I’m at the Acton Institute and I’m thinking about greed.  Greed is the essence of capitalism, right?  Michael Douglas captured this sentiment as corporate villain, Gordon Gekko, in the 1987 movie Wall Street. 

“The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed – for lack of a better word – is good.  Greed is right.  Greed works.  Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit.  Greed, in all of its forms – greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge – has marked the upward surge of mankind.”

Filmmaker Michael Moore echoes this attitude in his movie Capitalism:  A Love Story, calling the free market system “legalized greed.”  Well, if Hollywood is correct, then a free market economy isn’t an option for the Christian.  Jesus is clear on the matter:  “"Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."  Greed is immoral.  But is capitalism based on greed?  No, and if you think so, you’ve bought into the myth.

continue reading

I was driving around last week, listening to the song “God In You” by the PawnShop kings when this lyric leapt out of the radio, grabbed hold of my heart and refused to let go:

Just ‘cause a voice in your head spoke to you

Doesn't mean God’s telling you what to do

That’s not God in you

 

I immediately felt a pit in my stomach because those words, sadly, hit a little too close to home.  How many times have I manipulated God’s word for my own selfish gain?  How many times have I formulated a plan for my life and then “used” God as a justification to continue forward?  

 

I know I’m not the only one, too.  How many divorces have found a husband and wife at odds - one fighting to leave, one fighting to stay, both convinced they were doing “what God told them to do”, even though they were conflicting actions?  How many people have been pulled into cults - Christian cults and otherwise - simply because they felt a burning in their bosom?

How much violence has been attributed to “following God’s voice”?  How many terrorist attacks?  How many abortion clinic bombings?  

continue reading