Context: Preaching Now publishes an e-mail newsletter, and the current one (found here) opened with a comment that churches and religions organizations have been bilked (sometimes of huge sums of money) by shady operators. The comment urged that what such organizations need is discernment.In response, I wrote the following:I have to say that, in my opinion, churches and other religious organizations that are bilked out of their funds by shady operators promising impossible returns are ultimately motivated by simple
greed. Oh, they'll justify themselves with other excuses, but anyone who bites at that dangling lure is going to get hooked.
The quest for money has become (again in my opinion) the driving motivation in American society today. It's exhibited by a President who puts the best interests of big business above everything else including the national interest. It's exemplified by a Congress that gives itself pay raises and perks, sees no conflict of interest in taking money, goods, and services from organizations whose interests it will vote on, refuses to police its own members, and enacts laws that foster its own vested interests. This
greed percolates down through every level of government to a city treasurer who embezzles thousands to support her gambling "addiction," and a utilities president who stops the cutoff of the chairman of the utilities board who had amassed a delinquency of over $16K while cutting off power to an elderly, disabled women. A government "of the people, by the people, and for the people" has become an oligarchy of the elite, by the elite, and for the elite. The only thing "the people" get to do any more is pay for it.
Mere mention will be made of the recent corporate scandals. Ethical lapses have spread to every area of American corporations, all in the name of the almighty -- no, not the Almighty, the almighty dollar. How can religious institutions be exempt, populated as they are by mere mortals who are products of their society?
Our society's wallowing in
greed is not just encouraged by business but made to seem the norm -- something to be encouraged -- almost a virtue -- by advertising, the main thrust of which has become, "You deserve it," whether it's a hamburger, an ocean cruise, or a villa on the Riviera. The focus of every holiday, no matter how minor, is buying and selling; every weekend is another excuse to shop and spend. The average house now averages over 2,400 square feet, up from 1,400 square feet 20 years ago. Why? To hold all our "stuff."
America's elite might take warning from the parable of Lazarus and the rich man, but if history is any indicator they'd, by in large, rather take luxury now and their chances later.
I might add that America's ubiquitous gluttony in everything from food to oil to pornography has provided ammunition to Muslim extremists who decry everything our country stands for -- which to millions of people around the world seems to be the pursuit of self-gratification at any cost.
No wonder much of the world hates us. A little self-loathing to go along with some self control might improve our stature when we preach the American way of life.
