Why is it so hard for a rich man to get into heaven? The Bible tells us that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, which means that, unless you mince the camel, it's just about impossible.
Another line in the Bible tells us that a man cannot serve God and Mammon.
Mammon refers to wealth, so the line effectively means you can't be rich and righteous at the same time.
This is harsh judgment.
Yet there are other numerous passages which inform us that wealth is a blessing sent from God.
This is the basis on which countless churches have been founded in America, preaching prosperity as the reward God has in store for each and every one of us who remembers to say his prayers.
The best example of wealth as a blessing is the entire book of Job.
This is all about wealth.
Job starts off rich and ends up even richer, thanks to God, but in between he undergoes a huge amount of suffering.
What does this mean? The Bible as a whole seems to suggest that there are two types of wealth.
There is the wealth that we grab from our own endeavours, and the wealth that comes to us as a blessing.
The wealth we grab, regardless of consequences, should come with a government health warning because it brings with it a host of evil temptations.
like the desire to rush out and buy a designer suit that costs more than a family of four needs to live on for a month.
Or we start to think we are something special, as though money can turn us into a talented rock star or brilliant footballer.
It also has the effect of making fat ugly men think they are good looking and virile and vitally attractive to young, pretty blondes.
All this of course is fake.
Anything that is fake can't be true, and anything that is untrue is despicable to the Lord.
This is the type of wealth that has to be minced before it can get through the eye of a needle and past St Peter at the Pearly Gates.
The second type of wealth is a blessing for righteousness.
This type of wealth makes no difference at all to its beneficiary.
Whether he has it or not is irrelevant.
Job at the end of the book is far richer than he was at the beginning yet by then his happiness is complete even without all the goats.
God will not release weatlh as a blessing until he knows it's in safe hands, that the blessed will go out and dig a well in Africa, or build low cost housing for families living below the poverty line.
This is the sort of wealth that builds not destroys, is spread around not hoarded, enhances the world and does not embitter it.
Christians should not fear wealth, as long as their heart is in the right place.