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(Data from the IRS)

Quote from: Jaime on August 19, 2007, 06:44:58 AM

The key comparison for the American dream is not among ourselves but how we compare to the rest of the world. The poorest among us in this country are blessed beyond a lot of the world's population. This is not a statement of our wisdom or hard work or even the American dream. It is a blessing of God, that someday we will not have. When we have only our own wits we will be just like the rest of the world.

1.  America is just the most recent example of a long line of great nations/empires that thought they were blessed by God(s).  

2.  Rome, Greece, ancient Egypt and more recently the British, French, Spanish and Austrian Empires all felt that they had been selected by God to rule over other nations.

3.  The American Dream is based on acquiring material success and power - somehing that would appear inconsistent with a religion that centers on an individual born in a manger and spending His life on earth ministering to the poor.

4. Based on Jesus' message to the Rich Young Ruler, wealth in the hands someone who lives a moral life, does good works and keeps the commandments is not enough to acquire salvation.

5. Christ's metaphor concerning the camel passing through the eye of the needle is not directed toward the poor.

6.  What passes in America as a blessing can actually be a curse since like the Rich Ruler,  wealthy individuals and nations are much more accountable in the eyes of God.

7. Whether poverty is relative and America's poor should be considered "blessed" as compared to the rest of the world misses the point - the Greatest Commandment is quite explicit when it directs us as individuals and as a nation to love our "neighbor" as ourselves. :eek:

There's nothing sinful about money or having lots of it. In fact, when God told Solomon that He would give him anything he wanted and Solomon chose wisdom, God blessed with him with wisdom and other things--including money. So according to God, money--even lots and lots of it, can be a blessing. It's all about the heart. The "love" of money is the "root of all evil." Not money itself.

2 Chronicles 10 - Israel Rebels Against Rehoboam
 
1 Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all the Israelites had gone there to make him king. 2 When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard this (he was in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), he returned from Egypt. 3 So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and all Israel went to Rehoboam and said to him: 4 "Your father (Solomon) put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you."
 5 Rehoboam answered, "Come back to me in three days." So the people went away.

6 Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. "How would you advise me to answer these people?" he asked.

 7 They replied, "If you will be kind to these people and please them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants."

 8 But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him. 9 He asked them, "What is your advice? How should we answer these people who say to me, 'Lighten the yoke your father put on us'?"

 10 The young men who had grown up with him replied, "Tell the people who have said to you, 'Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter'-tell them, 'My little finger is thicker than my father's waist. 11 My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.' "

 12 Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam, as the king had said, "Come back to me in three days." 13 The king answered them harshly. Rejecting the advice of the elders, 14 he followed the advice of the young men and said, "My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions." /b]15 So the king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was from God, to fulfill the word the LORD had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite.

 16 When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, they answered the king:
       "What share do we have in David,
       what part in Jesse's son?
       To your tents, O Israel!
       Look after your own house, O David!"
      So all the Israelites went home. 17 But as for the Israelites who were living in the towns of Judah, Rehoboam still ruled over them.

18 King Rehoboam sent out Adoniram, [a] who was in charge of forced labor, but the Israelites stoned him to death. King Rehoboam, however, managed to get into his chariot and escape to Jerusalem. 19 So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

Solomon made his dough, primarily through trading.  However, it is good of jgarden to remind us of the great benefit of low taxes.

LEVITICUS

13 The king (Solomon's successor) answered them (Isrealites)harshly. Rejecting the advice of the elders,

14 he followed the advice of the young men and said, "My father (Solomon)made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions."