Can someone translate this for me?

[FromTheDarknessToTheLight]

The parable of the rich young man (or was it a parable?)

Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will ... thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.

Is God commanding us to sell our belongings and give to the poor? Besides our houses and our food? We all have idols in some way, television, movies, games, etc. Is it considered an idol only if these things take up our prayer time, church, calling on God, etc?

Was God only commanding this young man to sell his belongings, and follow him, to gain his salvation, or does he command all Christians to do the same? I mean, I don't mind giving up my belongings, that wouldn't be very fun, I sure would be bored, but If Jesus or God asked or told me to do it, I would.

 

[Sailorgirl13]

The way I often look at is firstly, we are blessed so we should help others, following the example of Jesus (who never turned anyone away if they needed help).
Giving is simply a part of being a Christian.

"What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead" James 2:14-17


BUT! God doen't want us to give so much that it makes us unstable ourselves. We are able to help others because we have enough to share. A sick man can't heal another sick man. Or someone who's broke can't pay off another's debts.

I think the interpretation of this verse (I'm guessing it's Mat 19:21) it's pretty much to teach the man a lesson. If you read a couple of verses later, it says "Truly I tell you, how hard it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
It's alright for us to live comfortably but rich people, once they've acheived wealth, they don't want to let go of it. So they keep it to themselves. Or if they do give, they don't give a significant percentage. Sure, it might be a large amount of money, but that's hardly denting their pocket money. (the story of the widow and the preists in Mk 12:41-43).
Overall, I think Jesus was probably exaggerating slightly to prove a point, that rich people are soo greedy to enter the kingdom of God. A poor man would have had nothing to lose by giving away his few posessions.

Hopefully that helped

 

[Unix]

Today we have to watch out more and more for deception. Beggars are not always upright and should often focus differently than they do when they are begging. Begging is illegal nowadays in Finland.
There's also a lot of fraud with bankcards, attempts over the internet, sellers who don't offer what they said, extra-services that cost.
If You for example buy books abroad, what can happen is that the seller suddenly raises the international postage fee on abebooks.com without giving You time to react.
I voted left-wing on the state level, but I realize that total equality is an impossibility, often the poorer should realize things and change focus and do efforts she/he has been unwilling to do, and I'm not talking only about aplying work or getting social benefits, but to realize that people shouldn't always live at someone's expence.
To not beg is to be polite.

BUT! God doen't want us to give so much that it makes us unstable ourselves. We are able to help others because we have enough to share. A sick man can't heal another sick man. Or someone who's broke can't pay off another's debts.