(CNN) — Each Christmas, Christians tell stories about the poor baby Jesus born in a lowly manger because there was no room in the inn.

But the Rev. C. Thomas Anderson, senior pastor of the Living Word Bible Church in Mesa, Arizona, preaches a version of the Christmas story that says baby Jesus wasn’t so poor after all.

Anderson says Jesus couldn’t have been poor because he received lucrative gifts — gold, frankincense and myrrh — at birth. Jesus had to be wealthy because the Roman soldiers who crucified him gambled for his expensive undergarments. Even Jesus’ parents, Mary and Joseph, lived and traveled in style, he says.

“Mary and Joseph took a Cadillac to get to Bethlehem because the finest transportation of their day was a donkey,” says Anderson. “Poor people ate their donkey. Only the wealthy used it as transportation.”

Many Christians see Jesus as the poor, itinerant preacher who had “no place to lay his head.” But as Christians gather around the globe this year to celebrate the birth of Jesus, another group of Christians are insisting that Jesus’ beginnings weren’t so humble.

They say that Jesus was never poor — and neither should his followers be. Their claim is embedded in the doctrine known as the prosperity gospel, which holds that God rewards the faithful with financial prosperity and spiritual gifts.

A clash of gospels?

The prosperity gospel has attracted plenty of critics. But popular televangelists such as the late Oral Roberts, Kenneth Hagin and, today, Creflo Dollar have built megachurches and a global audience by equating piety with prosperity.

The prosperity gospel, however, clashes with the traditional depictions of Jesus as poor. That’s because the traditional image of Jesus as destitute is wrong, says the Rev. Tom Brown, senior pastor of the Word of Life Church in El Paso, Texas.
The proof, he says, is scattered throughout the New Testament. One example: The 12th chapter of the Gospel of John says that Jesus had a treasurer, or a “keeper of the money bag.”

“The last time I checked, poor people don’t have treasurers to take care their money,” says Brown, author of “Devil, Demons and Spiritual Warfare.”

A debate over the economic status of Jesus may seem nonsensical to some. Does it really matter whether Jesus was rich or poor?

It matters to people like Luke Timothy Johnson, a prominent New Testament scholar and author. He says that a rich Jesus is a distortion of history and a threat to one of Christianity’s core teachings: God’s identification with the poor.

“If Jesus reveals God, there is something powerful about God appearing and working among the poor,” says Johnson, a New Testament professor at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology in Atlanta, Georgia.

“Jesus’ lifestyle is not of one in a gated community or a corporate office,” says Johnson, a former Benedictine monk. “You don’t have to go through a security gate to get to Jesus. People touch him. He reached out and touched children. His accessibility is one of the most powerful messages of Christianity. In Jesus, God is with us, and the majority of us are poor.”

‘The poor won’t follow the poor’

Some prosperity preachers extract a different message from the same biblical texts. Brown, the El Paso minister, says he doesn’t say that Jesus was rich because he wants to give people an excuse to live self-indulgent lives. He wants people to understand that Jesus used his material and spiritual riches to help people — and so should they.

Brown says Jesus’ own words prove that he wasn’t poor.

“Jesus said you will always have the poor, but you will not always have me,” Brown says. “Jesus did not affirm himself as being part of the poor class…

“I believe he was the richest man on the face of the earth because he had God as his source,” Brown says.

Jesus’ wealth is evident even in the Gospel accounts of his execution, some pastors say.

The New Testament reports that Roman soldiers gambled for Jesus’ clothing while he hung on the cross. They wouldn’t gamble for Jesus’ clothing unless it was expensive, Anderson says.

“I don’t know anybody — even Pamela Anderson — that would have people gambling for his underwear,” Anderson says. “That was some fine stuff he wore.”

Anderson says Jesus never would have had disciples or a large following if he was poor. He would not have been able to command their respect.

“The poor will follow the rich, the rich will follow the rich, but the rich will never follow the poor,” Anderson says.

Twisting scripture for personal gain?

Johnson, the Emory University New Testament professor, calls Anderson’s argument “completely illogical.”

“So Martin Luther King must have been a millionaire,” he says. “Crowds followed Siddhartha Buddha and he was poor. And mobs followed Mahatma Gandhi, and Gandhi wore a diaper, for God’s sake.”

The argument that Jesus was wealthy because the soldiers gambled for his clothes at his crucifixion doesn’t makes historical sense, either, says Johnson, author of “Among the Gentiles: Greco-Roman Religion and Christianity.”

“Crucifixion was the sort of execution carried out for slaves and for rebels,” Johnson says. “It wasn’t an execution for wealthy people.”

A Baylor University religion professor who specializes in the study of the poor in the Greco-Roman world also says there is “no way” that Jesus could be considered wealthy.

Bruce W. Longenecker says life in Jesus’ world was brutal. About 90 percent of people lived in poverty. A famine or a bad crop could ruin a family. There was no middle class.

“In the ancient world, you were relatively poor or filthy rich, there’s very little in-between,” says Longenecker, author of “Engaging Economics: New Testament Scenarios and Early Christian Reception.”

The New Testament is full of parables where Jesus actually condemns the rich and praises the poor, Longenecker says. In the sixth chapter of the Gospel of Luke, Jesus actually curses the rich, he says.

“The only way you can make Jesus into a rich man is by advocating torturous interpretations and by being wholly naive historically,” Longenecker says.

Anderson, the Arizona pastor, doesn’t buy that argument. He says the church has actually been damaged by teaching that Jesus was poor. God wants his followers to be rich, not for selfish gain, but to help others in need and spread the gospel.

When he first preached that Jesus wasn’t poor to his church, Anderson says he “ruffled some feathers.”

Now, he says, his church has 9,000 members and a global ministry.

“That’s so pathetic, to say that Jesus was struggling alone in the dust and dirt,” Anderson says. “That just makes no sense whatsoever. He was constantly in a state of wealth.”

Throwing a couple of magnets into the fuel tank is rumoured to yield considerable improvements on fuel consumption. Unfortunately, the Myth Busters are likely to have a field day with this one.

Short of stealing petrol from unsuspecting victims (hell beckons, brother), or worse, giving up riding altogether, here are 10 tried and tested methods to lighten the strain on your pocket.

Here we go…!

1. Slow down off the blocks

Take a long hard look in the mirror. That’s right, wise guy, you’re no Valentino, Dani, Casey or Jorge. Now, stop acting like a MotoGP racer!

I’ve noticed more than a few fellow bikers with Parkinson’s Disease that seems to affect only the right side of their bodies. Experts are studying whether these seizures are triggered by normal frequency red light. How else do you explain the violent muscle spasms that compel their right hands to work the throttle incessantly – when they are standing still at the traffic lights?

Seriously though, acting like a bat out of hell from every stop line is more likely to win you a couple of traffic tickets than the chance to stand on the podium and shower champagne on grid girls. And don’t even think about licking it off them after, you perve!

Gradual acceleration is not only safer, it consumes less petrol and saves you a whole lot of money.

2. Ease off the throttle / Free-wheeling

Think of the throttle as a faucet: every time you turn on the tap, some of that precious petrol is pumped out. Of course, the engine needs fuel to burn before it operates. Yes, that’s why they call it a motor-cycle. But sometimes, we crack open the throttle more than we need – or even when we don’t need to.

Cruising, the engine functions at the optimum energy spent vs work done efficiency. Each time you accelerate, you force the engine to do more work, hence increasing the need for more fuel to perform the task. For best fuel efficiency, accelerate gradually to a comfotably cruising speed, for example 90km/h on the expressway, then try your best to maintain that RPM until you need to decelerate on exiting the highway. With limited acceleration-deceleration, the engine does less work, which translates into lower petrol spendings!

Remember: the motorcycle engine works like the human body. Think back on the dreaded annual school cross-country runs we were forced to do. Jogging at a constant pace throughout could be tortuous, but much less tiring than the guys who chose a walk-sprint-walk-sprint strategy. The human body – and the motorbike engine – were just not made to function that way!

And when you get to the downslopes, it was less tiring to just open your stride and let gravity do the work for you. Likewise, pulling in the clutch and shutting the throttle for long downhill sections make more sense. Why use the engine when gravity is in abundance?

While maintaining cruising speed and free-wheeling down slopes might seem insignificant and penny-pinching strategies at best, our test results yielded remarkable dividends. The same 14.5-litre tank of petrol actually covered 10% more distance with this method alone. Every little bit counts!

3. Tune down for better mileage!

What did you expect? The equation is simple: the more power your crotch rocket packs, the more gas it guzzles. And while we’ve worked relentlessly to jack up the bhp on our machines, the time has come to go the reverse direction.

Unless you’re riding a race-dedicated machine (or you’ve got money to burn), contemporary machines have more than enough torque to pull away from traffic in normal street riding. The truth is, you don’t even need that much power on city streets!

So, unless you’re planning plenty of trips to the Pasir Gudang, Sepang and Tuas circuits, hop on down to your mechanic and request he tunes down your engine for less power and better fuel economy. even dropping your idling rpm a couple of notches can go a long way in saving money.

If you’ve got money to burn, forget about the whole series altogether. And donate generously to ThrottleZine instead.

4. Stock Up for Major Savings

Forget Leo Vince, Yoshimura, Arrow and K&N. Unless your 2-wheeler rolled out of the factory with these specs, of course. Returning your bike to “stock”, or original factory conditions, is one of the most obvious fuel-saving methods, albeit one of the most painful measures for the biker.

That after-market exhaust, air-filter and carburettor can boost bhp remarkably. But in this time of belt-tightening, it’s best to hang those pipes on the wall above your bed until further notice. Sorry folks, if you want to save money, you just have to sacrifice on a bit of performance.

Damn.

5. Get correct tyre pressure

If you think your tyres have nothing to do with it, I’ve got news for you: hey dummy, this is a double whammy! Choosing the right tyres — and tyre pressure — is one of the most important things for a motorcyclist. Just ask Rossi!

Not only does riding with the right tyre pressure give you better mileage, it lessens tyre wear – which means even more money is saved because you have to change your rubbers less often. Make it a habit to check your tyre pressure each time you stop for fuel. If you’re not sure how many PSI is ideal (which depends on your weight, the size and type of tyres you’ve fitted, etc) a quick call to your mechanic should do the trick.

It’s safer, makes riding more of a joy, and saves you money. What more reasons do you need?

6. Perfect gear change

Now, this is a bit trickier and takes some practice. But ensuring you’re riding on the right gear at all times – ok, at least most times – can be a most rewarding experience. We know it’s challenging, especially with the start-stop of city riding and on a top-end sportsbike, but just try it. You won’t be disappointed with the results!

Not only does it save a bucketful of petrol, finding the right gear every time makes it a joy to be on that 2-wheeler.

7. Plan Your Routes

Here’s a no-brainer: the less distance you cover, the less petrol you use! And yet, it’s amazing how little we think of planning travel routes to save on distance.

In Singapore’s context, planning routes are a little more complicated though. On top of mapping out the shortest available routes (absolute distance), other factors to keep in mind include time and money.

Often, the shortest route isn’t the quickest. For instance, the Lornie-Adam Road route might seem deliciously short, but experience (read: regularly being stuck in 2-hour long jams there) will tell you to avoid it like the plague.

And keep an eye out for every Singaporean’s worst nightmare: the ERP! Download the latest ERP charge schedules (it changes regularly and no one really knows the latest score), and plan your journey around this. Knowing where and how much about these money-suckers can make a big difference in your bank accoint balance!

8. Lose Weight

Say what? Yes, pudgy, hit the gym and lose some of those spare tyres! You might think it doesn’t make a difference, but the TRIFS* study shows that for a 80kg driver, a 10 kilogram weight loss improves mileage in bikes by 5% and 2% in cars.

Got spare baggage on your vehicle? Clear out your boot! Keeping the books, spare parts and the kitchen sink at home give you a better driving experience, and saves you money on gas too!

Oh, by the way. *TRIFS – the ThrottleZine Research Institute of Fake Statistics

9. Ride the Wave

Quick, what’s the best bike in the world? Move aside Yamaha R1, Suzuki Hayabusa, and even Ducati’s mouth-watering 1098. According to this video, the top bike of all time is – gasp – the humble Honda Cub! And we’re not talking about just great mileage.

After a series of gruelling tests (read: bike-wrecking madness), Top Gear concluded that this little Japanese is the king of two-wheelers. We concur!

Sure, the McBeal-skinny tyres do little for on-road confidence, but riding a Honda Wave can fetch an incredible 50 km per litre of gas. There’s simply no beating that!

Others have tried – and suceeded – in replicating the Cub’s phenomenal mileage performance, including the 180cc Bajaj Pulsar from India. But with supreme reliability and availability of parts, the incumbent Cub stands tall despite its small stature.

Want to half your petrol expenditure each month? Ride the Wave!

10. Crossing borders for great savings

First they banned foreign vehicles from filling up at their pumps, then they made an amazing u-turn, reversed the ruling, and instead slapped a 40+ % price increase on their petrol. Malaysia might be better known for sex scandals involving ministers and daylight robberies, but when it comes to saving on petrol, the peninsular gets the heads up.

Smokers get a bonus, with cigarettes costing across the causeway less than half of our ridiculously high prices. (Hey, why do we have to pay taxes for wanting to kill ourselves anyway?)

A word of warning though: the traffic jams at the Woodlands-JB causeway are a pain – sometimes literally, considering you have to endure streams of carbon monoxide and hordes of Malaysian Cubs squeezing into you every half-chance they get – even in the wee hours of the morning. And it doesn’t help that immigration and customs on the Singapore side leave you wondering whether the causeway really is part of our very ‘efficient country’.

Our advice? Pay a little extra for the toll charges (which come up to less than $3 anyway), travel a little farther, and enter via the 2nd link at Tuas. For all the inconvenience, and even with the petrol hike, Malaysia is truly worth it!

That’s all for our money-saving tips. Send us your comments, or your own tips!