Giving Back What Was Not Yours

[BudiS10]

Disclaimer: this is just a spontaneous thought i have in my mind and I think it's better to ask you christians about it. also, sorry about my bad grammar. it's not my native language. let's get started

ok so i have heard stories about people converting to christianity. There were a lot of bad people who achieved their "financial security" through questionable method, such as prostitutes, inappropriate contentstars, corrupt politicians, corrupt businessmen, and others. Question is: When these people convert to christianity, don't you think they have obligation to give back their wealth? Why churches and priests never even advise these people to give back what they earned? If they earn their wealth and money though wrong methods, don't you think they should give their money back (or at least, donate it to charities)? It's not rightfully theirs after all.

 

[bling]

Some people would like there to be strict “rules” for those that come to Christianity that have previously gotten illicit gain, but the Bible does not say you have to make restitution to everyone you hurt in the past and that is really impossible, since you hurt people you do not even know. What scripture does say is this:

Eph. 4: 28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his hands, so that he may be able to give to those in need.

 

[ViaCrucis]

Disclaimer: this is just a spontaneous thought i have in my mind and I think it's better to ask you christians about it. also, sorry about my bad grammar. it's not my native language. let's get started

ok so i have heard stories about people converting to christianity. There were a lot of bad people who achieved their "financial security" through questionable method, such as prostitutes, inappropriate contentstars, corrupt politicians, corrupt businessmen, and others. Question is: When these people convert to christianity, don't you think they have obligation to give back their wealth? Why churches and priests never even advise these people to give back what they earned? If they earn their wealth and money though wrong methods, don't you think they should give their money back (or at least, donate it to charities)? It's not rightfully theirs after all.

You'll probably find that clergy, in fact, do instruct people who have acquired wealth through nefarious means to giving back and making amends. Generally the idea of penitence involves both the vertical relationship whereby we hear and receive God's forgiveness and also includes the horizontal relationship, that is between ourselves and our fellow man. A man who steals something and confesses it and receives absolution is supposed to then go and return what was stolen and make amends with the injured party.

Framing this in a Lutheran context this incorporates both the Coram Deus and Coram Hominibus, that is "ourselves before God" and "ourselves before our fellow man". Grace renders us freely forgiven, but we are still obligated by conscience and God's command to act justly toward our neighbor.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[orangeness365]

It's probably a good idea to give back what is stolen, but what if they have already wasted almost all the money if not all of it? In the old testament thieves were supposed to give back what they owed and then some, so it is not a bad model to follow, but I wouldn't want to tell someone that they have to be in order to be saved, but Zaccheus did, and Jesus said salvation had come to Zacchaeus's house because of it.

Luke 19:1-10
Jesus and Zacchaeus

1He entered Jericho and was passing through. 2And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. 4So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. 5And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” 6So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. 7And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” 8And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” 9And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. 10For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Proverbs 6:31

 

[brinny]

Disclaimer: this is just a spontaneous thought i have in my mind and I think it's better to ask you christians about it. also, sorry about my bad grammar. it's not my native language. let's get started

ok so i have heard stories about people converting to christianity. There were a lot of bad people who achieved their "financial security" through questionable method, such as prostitutes, inappropriate contentstars, corrupt politicians, corrupt businessmen, and others. Question is: When these people convert to christianity, don't you think they have obligation to give back their wealth? Why churches and priests never even advise these people to give back what they earned? If they earn their wealth and money though wrong methods, don't you think they should give their money back (or at least, donate it to charities)? It's not rightfully theirs after all.

they don't?

i can only speak for myself, but being a child of God, prompts a generosity in my heart that was not there before.

I find it joyful to give.