@RusA #9858855
Yes, Christianity has always held up as an ideal an image of poverty, self-sacrifice, and service to others that no one in their right mind can possibly live up to. You can't give up everything and give away everything today, because the culture today will not support you, like they would in St. Francis' time, or in Siddhartha's time. Even Mother Theresa had the support of the religious order she belonged to when she embraced a life of poverty and service to the poor. Anyone who tries to do that on his own today will end up as a street bum or a bag lady living under bridges and mumbling to themselves.
In my experience, the people who run the church parishes use this ideal to manipulate others into doing what they want - if you don't, you're just being selfish and not living up to the Christian ideal of service to others. The fact is, we live in a different world today, and it's important to maintain one's own health and well-being, and obligations to one's family. Afterwards give what you can to whoever deserves it. As a former pastor of mine put it, if you try to be everything to everybody, you'll end up being nothing to anybody. Or as John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, put it when asked about the proper Christian attitude toward money and wealth: "Earn as much as you can, and give away as much as you can."
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@RusA #9858855
Yes, Christianity has always held up as an ideal an image of poverty, self-sacrifice, and service to others that no one in their right mind can possibly live up to.
In my experience, the people who run the church parishes use this ideal to manipulate others into doing what they want - if you don't, you're just being selfish and not living up to the Christian ideal of service to others.