Wisdom Philosophy Initiative
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RELIGION & SPIRITUALITY
Give me "Spirituality" over "Religion"
any day!!!
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True Religion with Contentment
is Great Wealth:
The "Love" ("GREED') of Money IS the "Root" of All Evil !
Foundational Philosophy from Bible Translations
(Zondervan New International Version /
Tyndale-New Living Translation)
(I Timothy 6:8-10,12,17-19). “So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content. True religion with contentment is great wealth. People who want and long to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is at the root of all kinds of evil. After all, we didn’t bring anything with us when we came into the world, and we certainly cannot carry anything with us when we die. And some people eager, craving [greedy] for money have wandered from their faith and pierced themselves with many griefs and sorrows.
”Wealth can be a blessing, but can be a curse if it leads to greed. This becomes quite evident every day. Just read the daily newspapers, magazines and tabloids, or listen to satellite and syndicated radio, watch TV entertainment news and reality shows, or visit the internet social media websites.Greed is a learned behavior. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, greed promotes unhealthy segregation, separation and division, instead of healthy integration and unity as one nation under God. Systemically, the seeds of “superiority” and “inferiority”, isolation and disconnection have been planted for centuries to widen the gap between those who have and those who have not, closely resembling the old plantation model of maintaining a system of superior residents in “the big house” - inferior residents in “the ghetto shanties”.
Compare the economic quality of life experienced today in America by the rich in numerous affluent gated communities to the experiences of those who reside in poor inner-city neighborhoods. Examine more closely the contrast between the quality of education, housing, employment, medical facilities/hospitals, cost-saving quality supermarkets and over-priced corner stores.As for the public welfare system, of course, there are some who abuse the system and that small minority should be ashamed of themselves. Every tax payer should offer solutions on how to stop such abuse. However many, many more able-bodied persons would welcome opportunities to get off of welfare if the benefits of working non-exempt jobs offered more than minimal wage and if educational opportunities were not so costly and offered opportunities for high-paying exempt careers.
What about corruption and crime - corrupt leaders, politicians, police departments? What about the fairness of justice and punishment? Greed is inter-related to white-collar crime in “big business”, as well as everyday non-white-collar crime (including illegal financial schemes, the sale and use of illegal drugs, illegal handguns and super-weaponry), too frequently resulting in the ongoing population and over-crowing of more and more jails and prisons. Rich criminals have the financial resources to hire the best, highly-paid defense attorneys to represent them. On the other hand, poor criminals, more often than not, cannot afford such luxury and hope for the best defense possible from under-paid, overworked public defenders.
Greed for money, fame and power is a devastating mind-game that encourages unhealthy competition and unhealthy schemes to habitually accumulate much, much more than is needed to live the comfortable lifestyle of “The American Dream”. Greed is a terrible disease that produces a small but powerful group of hoarders who ultimately become addicted to money, fame and power. Such hoarding too often leads to despair, depression, physical-mental-emotional distress, overdosing from legal medications, illegal substance abuse, and, in some cases, even attributes to suicide or suicidal tendencies.