The Pastor's Hummer

Okay, Lulu, this is a long one. Buckle up.

From a conscientious reading of the gospels it is evident that they are not to be taken literally. They are not written as a constitution or a rule book. They are works of rhetoric, not reportage, leaning more towards poetry than precision, and so when Jesus tells his followers to sell everything they have and give the money to the poor, we can interpret this less than literally.
After all, it is just not practical for the rich to impoverish themselves this way; it is actually better for them to remain rich and thus retain the capacity for charity.

However, there is a clear principle embedded in that exhortation. Those who have money must do as much as they can to help those who do not. How much? There's the question.

From a moderate interpretation of the verse one answer would be, "As much as you realistically can."

Now, to the Hummer. It takes a lot of money to get one. A lot of money.

That's a lot of money. There is a heart patients need tickets to India. There is a teenage girl who dropped out of school because she ran out of school fees and is being pressured to turn to prostitution to feed herself and her mother. There is an orphanage where the kids have to share beds and blankets. There are clinics that are out of essential medicines. All these people are praying to God for help.

And God has given his follower A Lot Of Money and the instruction to perform as much charity as possible, using the most extreme example of giving everything away to illustrate how important charity is.

A sinner can have a Hummer and be violating only the laws of good taste and moderation (because that is just the most vulgar behaviour I can imagine—bringing a Hummer into the third world)

But a Christian has a duty to not use their millions to buy huge cars that benefit no one. It is a sin to have a Hummer.

What’s wrong with a Prado?