Your Opinion On -The Rich Young Ruler?

Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?'' So Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. "You know the commandments: `Do not commit adultery,' `Do not murder,' `Do not steal,' `Do not bear false witness,'
`Honor your father and your mother.' '' And he said, "All these I have kept from my youth.'' So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.'' But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich and when Jesus saw that he became very sorrowful, He said, "How hard it is for those who have riches to enter 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 the kingdom of God.'' (Luke 18:18)

I know that the rich young ruler went to hell, but my question is, did the rich young ruler know that the teacher he was talking with was the Son of God, or did he think he was a nice prophet! I think that if he had known that He was the Son Of God, and God in the flesh, even though he would have been very sad, he would have had no choice but to obey God- {Jesus Christ} and give everything away. What do you think?

Servant

The question should be - Why did the rich man ask Jesus what he should do to go to heavens? The answer is simple, he believed Jesus to be Son of God, the promised Messiah. He could have asked the same question to the High Priest or any Priest for he was a Jew.

Moreover, when we read the account, Jesus told him, why does he call Him good as only God is good. But the rich man continued with the question professing Jesus to be a Messiah. I believe that the rich man knew who Jesus was, otherwise there was no point in asking the question.

God bless you

I believe that the rich man knew only he refused to follow Jesus.

In Christ

I think the rich man was confused between God and his possessions. Servant what do you say? Waiting for your reply on this.

God bless

I believe that the rich man knew, what do you think servant?

In Christ

If He did know that he was the Messiah, and still said no to
Jesus. He must have known that by disobeying Him meant his future was the lake
of fire.

I know many who know, who Jesus is but still they will not follow Him for the fear of losing something or making some other excuse.

I was 17 years old when I went to a faith healing convention. I do not know, how many of you know Peter Youngren, but he was the invited evangelist on that day. Next to me was seated a beautiful woman with her son and 6 daughters. She seemed to be quite rich as she was with her body guards.

During the service, I came to know that she was a muslim and her son was born deaf and dumb. Peter Youngren got up and prayed and her son could hear, he could speak, the first words that came out of his mouth were, "Hallelujah" and that woman fell to the ground before God. I cannot forget that day, that time and the whole scene. Still after 20 years, I can still remember in detail each and everything.

She was happy and she said that she believes that Jesus is God but she cannot accept Him because this way she will lose everything.

Dear Servant, many of us, do know who Jesus is, but the question is: Are we afraid of Him? NO, because we are mostly afraid of losing our worldly possessions, status and passions. One of my cousins who works for NASA, knows who Jesus is but he is afraid of accepting Jesus because he fears that his colleagues will make fun of him. Dear Servant, I know many who have chosen this world over Jesus knowingly.

I live in a muslim country and I can find so many Christians who accept the world just like the Rich man over Jesus. In muslims they are muslims and in Christians they are Christians.

Now the whole story that is narrated in the Gospel (Mathew & Luke) basically tells us something else. If you do not mind, I can explain to you what this story really means. I know, I am no scholar but I will try to explain it to you.

Why did the rich ruler ask Jesus this question? Did he believe that Jesus was God? The passage says that Jesus said that God is alone good and yet the rich ruler continued his conversation with Jesus. This shows that he believed Jesus to be a God and that is why he continued.

The rich ruler asked the right question, "What must I do to inherit the Kingdom of God?"

The rich ruler claimed to Jesus that he had kept all the commandments since his childhood. However, he may have claimed "self-righteousness" but it is not for us but God who approves of our actions.

The rich ruler although claiming to keep all the commandments but broke the First Commandment when Jesus asked him to sell everything he had and follow Him.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with your soul and with all your strength. (Deut 6:5)

If the rich ruler kept all the commandement as he claimed then why did he refuse to sell everything and follow Jesus? The answer is simple - He loved his wealth and his possessions more than God.

Jesus do not want us to give away our riches, He simply wants us to put God first in everything we do. When we read the story of Abraham, God asked him to sacrfice the thing he loved the most to Him. In Abraham's case it was Isaac more precious to him than his wealth and possessions. He obeyed God and put God first in his relationships.

The story does not talk of rich over here, actually it talks of everyone who wants to follow Jesus. We must denounce our desires, our passions and our relationships and put God first in everything we do, "I tell you the truth,"Jesus said to them. "No one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the Kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and in the age to come, eternal life" (Luke 18:29-30)

Why we need to do so? It is so because it is written "...I the LORD your God am a jealous God" (Deut 5:9)

Therefore, it is necessary for a believer to denounce everything before God and put God first in everything. This is exactly what Heavenly Father did for you and me. He sacrificed the most precious thing, His Son, Jesus Christ to save us from eternal death and to bring us back into His presence.

God bless you

I thank you Daniel
for writing to me. I am humbled to know that you took the time to write to little
old me-Servant. You must type very fast to write to so many people. And what amazes
me also about you is that you even put the Bible verses. I think you are
remembering them all from your head. That is awesome! Thanks again for replying
to me. Servant

I have been reading Bible since I was 17 years old and it has been a routine now after some 20 odd years. I read from Genesis to Revelation in a year, every year. This helps me to remember and recall verses when I need them plus every year the Bible speaks to me in a different way with a better understanding.

I do not respond to all the articles, but there is a huge time difference between my country and your country. This is the reason that makes you feel that I write a lot. I live in Pakistan and Pakistan is nearly 12 hours ahead of USA in time zone. Moreover, like many of the members, I like the animated header of the Forum so I keep the window open, even if I am not online and that is 24/7.

God bless you