be similar to saying, “I am not going to get married, because I don’t want to commit adultery.” While it is true if no one were to get married, there would not be any adultery. The solution to adultery is not to eliminate marriage. The solution is for people to be faithful to their marriage covenants. The same applies to money. The solution is not to eliminate wealth and abundance but is for people to faithfully fulfill their financial stewardships. It is not the amount of money we have but our attitudes toward it and use of it that makes it good or bad.

One source often used to support the myth that money is bad comes from misunderstanding the following New Testament story. “And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him . . . sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me. And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich. And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! For 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.” (Matthew 18:18–25, King James Version)

Many have misunderstood this, believing that it is hard for rich people to go to heaven. This is not the case. In answer to the apostles’ question, “Who then can be saved?” (Luke 18:26, King James Version) Jesus clarifies what he meant by saying, “How hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!” (Mark 10:24, King James Version, Bold Added) Christ was not teaching that riches are bad but that trusting in riches is bad. The Bible also says, “Blessed be ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” (Luke 6:20, King James Version) Does this mean people are going to heaven simply because of small bank accounts? Of course not. To say it is hard for the rich to go to heaven would be as silly as saying it is easy for the poor to go to heaven.

God is not going to keep anyone out of heaven because he or she had wealth. The Bible teaches, “Thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth.” (Deuteronomy 8:18, King James Version) Many men of God have been rich. The Bible tells us Abraham “was very rich in cattle, silver, and in gold” (Genesis 13:2, King James Version) and that Isaac “became rich, and gained more and more until he became very wealthy. He had possessions of flocks and herds and many servants.” (Genesis 26:13–14, English Standard Version) The Bible also tells us of one of Jesus’ rich disciplines saying, “A rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus’ disciple.” (Mathew 27:57, King James Version)

Our admittance to heaven is not dependant on our net worth. Whether you are rich or poor, you must “trust . . . in the living God” (1Timothy 6:17, King James Version) to go to heaven.

Comments

[Mel]

Great Article!!! Great Post!! So many people misinterpret things in the bible and many people have the mindset that money is bad and if you have money, as you mentioned above you cannot get into heaven. You really cleared up some things here. I hope everyone is able to read this post, or at least those that think money is bad. It's that type of mindset that have so many people on the ropes with no desire to achieve fiancial independence because of backwards thinking.

[J in FL]

Thank you for this post... it definitely puts emphasis on what counts, which is trusting in God.

I don't know, if we are talking about the the Word of God, this comes from the man himself:

"...I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell 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." Matthew 19:24

[Secular]

Money is not good or evil but pornography is evil? How is taking a photograph/video of two people engaged in an act that keeps the human species alive evil? Is watching National Geographic video of birds mating evil? How about fish spawning, is that evil?

Just when I thought you were growing your mind, you come up with a convoluted argument that simultaneously discredits your logic and you point. If pornography can be considered "evil" then money, by your logic can be considered "evil" too. Good try though.

[Don]

While we're quoting ancient scriptures, does anyone know what the Koran says about wealth? Perhaps it is less contradictory and confusing.

[Shaun Rosenberg]

I know a lot of rich people in this world and the one thing that they all have in common is that they are the most generous people I have ever met.

God does not punish the rich, because they are rich. But he does reward people who are generous.

"A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor."

Be generous and god will love you.

[Shaun Rosenberg]

God does not punish those who are rich, but he rewards those who are generous.

"a generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor."

Be generous and god will love you.

[LotharBot]

Some things to keep in mind:

1) Jesus was speaking to a culture that thought the rich were "blessed by God" and therefore on the fast track to enter Heaven. Modern people tend to misunderstand Jesus' words as if He was specifically against the rich -- like, it's easy for the poor and hard for the rich. But what He was saying is that it's hard for everybody, EVEN those God has blessed. That's why the followup question is "who then can be saved?" and Jesus' answer to that is "with man, it is impossible, but with God all things are possible" (rather than "well, the poor can be saved, of course!")

2) The Bible's take on wealth is neither contradictory nor confusing -- money is a tool to be used in service to God and to people; what matters is how you use it rather than how much you have; don't become enslaved to it but use it as appropriate. The modern church's take on wealth is both contradictory and confusing -- it's a mix of half-understood Bible passages and secular philosophy rephrased into "spiritual" language. This is true of a lot of other Biblical topics, as well.

3) Pornography is neither good nor evil in and of itself, nor is nudity, nor many other things within that category. Like money, these are tools that can be used for good or for evil. From a Christian perspective, sexuality is meant to be shared between a husband and wife, and it's evil to focus one's sexual energy away from one's spouse and onto something else (a mistress, a photograph, even one's own imagination.) Pornography of my own wife is good for me; pornography of someone else's wife that makes me think of them instead of my wife is bad. To answer Secular's questions: if you "get off" on video of birds mating or fish spawning, that's evil. The way porn is commonly intended to be used is also evil. (Even if you disagree, the three words "such as pornography" aren't enough to "discredit" anyone's point; the original post reads fine without them. Using them as an excuse to jump on your soapbox and discard FMF's entire point demonstrates a lack of either intellectual honesty or intellectual rigor on your part.)

[FMF]

Anon --

Keep reading -- Matt 19:25-26:

When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, "Who then can be saved?" Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

[rwh]

I just read the book "Titan". It is a biography of John D. Rockafeller. By all accounts he was a very religious man, concerned about doing the right thing in life. On the one hand he was absolutely ruthless in business, crushing anybody that got in his way and the prime reason we have anti-trust laws. On the other hand he gave away most of his vast fortune, and elevated philanthropy to the status of a major industry. His gifts in support of education and medical research have reaped incalculable rewards.

So does the man who funded world wide research and treatment to end debilitating hookworm infections go to heaven if he's also the same man that, when rebuffed in an offer to purchase a small plot of land adjacent to one of his many estates, resorted to encircling the plot with large trees, creating so much shade the owner finally capitulated?

[LotharBot]

Nobody can do enough good things to go to heaven on their own -- as Jesus said, "with man, this is impossible." Rockafeller's funding of worldwide research etc. would not get him into heaven even if he'd been gentle and caring in business. No matter how good a person is, they aren't getting into heaven on their own merit.

But "with God, all things are possible" -- God Himself paves the way for people to go into heaven. The requirement is simple yet difficult: we must give ourselves completely to Him. Did JDR give himself completely to God? I doubt it. No matter how many good things he did, some of the bad things he did show that he wasn't living as God's servant.

[Chemeda Kumsa]

Now at our country,there are scarcity of resources to aware of heaven.Even not heaven our people are not know God for internal life so that if you interested to help those people I would a way for.That is you can address peoples by resources through me

I think anyone who has put the interests of others first by helping others with their relationships should be applauded. Thank you!