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The Bible says in 1 Timothy 6:10
"For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs."
Many people have quoted this verse wrongly in defence of the importance of money as a lubricant to the economy. In most cases, the word "love of money" is left out when quoting the Bible for argument purposes.
Any student of economics or business will vouch for the importance of wanting money ..... be it as a motivation for a better life or as a necessary 'push factor' for the betterment of mankind.
In the quantity theory of money (for illustrative purposes),
MV = PQ (where M = amount of money in circulation, V = transactions velocity of money, P = general price level, Q = real value of final expenditures)
Well, at the moment, money is essential for the running of the economy (till the ECB's and the FED's monetary easing devalues fiat currency to worthless, we may revert back to gold or even barter trade). From the equation above, the more the merrier .... to simplistically explain it.
In the book of Proverbs, many verses deal with money and its accumulation. Examples are:
Proverbs 13:11 - Dishonest money dwindles away, but he who gathers money little by little makes it grow
Proverbs 21: 17 - He who loves pleasure will become poor; whoever loves wine and oil will never become rich.
Proverbs 28:19 - He who works his land will have abundant food, but the one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty.
Proverbs 30:25 - Ants are creatures of little strength, yet they store up their food in the summer;
These are teachings about wisdom in dealing with hard work, wisdom in restraint, the need to save and the futility of thinking big but not putting in the effort.
While the Bible preaches hard work, wisdom not to be obsessed with wealth and in showing restraint .... the world preaches a different thing.
Let us look at the words spoken by Gordon Gekko of the movie "Wall Street" Please pardon me if i missed out some of the words. I memorized the speech many years back when I was in awe of this movie:
"Greed for the lack of a better word ..... is good. Greed is works. Greed cuts through and captures the essence evolutionary spirit ......Greed for love, for knowledge ..... will mark the upward surge of mankind .......and save the malfunctioning corporation called the U.S.A. ...."
And this greed was clearly manifested in demise of the 'real' Wall Street in New York and in Europe currently. The amount of Collaterized Debt Obligations (CDOs) artificially created by using derivatives was at least 200 times the amount of real debts available at that time. And see where this 'greed' by the investment bankers have brought us to ?
This 'greed' ..... is what the verse is referring to ...... the love of money. An obsession to the exclusion of everything else. To the exclusion of morality, the exclusion of conscience, of fair play ......
Nobody will argue with you on the importance of money. Christians and the rest of the western civilisation's work ethics are all based on the teachings of the Bible. The Jews are amongst the richest people around.
But when you attempt to bring out a verse of the Bible for argumentative sake, please quote it properly. It is the love of money that the Bible is warning about, and not just money.
The word 'love' should invoke an intense feeling of desire ... if you cannot picture it, just recall your first puppy love, and remember how intense it was and how obsessive you were about it ..... to the exclusion of food and sleep .......
"For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs."
Many people have quoted this verse wrongly in defence of the importance of money as a lubricant to the economy. In most cases, the word "love of money" is left out when quoting the Bible for argument purposes.
Any student of economics or business will vouch for the importance of wanting money ..... be it as a motivation for a better life or as a necessary 'push factor' for the betterment of mankind.
In the quantity theory of money (for illustrative purposes),
MV = PQ (where M = amount of money in circulation, V = transactions velocity of money, P = general price level, Q = real value of final expenditures)
Well, at the moment, money is essential for the running of the economy (till the ECB's and the FED's monetary easing devalues fiat currency to worthless, we may revert back to gold or even barter trade). From the equation above, the more the merrier .... to simplistically explain it.
In the book of Proverbs, many verses deal with money and its accumulation. Examples are:
Proverbs 13:11 - Dishonest money dwindles away, but he who gathers money little by little makes it grow
Proverbs 21: 17 - He who loves pleasure will become poor; whoever loves wine and oil will never become rich.
Proverbs 28:19 - He who works his land will have abundant food, but the one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty.
Proverbs 30:25 - Ants are creatures of little strength, yet they store up their food in the summer;
These are teachings about wisdom in dealing with hard work, wisdom in restraint, the need to save and the futility of thinking big but not putting in the effort.
While the Bible preaches hard work, wisdom not to be obsessed with wealth and in showing restraint .... the world preaches a different thing.
Let us look at the words spoken by Gordon Gekko of the movie "Wall Street" Please pardon me if i missed out some of the words. I memorized the speech many years back when I was in awe of this movie:
"Greed for the lack of a better word ..... is good. Greed is works. Greed cuts through and captures the essence evolutionary spirit ......Greed for love, for knowledge ..... will mark the upward surge of mankind .......and save the malfunctioning corporation called the U.S.A. ...."
And this greed was clearly manifested in demise of the 'real' Wall Street in New York and in Europe currently. The amount of Collaterized Debt Obligations (CDOs) artificially created by using derivatives was at least 200 times the amount of real debts available at that time. And see where this 'greed' by the investment bankers have brought us to ?
This 'greed' ..... is what the verse is referring to ...... the love of money. An obsession to the exclusion of everything else. To the exclusion of morality, the exclusion of conscience, of fair play ......
Nobody will argue with you on the importance of money. Christians and the rest of the western civilisation's work ethics are all based on the teachings of the Bible. The Jews are amongst the richest people around.
But when you attempt to bring out a verse of the Bible for argumentative sake, please quote it properly. It is the love of money that the Bible is warning about, and not just money.
The word 'love' should invoke an intense feeling of desire ... if you cannot picture it, just recall your first puppy love, and remember how intense it was and how obsessive you were about it ..... to the exclusion of food and sleep .......
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