Posted on 06/17/2014 6:17:20 AM PDT by NYer
One of the more underreported sins is greed. Too easily do we conclude that greed is always about “that other person over there,” who appears to have a little more than I do. Yes, that rich guy over there, the one who earns a dollar more per hour than I do; he is greedy, but I’m not.
But honestly, for all of us, when do we ever come to a place in our life when we say, “I’m earning more than enough money, I’ll just give the rest away to the poor, or to some worthy cause.” Do most people ever come to that point? Not on your life! Consider a man who earns a million dollars a year. When does he ever say, “Honestly, I really only need about $200,000 a year to live very well; I think I’ll just give the other $800,000 away”?
Almost never would such a thought even occur to the average person. Instead, most of us just expand our lifestyle and go on complaining that we still don’t have enough. Yet somewhere along the line, we ought to admit that we do cross over into greed.
What is greed? Greed is the insatiable desire for more. It is a deep drive in us that, no matter how much we have, makes us think it’s not enough. We still want more. And then we get more and we still want more. And the cycle continues. This is the experience of greed.
But, familiar though this is, too few of us are willing to consider that greed is really a problem we can have. Greed is always something that other guy has.
Of course it doesn’t help that we live in a culture of consumption, which constantly tells us we don’t have enough. The car we’re driving isn’t as good as this other car we could be driving (according to the commercial). And so even though we have a perfectly good car: one that has four wheels, a working engine, and probably even air-conditioning, it still it isn’t good enough, and we are actually drawn to feeling deprived by the clever marketing experts of Madison Avenue. So it is with almost every other product or amenity that is sold to us on a daily basis. Therefore it almost never occurs to most of us that we may have crossed the line somewhere into greed. Despite having even six- and seven-figure incomes, many still feel deprived.
But this is all the more reason that we should spend some time reflecting on the nature of greed. Greed is a deep drive of sin, one of the deadly sins, and it brings with it a kind of blindness and illusion that causes us to mistake mere wants for true needs. And as we entertain the illusion that mere wants are actually serious needs, there’s very little to trigger in us the thought that we actually have more than enough. There is very little to cause me to say, “Gee, I’ve gotten greedy” or to work to curb the insatiable desire for more that we call greed.
Once again, it’s the other guy that’s greedy; I’m not. It’s a problem that those nasty rich and powerful people have. Never mind that I’m pretty darned rich myself, living in a home with running water, air conditioning, and amenities like granite countertops and widescreen TVs.
Frankly, when was the last time you heard a sermon on greed? And if you did, it was probably the priest talking about some abstract group of people (not present, of course) who probably also hold the “wrong” political opinions, etc. Yes, greed is always somebody else’s problem.
But when do I honestly look at myself and wonder if I am greedy? When do I ever conclude, on a very personal level, that I have more than enough and that I need to be a lot more generous with what has become excessive in my life? When do I ever apply the old precept that if I have two coats, one of them belongs to the poor? And yes, I understand that it’s good to have something laid up for a rainy day. But when do I ever ask myself if I’m really trusting in God, or just trusting in my rainy day fund? When do I ever wonder if I’ve crossed the line?
I realize that some of you who read this post will find it disturbing. Let me assure you, so do I. These are uncomfortable questions.
Let me also assure you that I do not write this post from a political perspective. I do not want the government mandating how much I can or should earn, and how much I can or should give away. I speak here of a very personal moral assessment that we all should make.
I also do not write as an economist. I realize that market-based economies are complex, and that there is nothing intrinsically wrong with meeting people’s needs with products and services. I am also aware that markets supply jobs. But here again I must insist that somewhere we all ought to ask some personal questions about limits. We cannot simply conclude that greed is always the other guy’s problem.
Greed is one of the seven deadly sins, and so we ought to take it more seriously than many of us do. Yes, somewhere there’s room for most of us to reflect on one of the most underreported sins: greed.
Which part of your statement is the "only", i.e. where it crosses the line into covetousness?
Hmm. Sounds like Distbutionism to me.
Which is a form of socialism, but in fancy dress.
Wrong; I framed my statement to parallel the post to which it was a response.
Do you think there are none who don't [exercise in a God-fearing way their stewardship of the resources God caused to be in their hands]?
Do you think there are none who do?
There are those who do. Do you think there are none who don't?
Which part of your statement is the "only", i.e. where it crosses the line into covetousness?
Only the last is objectively covetous - although the second may well be caused by covetousness.
Is greed a sin?
Did nobody read this far?
“When do I ever apply the old precept that if I have two coats, one of them belongs to the poor? And yes, I understand that it’s good to have something laid up for a rainy day. But when do I ever ask myself if I’m really trusting in God, or just trusting in my rainy day fund? When do I ever wonder if I’ve crossed the line?
“[...] Let me also assure you that I do not write this post from a political perspective. I do not want the government mandating how much I can or should earn, and how much I can or should give away. I speak here of a very personal moral assessment that we all should make.
“I also do not write as an economist. I realize that market-based economies are complex, and that there is nothing intrinsically wrong with meeting people’s needs with products and services. I am also aware that markets supply jobs. But here again I must insist that somewhere we all ought to ask some personal questions about limits.”
A good treatise on the subject. I’d only add:
“What is greed? Greed is the insatiable desire for more THINGS”. The created. The creature.
In other words, insatiable desire isn’t greed. We should NOT think we are to truncate our insatiable desire. Our desire for everything. Why? Or why shouldn’t we feel as though we should limit our desire?
Because our Infinite desire for everything was given to us, by God, in each of our hearts, to point us to the only one who can satisfy such a desire. Himself, or more precisely Christ.
So it’s a tool. It’s a tool for use.
So our infinite desire can be a good thing, if we order it and point it towards him who satisfies. In this way it can be (and has been) said that all desire, no matter his evil and twisted points to Christ. All desire is a desire for Christ.
Recognizing this fact of our humanity goes a long way in helping us realize Christ present in our own life. If we order our desire towards he who satisfies.
Otherwise, it is greed.
That's a might big
This is the camel's head in the tent. Once we start asking ourselves about limits we will see Frank and 0bama take their show on the road and start pressing for income redistribution.
A “God-reverence” or “God-respecting” way.
Are you capable of seeing 2nd and 3rd order effects? Like I said, it is the camel’s head in the tent.
And posted by markomalley as a FR thread here.
FWIW, I continue to be indebted to FReeper all the best for his excellent summation of the subject back in 2008, which I'll reprint here:
Show me just one Catholic bishop who will speak up against coveting your neighbors’ goods. That is why Catholics ignored the Bishops on abortion. They know abortion is wrong but overlooked the Dems on that point because those same politicians pandered to their covetousness. Same for protestants and evangelical pastors, leaders and activists. American politics and government at all levels is driven by government-mediated coveting. Until the Church takes a stand against this we can expect to sink deeper and deeper into socialism and, oh yeah, abortion.
The Seven Deadly Sins: Lust [Ecumenical]
Five Biblical Lists of Mortal Sins
On Sloth and the Noonday Devil
Anger, Hatred and Irrational Rage
The Deadliest of the Deadlies, Today
The Meanest of the Seven Deadly Sins?
Envy A Capital Sin [Ecumenical]
Understanding God's Anger: Compline, Anger, and God
Catholic Word of the Day: CAPITAL SINS, 10-26-10
Anger and the Anger of God (Quotes from Scripture)
Lists Every Catholic Should be Familiar With: The 7 Capital Sins and their Contrary Virtues
Prayer to be Freed of the Seven Deadly Sins
The Seven Deadly Sins Revisited: Greed
"Care for an Entrée With Your Entrée?" Gluttony, the Forgotten Sin
Seven Deadly Sins: Sloth or 'Acedia'
Seven deadly sins alive and well today, says Jesuit journal
The Virtue-Driven Life
The Virtues (counteracting the REAL Seven Deadly Sins)
What are Capital Sins? [Seven Deadly Sins]
Satan's Arsenal: "The Seven Deadly Sins"
The Anatomy of Envy
"We all should make" a moral assessment concerning our own wealth, or concerning someone else's wealth? You have already indicated, in your post #24 above, that it's not covetousness to make a moral assessment about someone else's wealth.
Me acknowledging my own personal susceptibility to greed has the 2nd or 3rd order effect of bringing about redistributionism? Sounds like Bravo Sierra to me.
No.
Maybe you should read this.
"We all should make" a moral assessment concerning our own wealth, or concerning someone else's wealth?
So your answer to my question is no. "When do I ever wonder if I’ve crossed the line?"
You have already indicated, in your post #24 above, that it's not covetousness to make a moral assessment about someone else's wealth.
No, it's a sin against the law, "Judge not that ye be not judged." Not all sins are covetousness.
That was the topic: "When do I ever wonder if I’ve crossed the line?"
Then by all means be on guard.
But in the mean time, Rome wants our money. They don’t care who launders it.
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