Originally posted by AKIron
I don't think it means that. Do you really think that people controlling religion don't want "the people" to work hard? Can you explain why?
The reason lies in the 10th commandment.
Do not covet your neighbor's house (wife). A person would begin to desire his neighbor's stuff when the neighbor has better things.
Thus, this commandment basically reads "Do not want more." It is written that you should not want more because you only have what God has given you. If god hasn't given you more already, then he does not want you to have more.
From that, if you shouldn't want more, then there is no need to succeed. According to the people who have listed these commandments and are in control of the religion, you merely need to exist.
Originally posted by AKIron
You should realize laser that the person who said those words was not a leader of organized relgion in his day. He was in fact persecuted and murdered by those religious leaders.
You should also realize that we have no evidence of what Jesus Christ said, except for that which those in power tell us he has said.