The love of money is primarily the
love of the means to accumulate. I own 3 guitars and 2 amps, and could easily
justify additions and would be sorely tempted to purchase accordingly, if funds allowed. My
thirst for things is not easily quenched.
However, I don’t like indebtedness in my accounts and disrespect my
government for its unwillingness to
balance theirs.
Whatever resolve we might have
to fight off the love of what money will accumulate, we are overwhelmed by sales
pitches recommending yet another purchase to meet an ever-expanding set of felt
needs -- within a system that depends on unnecessary purchasing to keep so many
of us employed.
Yet when machines and robots do
most of the work, even fight our wars, by what cheap thrills will the rulers
distract us? How long before the NFL is
on every night of the week, before no medications are illegal, and a casino is
within walking distance of all? Oh, what
Huxley could see with a 1932 lens!
I pine for the days before free-agency
in baseball, for the decades when corporations considered taxation a part of community obligations,
when blue-collar workers could count on a union to help secure a living wage –
and yes, when America produced nearly half the world’s goods. ;-)
Though I’m a selfish person --
who nonetheless admires the communalist --
“from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs”
sounds like the kingdom of God to me.
Marana tha.
What opportunity the Church will
have to preach contentment -- in plenty or want.
Question: "If evil is deeply rooted in the love of money, how is evil to be monitored, countered, even defeated -- in ourselves, our communities, our governments?"
ReplyDeleteTwo advantages of being dead are objectivity and time to think ... and here in Hades, we have alot of former experts on money [although I have not met Jacques Ellul]. Here is what I have learned about money.
Most people engage in honest labor in exchange for money. Many people commit all kinds of evil to secure [by dehumanizing exchange, subtle deceit and outright theft] money. Some people use one kind of money to buy another kind [currency traders aka money-changers]. A few people [counterfeiters and central bankers] create money. But for them all, it is never the money they want but rather the things [including power over others or just a sense of satisfaction or security] which money promises to provide either immediately or in the future.
Money permits people to make indirect and mutually profitable "current" exchanges. A welder and an opera singer can "come together" thru money. Money also enables mutually profitable "staggered" exchanges. A retiree with life savings can loan money to a young family to buy a home with the promise that the money will be returned with interest in the future permitting the retiree to pay future living expenses. Thus money is a good thing for us ... for the essence of free and honest indirect exchange using honest money as a medium is mutual benefit. So it is vital that money be free to "talk", since it translates among us our changing abilities, needs and desires ... even though this freedom will result in some regrettable relative value exchanges. In that sense our money belongs to us all collectively ... indeed, the word "coin" means something which we hold in common value.
But when one begins to "love" money more than honesty, justice, kindness [which some mistake for equality] or any other virtue, money ceases to be a medium of free mutually profitable exchange and becomes the medium for coerced unilateral destructive exploitation. We know how to codify, catch, crucify and even redeem thieves [including counterfeiters] who steal from others by force or deceit; even though we can never prevent confused or greedy people from valuing "enough" money more than things like sexual integrity [Rahab and Jesus' friends] or fraternal fidelity [Jacob and Judas] until it is too late for them to reverse the exchange ... although most such people eventually do "learn". But where we fail without excuse is allowing some men to use public power for private gain by taking money honestly earned [including the opportunity to earn money aka freedom] from others by force majeur [including, even especially, central bank adulteration of our money for the gain of a few insiders at the expense of the many who honestly earned and prudently saved money for future use]. For when we give any men such power over our money [and thus over our freedom to earn money honestly], we destroy the vital common value among us and are doomed to become victims of and co-perpetrators in commercial babel and all kinds of evil.
Chaerephon
My response in absentia….
ReplyDeleteThe evil that is found in the love of money is simple the evil that has been in the human heart since the Fall….the desire to become god…….man falls because he is not god but believes the serpent’s words that surely you will be as gods…..the evil is not in the money but in the human heart wanting to be god through the accumulation of power……..money allows this accumulation only because it is a monopoly……governments have restricted ‘legal tender’ to “their” money….because all trade takes place with money they necessarily control all the trade indirectly and hence the power……if there were competing forms of money not back by governments ability to dictate trade values by printing money and saying you have to trade with this currency then money would take on a whole new aspect in people's minds …….they would see money as a product like any other product you buy……when you would trade you would use money that was of the greatest value to both parties in terms of what money is supposed to do as a product, hold value and be portable…..and like cereals on the shelf you would use the money you thought best to trade with…..so because there is no one money that acts like a monopoly( and the accompanying action that takes value out of a product because people are force involuntarily to use it) but many monies that compete for use power is not able to be concentrated…there comes about a natural focus on elevating the person you’re dealing with and making that agreement sound….this is the beginning of ‘loving your neighbor’……our society has created a god out of the Government and has given up their work to the Government controlling them through money…..hence the evil in the human heart wants to acquire money to have power…….I believe if you just allowed money to be competitive like very other product we use, you could not accumulate great wealth except as you loved your brother…….
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