One of the most famous passages from the Bible is Mark 10: 17-31. In it, a man walks up to Jesus and asks him what he must do to go to heaven. Jesus told him, "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven." At this the man went away sad, because he was wealthy. Then Jesus turned to his disciples and said, "How hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." When I heard someone bring this up in my political philosophy class, a began to think what would the kingdom of God would look like on earth. I think it would look a like an egalitarian society, with almost everyone having the same amount of possessions. The reason why I believe this is Jesus' frequent disdain for money and greed. Possessions seem to be the most frequent failing among human beings, causing us to sin. There would be no sin in the kingdom of heaven, thus everyone is equal and everyone loves each other. Everyone looks out for everyone else, nobody thinks solely for their self interest. The kingdom of heaven is a utopia, the unfortunate thing is that a utopia is impossible here on earth. Maybe society can not achieve the kingdom of heaven, but the individual can. We should not focus on the material world and work on loving our neighbors and helping others. Often we think of this world and not often enough of the next. This does not mean that we should only do good so we may get into heaven. The righteous do not care for the rewards that come with being righteous, just as long as they are doing good by the Lord. We should work to serve everyone we meet, and not to expect them to do the same, yet still do it anyway.
One of the most famous passages from the Bible is Mark 10: 17-31. In it, a man walks up to Jesus and asks him what he must do to go to heaven. Jesus told him, "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven." At this the man went away sad, because he was wealthy. Then Jesus turned to his disciples and said, "How hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." When I heard someone bring this up in my political philosophy class, a began to think what would the kingdom of God would look like on earth. I think it would look a like an egalitarian society, with almost everyone having the same amount of possessions. The reason why I believe this is Jesus' frequent disdain for money and greed. Possessions seem to be the most frequent failing among human beings, causing us to sin. There would be no sin in the kingdom of heaven, thus everyone is equal and everyone loves each other. Everyone looks out for everyone else, nobody thinks solely for their self interest. The kingdom of heaven is a utopia, the unfortunate thing is that a utopia is impossible here on earth. Maybe society can not achieve the kingdom of heaven, but the individual can. We should not focus on the material world and work on loving our neighbors and helping others. Often we think of this world and not often enough of the next. This does not mean that we should only do good so we may get into heaven. The righteous do not care for the rewards that come with being righteous, just as long as they are doing good by the Lord. We should work to serve everyone we meet, and not to expect them to do the same, yet still do it anyway.
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