LKM On Money

Money is still our universal king, even if sex is the crown prince. Money is an all-consuming focus of our attention in all human affairs, and nothing happens without money in the picture somewhere.

How does money relate to religion? The Bible New Testament mandates Christian believers to understand themselves as being not owners of money, but merely its stewards. Money, says the Bible, must be used to advance the cause of the Kingdom of God, and not to be consumed on personal carnal lusts: war and contentions among men result from the latter behaviour. Luke 12:43-48, 18:18-25, and James 4:1-3. The Lord requires of each Bible believer a measure of financial accountability concommitant with the extent of his or her financial blessing: "..to whom little is given, little is required, and to whom much is given, much is required.." The religion of Islam condemns usury, i.e. taking undue and exploitive advantage of those needing to borrow money. Judaism sees money as a ladder to heaven, saying few, if any, good works on earth are possible without money. Indeed, Christianity also has a long historic record of building academic institutions and hospitals, and rest assured these tasks were not accomplished for free! But money could also be a ladder to hell, if used for ungodly, diabolical purposes. Even so, the famous Bible New Testament parable of the talents(Matthew 25:14-30) agrees with the Judaic view of money, so long as its use is for cause of advancing the Lord's kingdom. Indeed, Jesus Christ said the unprofitable servant is to be cast out and rejected.

What of the conflict between capitalism and Communism? Karl Marx, the father of Communism, was descended from a long ancestry of Jewish rabbis. Some of his complaints about the social impact of capitalism are also shared by the Bible, e.g. capitalism makes a virtue out of greed, it destroys all human inter-personal abstract values and replaces them with shameless cash value, it leads to militarism and global imperialism, private property-owners are exploiters of working-class people, and, in the end, it digs its own grave through business failures and mergers, until monopoly is accomplished. This process, said Marx, is the historically inevitable evolution from capitalism to socialism and finally Communism. The Bible goes further, to record in Ezekiel 7:19 that in the Day Of The Wrath Of The Lord, men will throw their gold and silver in the streets as useless to the satisfaction of their needs and greeds, because "it is the stumbling block of their iniquity".

Still, the Bible does not advocate Communism, as once claimed by the late U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy during his hey-day of the early 1950s. Jesus Christ did advocate sharing of one's riches with the less fortunate, but on voluntary basis motivated by love for both God and man. Whereas, Karl Marx said "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need", Jesus Christ said, "From each according to his ability, to each according to the need of others". Communism proposes to solve the enigma of human greed by forcible confiscation of all private property from individuals by the government. The Bible, by contrast, proclaims that God loves a cheerful giver. II Corinthians 5:7. The Bible advocates private property, as seen in the Decalogue commandments of THOU SHALT NOT STEAL, and THOU SHALT NOT COVET THY NEIGHBOR'S POSSESSIONS.

As long as capitalism is based on voluntary exchange of goods and services without government intervention of any kind, the consumer is king in the free and open market-place, while Communism is largely discredited and doomed to the trash-heap of history. Economic Communism and socio-political free democracy simply will not cooperate to mutual benefit. Either we will freely decide for ourselves, or government will decide for us, and rob us of the capacity to decide for ourselves.

Who or what decides the purchasing power of the dollar? Most people today would point to the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank and to other financial institutions. But surprise! It is the heart and spirit of the individual person, who decides how many dollars he or she must receive in exchange for a product or service. This decision, in turn, is based on ability and willingness do distinguish between need and greed: how high-off-the-hog do people think they "need" to live? But the answser to this question necessarily includes potential capacity to bless and benefit other people, as well as one's self. It is great for us to have money, so long as money does not have us!

-LKM