i disagree.
give me a billion dollars, and watch me give away 99.9% of it in the matter of a few months or a few years.
there are plenty of trustworthy christian charities and plenty of projects for the wealthy person to finance.
build an orphanage/church/school in africa. build 100 of them. build 1000 of them. buy a million bibles and distirbute 1 to every pastor in south america.
etc, etc, etc.
dont give me no excuses, the rich have plenty of ways to honor God with their money.
it is harder for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to go to heaven.
and you know its impossible for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, dont you?
praise God, all things are possible with God. that dont mean that we sin so grace may abound, though.
Well, I don't see putting a thread thread through a needle eye using faith or trust to apply to any spiritual purpose. Just an opinion of mine.
Let's make sure that while thinking the rich ought to do such things as you listed, that each of us does our relative part supporting the gospel.
It's actually futile hoping the 1% of wealthy Americans who hold up to 40% of America's net worth, which is mostly tied up in stocks that rise and fall in value, could help as much as each American willing to tithe. If all their wealth could be seized, that wealth would mathematically support America about 3 months, a one-time event. I'm figuring in what we borrow plus what is produced in a year. To extract their wealth in dollars would require dissolving most industries that depend upon stock investments to carry them through lean times. Once that was spent, the loss of jobs due to failing corporate America would be disastrous, beyond repair without divine intervention. Does America qualify for major protection from God? I won't answer that. Meanwhile we are grateful that the 1% invest to keep the gap between "enough" and "famine" as wide as possible.
I say all that to emphasize that the burden of doing business for the kingdom of Heaven has always been a duty of the average citizen of it, supplying what we can according to ability, with a cheerful heart, not out of abundance. what the wealthy do or don't do is between them and God.
There are commandments for rich Christians, implying that some rich people are Christians. A good one is
1 Timothy 6:17-19 (KJV)
17 Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;
18 That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate;
19 Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.
It says "ready" to distribute, not empty themselves, willing to help, not being forced. Do good with wealth, which is not possible if all their wealth is given away. That would make many of them poor, cursed with poverty, when formerly blessed to create wealth and provide employment.
The majority of scholars have put up the common idea of the camel going through the needle eye is not something based on our idea of a thread and needle, or camel passed through a sewing needle. It would have been sufficient for Jesus to declare something like "It is impossible for anyone that possesses more than needed for person/family to be saved. It referred to the night gate in the wall at Jerusalem, the main gate closed for security, which was too narrow and short for a fully loaded trader's camel to pass through. The animal had to be unloaded, the goods carried through, then loaded back on. A fully loaded camel looks like a tick carrying a dog, so to speak. An issue was the complaints of rich traders having to part with goods, camel on the inside, goods on the outside, having to leave goods outside while transferring goods inside. It was a matter of distrust, robbers waiting for him to go inside. The wealthy would settle for sleeping with the camel and the goods outside the gate, with one eye open, until the wide gate was open in the morning. There is definitely a big spiritual lesson there. They trusted their goods too much to enter the safety of the city. That's what the guides say, anyway, recently better supported by information from archaeologists and historians.
If it meant no rich person could be saved, then technically no American could be saved if we spend money on recreation, pets,movies and DVDs, or invest in a retirement, or keep valuable jewelry, or do anything else beyond what is required to keep our family fed, clothed, and housed any more than absolutely necessary. Anything above that is wealth, way more than most of the world's population. My wife and I spend about $2 a day for food and eat healthily. Well, when the grand children are here that goes up to $6-$8 a day, max $250 a month. The world average income is 10,000 per family, spending about $175 U.S. dollars per week for 4. My family has it better than most of the world, making us wealthy just on that point! Humans don't need what most Americans cram down. There are ways to cut spending far less than average, making more wealth available for others. The Church could feed the world by just eating right, cooking at home, packing lunches, etc. It ought not matter what the wealthy do. Ya listening, Church?
But people remain obsessed over what the wealthy have and won't share, which would not help more than about 90 days of our lifetime in this country, which means perhaps all those complaining are covetous.
So maybe we can add
covetousness to the list of enemies of the Church.
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