Phat writes:
The apologist was being a bit vague, but was not lying.
Nothing vague about it. It was a flat-out bold-faced lie:
Rich young ruler: "Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?"
Jesus: "One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me."
Apologist: "Even if the rich young ruler would have given away his riches and followed Christ, he wouldn’t have earned his salvation."
He contradicted Jesus directly and completely. There's no getting around that.
Phat writes:
It is not simply the action of giving all that you have away to the poor that determines your salvation.
Jesus said it is.
Phat writes:
It is following Jesus.
That IS following Jesus. Literally. It is what He did.
Phat writes:
Note how the rich young ruler never offered to follow Jesus to begin with.
He asked what he had to do to go to heaven.
Phat writes:
What do you think would have happened had Jesus simply said to him, "There is one thing you need to do. Follow me."
He would have understood what Jesus meant. He would not have expected to "follow" Jesus on his chauffeur-driven camel with his retinue of servants.
Phat writes:
Did Jesus command Mary & Martha to sell everything they had?
Jesus was not a one-trick pony. He didn't repeat one thing ad nauseam.
Phat writes:
How about the Roman Centurion? How about Zaccheus?
How about the early church? Why did they do what Jesus said if it was "clear" that He didn't mean it for everybody. The point of giving up everything was to put your trust in God, not in your own riches.
Phat writes:
Clearly you don't understand the contexts because you don't understand Jesus.
I have discussed the contexts in some detail. You have not. Before you can brag about your lofty levels of understanding, you need to go back and answer your myriad of unanswered posts.
Phat writes:
All that you took was the message.
The message is what matters.
"I've been to Moose Jaw, now I can die." -- John Wing