Profit In a World of Need

“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, 

and lose his own soul?” 

-- Mark 8:36, King James Version

What is the value of your soul? For those who believe, the value of the soul is measured by its eternal quality. It will never die. Your soul – your spirit – will live forever. It is that part of you that has understanding and wisdom. Its worth is truly immeasurable as are its returns on investment. The value of a soul is grounded in faith.

For nonbelievers, the soul is finite. Thus, most nonbelievers' understanding of “profit” is the accumulation of worldly goods they amass until their ultimate demise. Then, wills and other legal declarations transfer the monetary estate to others, be they family, friends, or charities. The worth is measurable – either in life or in death – and its value is purely economic in nature.

Nonetheless, if economics is a science, it must accept the principles of morality taught by the sciences of philosophy and theology. However, many economists prefer to sidestep the moral issue: they see the pursuit of profit as a substitute for morality. Enter unbridled greed and the overwhelming desire for personal acquisition at any cost.

Applied to conservative politics, this yields a hierarchy with the wealthy citizens on the top and the poor – those assumed to be weak by those above them – on the bottom. In the eyes of the wealthy, the bottom dwellers can earn redemption only by suffering and thus, supposedly, getting an incentive to do better. In the meantime, they are doomed to live in scorn without privilege.

Taken to the extreme, some would eliminate any consideration of the needs of the public altogether in order to monopolize their own profit and gain. In other words, economics and moral concerns do not neatly align. Christians and nonbelievers alike struggle with their beliefs and their opposing actions. Money is such a powerful force.

Economics cannot define “good” nor determine the intrinsic value of a moral act. It is easy to believe in the hierarchy of charity that ought to be among people, but in the midst of acquiring wealth and status, people often lose this belief – and their souls – by loving money over mankind. Hence the teaching of Scripture, "Do no set your heart on riches, even when they increase."

“The life of money-making is one undertaken under compulsion, and wealth is evidently not the good we are seeking; for it is merely useful and for

the sake of something else.”

Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics

The Economic Policy Institue found that from 2009 to 2015, the average income of the top 1% grew by 33.9%, more than triple the 10.3% income growth among the remaining 99%. In the years since the Great Recession, the bottom 90% saw annual wage growth of just 5.4%; by contrast, the wages of the top 0.1% grew 29.8%. To be among the top 1% of U.S. earners, a family needs an income of $421,926, a new report from the Economic Policy Institute finds.

Greed – avarice, lust, want, covetousness – is not exclusive to the rich. The selfish, excessive desire for more of something affects people of all incomes. Greed stems from a basic fear of life. To be exact, greed is driven by a fundamental sense of deprivation, a need for something that is lacking or unavailable. Greed, unchecked, destroys your family, friendships and relationships, resulting in unhappiness. It creates tunnel vision while making you reckless, arrogant, and lazy.

Money, profit, soul – no one doubts that riches make the acquisition of pleasure on earth much easier. What must be questioned is the need for excess money at the expense of the common good. When working people struggle because they cannot afford decent housing, food, and healthcare, you must do some soul searching … that is, if you even believe you have a soul.

Got Money? Loving It?

"Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes it's toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul."
"Masters of War"
Bob Dylan

"For what is a man profited,
if he shall gain the whole world,
and lose his own soul?"
-Matthew 16:26

I think everybody, to some extent, loves money. Perhaps love is not the best term to describe the relationship most have with the medium of exchange, but for those who can't control their hungry desires, "tender affection" (excuse the pun) or even "adoration"  and money go hand in hand.

As people feel a strong desire to acquire more and more money as a means of attaining the material goods they perceive reward them with a grand lifestyle and great prestige, they often fall victim to greed. Greed consumes those who exhibit excessive admiration for currency. An unhealthy relationship with money develops as their desire becomes insatiable. Simply put, too much money is never enough.

Psychologists Lea and Webley believe that money, like nicotine or cocaine, can activate the brain's pleasure centers, the neurological pathways that make biologically beneficial activities such as sex feel so rewarding. Money might work in a similar way to pornographic text, which can cause arousal not by giving any biochemical or physiological stimuli, but acting through the mind and emotions. (Stephen E.G. Lea & Paul Webley, "Money as Tool, Money as Drug: The Biological Psychology of a Strong Incentive," Behavioral and Brain Sciences 29, 2006)

Brain imaging studies show some interesting findings concerning money. In one experiment, a team led by Samuel McClure, a psychologist at Princeton University, asked volunteers to choose between receiving a voucher for Amazon.com immediately or wait a few weeks later for a higher-value voucher. Those who chose the instant reward showed brain activity in the areas linked with emotion, especially the limbic system, which is known to be involved in much impulsive behavior and drug addiction. Those choosing the delayed reward showed activity in areas such as the prefrontal cortex known to be involved in rational planning (Samuel McClure, "Separate Neural Systems Value Immediate and Delayed Monetary Rewards," Science 306, October 2004)

So, is the love of money an addiction? I think it can be. It most certainly can become a compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance. Money certainly acts as a substance that can influence the habits of anyone. At first, a simple desire to acquire it seems harmless. Yet, to some, the acquisition becomes so important that they break laws and moral codes to extend their wealth. These people begin to cheat and lie and to use others to increase their prosperity. Some do not care about the fallout of their covetous behaviors.

It seems when people have acquired a large amount of money above their expenditures for necessities, they often feel the added pressures of this acquisition. The need for self-satisfaction, the need to gain acceptance, the need to indulge oneself, the need to establish an image, the need to gain power -- all of these may weigh on decisions about what to do with sums of money. The world teems with those all too ready to map the routes to procurement of any of these needs for someone with enough ready cash.

Is money the root of all evil? I don't really believe so, but that is a matter best left for Biblical scholars and for those with critical minds. People seek money and work for it. It provides for needs and desires. Only when money becomes a "god" does it become a malignancy. Then, those who worship it suffer as greed consumes their lives.

This verse from Matthew 24 seems to describe the proper relationship of a person with money. "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." 

 

I marvel at the great possessions of so many. I know people work so hard to accumulate wealth, and I respect their initiative and tremendous industry. Still, sometimes I see the results of their labor -- the grand houses, the expensive automobiles, the flamboyant people "toys" and wonder about wantonness. 

 

Is restraint a quality that is even admired today? Is the desire to possess luxuries overriding the good common sense of those who live in America? Maybe a little "love of money" does rest within us all. I am willing to accept that reality. Yet, I can't help but wonder what a world less consumed by financial gain might be like.

"Riches may enable us to confer favors, 

but to confer them with propriety and grace 

requires a something that riches cannot give."
-Charles Caleb Colton

 

 

Christmas, Greed, and a Sermon

True, the older I get, the harder it is for me to relish the holidays. Call me an old Scrooge, a pessimist, or just a loopy geezer. I may certainly fit the chosen category. That I do not deny. When did I change from holiday reveler to party-pooper? I honestly don't know, but these days I often associate more pain than joy with Christmas. Of course, this makes me feel guilty but numbness often creeps into hallowed places. This year, I am searching for some reasons behind my apparent negative behavior.   

The Sermon on the Mount is a collection of sayings and moral teachings that contain the central tenets of Christian discipleship. According to Matthew, Chapters 5-7, Jesus of Nazareth gave this sermon (estimated around A.D. 30) on a mountainside to his disciples and to a large, interested crowd. Augustine later said it was "a perfect standard of the Christian life" and John Donne stated that all one's sermon find their origins in this section of Scripture.

To no one's surprise, the Christmas Scripture is most often the wonderful story of the Immaculate Conception, the subsequent travels faced by Joseph and Mary, and the celebrated birth of the Christ child. (Matthew 1:18-25; Matthew 2:1-12; Luke 1:26-38; Luke 2:1-20) However, the Christmas season has increasing become a reverberating appeal of "I want. I want. I want..."

At Christmas, parents and friends often get tangled in the web of trying to grant every material wish of loved ones. The reality is that such behavior creates unrealistic, even detrimental expectations in both the gift giver and the gift receiver. Christmas then transforms into the monstrous holiday peopled solely by flashy advertisers, profit-minded retailers, and ravenous consumers. Beginning with the frantic frenzy of Black Friday and continuing through the sea of returns of the post-season, the holiday normally mutates into a rude, loud, and greedy behemoth.

Of course, all consumers know the value of setting limits, emphasizing giving over receiving, avoiding the acquisition of misinformed purchases, and showing appreciation for thoughtful consideration. With good intentions, no one during Christmas claims to march to the ring of the cash registers and to pour out money for status symbols and frivolities.

But, with heads spinning and eyes transfixed on dwindling December supplies, shoppers reach further and further into their modest and meager savings. After all, it's "the season to be jolly." And people find "the spirit of the season" in the latest Barbie Doll or brand new Lexus. Enter the "must have" gift and the item people "cannot live without." Unfortunately, along with these purchases come overextended credit cards and unpaid loans.

So, my point is that Christmas presents an excellent opportunity to review what some call the greatest sermon of all time -- The Sermon on the Mount. What did Christ teach about worldly possessions and the acquisition of expensive purchases? More importantly, what did Christ teach about greed, itself? The following is a small part of Jesus's Sermon on the Mount, the King James Version of the Holy Bible, Matthew 6:19-24.

¹⁹Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:  ²⁰But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
 ²¹For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
 ²²The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
 ²³But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
 ²⁴No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon (greed, avarice, and unjust worldly gain in Biblical literature -- personified as a false god).

 

What a timely, useful Scripture for the season. And by that statement, I am not condemning the custom of giving Christmas gifts, believing in Santa Claus, or spending money for a significant gift. Instead, I am lifting the ideal of a higher holiday plan -- we should care less about material indulges during the season and more about simpler gifts of spirit and of the heart. 

The amazing thing about resistance to this essential Christian thinking is that WE are responsible for our own material grief and corruption. Consider the irony of the following. When people are feverishly concerned about whether Walmart, the largest retailer in the world, uses the phrase "Happy Holidays" or "Merry Christmas," what does this really say about our Scriptural priorities? Why would we even expect that the mega-giant company would care about anything but making more money during the holidays?

 

Not picking on one retailer, but the point is that WE have developed the view that OUR WALMART Christmas purchases are the real essence of the season. We may insist on Walmart employees including Christ's name as part of a conventionalized expression (given with little or no concern), yet we willingly succumb to associations with the love of money and what it can buy at the store.

 

One British study claims the average woman will spend over 300 hours simply researching the best treats and gifts this year. (Eleanor Harding, "On the 38th Day of Christmas...," Daily Mail Online, November 18 2010) In America, Pricegrabber claims research shows that 66% of shoppers will spend over $500 for Christmas gifts. Last holiday season over 59% of shoppers spent $500 or more on gifts, and this year shoppers plan to spend $845 on average.(ecommerce-journal.com, November 4 2010) And we know these are tough economic times.

 

A simple question might be: How much of your Christmas preparation and money contribute to the treasures of heaven? Might not the true meaning of Christmas lie in a person's understanding of the Christian faith and the obligation to simple goodness? I propose a meaningful holiday study may be a review of Christ's words about service and money. The Sermon on the Mount may be the most appropriate Christmas Scripture.

 

A Christmas Carol by Tom Lehrer - Video