Archive for the 'money' Category

Rely on God for every thing????

Published
by
Ken
on October 10, 2007
in god, jesus, money, quotes and thomas merton
. 0 Comments

Thomas Merton, in Echoing Silence, writes:

Naturally, while sometimes you are very quiet and happy because God is very obviously with you, with a presence & blessedness you never imagined possible, at other times this is not so. Then you try to pray or think of Christ and your mind instead of filling with peace, fills with slogans, He-she jokes, movies so bad you had forgotten them by the self-protective work of your own subconscious mind. You think of million dollar advertising ideas, and this makes you very ashamed, and bored, & disgusted. This is a trial common to our life, & has good effects, one of the principal of which is to make you love God not only for His obvious gifts, but realizing clearly, by His apparent absence, how infinitely preferable He is to everything else. That this absence is only apparent is clear from St. John of the Cross, and all the others, & everybody here knows it perfectly well, and really, you feel bad some days, but it is nothing to the bad days you had outside, in the world.

This really stopped in my tracks when I read this: “how infinitely preferable He is to everything else.” According to Merton it’s not a tough decision with God coming in at 51%. It’s a hands down victory. God is infinitely preferable to everything else!! How many of us can say that? I can’t. If we saw God as infinitely preferable to a satisfying job, fashion, a new romance, football, financial security, sex, coffee, the latest high-tech gadget, then Jesus’ call to sell our possessions, leave our families, and suffer injury & injustice would be a no-brainer.

Then Merton says that the bad days when God seems absent are “nothing to the bad days you had outside, in the world.” That’s another tough one. If I think about the worst days of my life, I’m not sure that the days I was pining for God would make the list. Now, I had bad days where God was absent. Believe you me. I remember begging God, pleading with him to make himself known to me. He didn’t and eventually I served him with divorce papers. But were those the worst days I’ve experienced? I don’t think so.

Then Merton continues:

Also, as soon as this is done with, your mind unexpectedly fills up with the presence of God twice as real and twice as holy as before. For another result of these temptations is to make you very docile, very detached from your own opinions and judgments & way of doing things, and then you rely on God for the smallest things, for every thing. And this is peace, because God gives everybody everything, & the only reason each person doesn’t have more is that he gets in God’s way, trying to get things with our own dumb will.

Docile and detached from our own opinions and judgments. Hmmmmm. In how many people do I see this? It seems to me that the greatest self-proclaimed Christians are some of the most opinionated and judgmental people around. And how many of us rely on God for every thing? I know I don’t. Hell, if I relied on God for every thing I’d quit my job and blog 16 hours a day. Instead we got to get up and make the donuts. Money doesn’t grow on trees. The car ain’t gonna fix itself.

But can you imagine relying on God for every thing? Just think about that. That’s got to be like being a kid on summer vacation again. Mom makes your breakfast, lunch, and dinner. No job. No school. Dad buys your clothes. You get driven everywhere. All you have to do is play and watch TV. If that’s not peace, I don’t know what is. But the trick is really and truly relying on someone else. For every thing. For most of us, our control-freak nature takes over and tries to do God’s job. Then all we end up doing is worrying and all that ends up doing us giving us heartburn, insomnia, and ulcers.

Oh, to have faith. Life would be so much easier!

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WWJD … today?

Published
by
Ken
on September 2, 2007
in christianity, environment, jesus and money
. 3 Comments

Over at The Fire and the Rose, D.W. Congdon has an excellent and provocative post. “What would Jesus drive? What would Jesus buy?” is the question. I fired off a comment that Jesus wouldn’t drive anything and a couple other people chimed in with agreement. But D.W. raised an excellent counter-point.

It seems to me that you (and other commentators thus far) are essentially saying that one cannot be a Christian in suburbia. And as much as I would like to say that Christians should not drive and should worship where they live, this is simply an impossibility on any kind of large scale.

. . .

But we live an hour away from the city, because of where I go to school. We have one car. I take the school shuttle so she can have the car. She drives an hour each way to her school. This is certainly not ideal, but it’s the best we can do. My wife, Amy, is working in the inner city, but in order to do this work, she needs a car to get there.

What would you say to her? Would you question whether she really needs a car? What do you have to say to the many Americans who actually do need cars to do things that are really worthwhile and need to be done?

The Christian ideal is to emulate Jesus. But the Jesus that is held up before us like the carrot on a stick is a first century Jesus. What are we supposed to do with that? Sure, the easy stuff is still easy — don’t kill, commit adultery, steal, blah, blah, blah. But Jesus doesn’t say anything about, for example, the environmental impact of our daily lives or the globalness of our culture and society. Sure the clothes we buy in WalMart that were made in China are cheaper for us. But what about the cost of transporting that shirt halfway around the world? Does that matter? Of course Jesus didn’t drive. He walked everywhere because his “parish” was small. (Or was his parish small because all he could do was walk?)

As D.W. asks, is it wrong to live in a place where you cannot commute to work by bus or bike or foot? If we all claim that Jesus would not drive, then what does that say about what we should be doing? There are people in the San Fransisco East Bay area who drive an hour or more each way to work. Some of them do this because they simply cannot afford to buy a house close to where they work. But what are they to do? There are not enough jobs in the area where they live.

The real question I’m asking is: “What would Jesus do … Today?” Answering what Jesus would have done 2000 years ago is a moot point. It doesn’t matter. The Old Testament Law is no longer “valid” for us today — we are not stoning homosexuals and adulterers. Things change. No matter how hard we try to keep things as they were, “as they were” was a change from what they were before that! Jesus said, “Blessed are the meek,” but what does that mean today? What does it mean to be meek today? Can you be both meek and a CEO, CFO, CIO, CTO, police officer, inner-city school teacher, politician, or mega-church pastor? I’ve posted on this before, but the early church sold all their property and gave to those in need. Why don’t we have to do this today if the early church is the gold standard? “Well, because things are different today,” you’ll no doubt say. “Exactly!” I’ll say. “Things are different but our Jesus hasn’t changed one iota. He’s still wearing sandals and walking everywhere with no money, home, car, savings account, IRA, or job.

How does this help me TODAY??

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What do you do with a rich young ruler?

Published
by
Ken
on June 12, 2007
in born again, christianity, faith, jesus, money and wealth
. 4 Comments

(No, this is not a post about drinking songs.)

Most of you, I’m sure, know the story of the rich young ruler who wanted eternal life and Jesus told him to sell all that he possessed. It was in his comments to his disciples after the young man left where he makes his camel and the eye of the needle remark. So, I’m sure most of you know the story but what do you do with it?

I was asking myself this very question while reading Wisdom of the Desert by Thomas Merton (it’s actually a translation by Merton of things ancient hermits said). These hermits gave up everything to go out into the desert and try to find God. What really got me thinking about this was reading how these hermits considered themselves unworthy sinners after years and years and years of searching and fasting and praying. The spiritual practice I do is absolutely nothing in comparison so is there any hope for me? Any at all?

So, I started asking myself: is Jesus really asking me — nay, telling me — to sell everything I own? How rich is “rich” — how rich must I be before it gets in the way? I think a sense of what Jesus was saying is found in the disciples’ reaction to his camel comment. “They were even more astonished and said to Him, ‘Then who can be saved?’ ” They didn’t breath a sigh of relief at this comment and thank their lucky stars they weren’t rich. They wondered who — including themselves — could be saved. I think this because Peter then starts defending the disciples by pointing out the painfully obvious fact that they had left everything for Jesus. Of course Jesus knew this so why did it need to be said?

So, again, I’m asking myself: Do I need to leave everything in order to follow Jesus? Of course, no self-respecting pastor is going to urge his congregation to leave everything for Jesus. No way, no how. If they did, who would pay for refinishing the hardwood floors in the sanctuary and the upkeep on the beautiful stained glass and the organ tuning and his salary! Don’t forget his salary! No. The pastor is going to talk about “attachment” to things or “letting money rule your life” or “tithing” or “coveting” or some other lousy rationalization.

The way I see it, owning something is no different than being attached to it or having it rule over you. I cannot own a car and not be attached to it. If I were not attached, I would not lock it. I would have the absolute minimum possible amount of insurance that still kept me in compliance with state laws. I’d let any of my friends drive it. I’d let my friends’ kids eat ice cream in the back seat. I’d offer to help all my friends use my car to move.

I cannot own a house and not be attached to it. If I were not attached, I would not lock it. I would not have an alarm system. I would have the absolute minimum possible amount of insurance that allowed me to get a mortgage. Scratch that. I would have a house that I could buy outright so that my mortgage payment never troubled me or kept me from tithing and giving the rest of what I owned to the poor and needy. So, I would basically be living in a shack which I probably would not be that attached to.

And what about my family? Jesus talks about leaving family to follow him. Surely he meant that I “leave” my daughter once she is grown and out of the house, right? He can’t possibly be talking about leaving her now when she is 14 months old!! Can he?

I just don’t know. What I do know is that you can think what you want about Jesus’ words to the rich young ruler but as for me, I know I’m attached to my family and to my things. I’ve got financial commitments and I make financial decisions that do not leave a whole lot left over for giving. I make decisions about what I do and when I do it that do not leave a whole lot of time for spiritual practice. And I’m not sure, yet, what it all means and what I’m supposed to do or what I will end up doing about it. But I am sure that these questions will be on my mind.

And as I write this, I feel that this is very inadequate — both my expression of my thoughts and what I’m going to do about it. “These questions will be on my mind.” What the hell does that mean? It’s meaningless. Less than meaningless. But the seed is there. I just need to let it grow. And that, itself, is trite and stupid but I cannot express it otherwise.

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Who are you? Get “defined” at the mall.

Published
by
Ken
on June 11, 2007
in money
. 2 Comments

Buy some crap — find out who you are

As easy as swiping a credit card

 

Get “defined” at the mall

Let these huge companies “define” you

This is YOU

Even our elevators are defining you

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Christians and Money

Published
by
Ken
on February 11, 2007
in christianity, jesus, money and wealth
. 0 Comments

In my posts No Christian should have a bank account or an IRA and Blogger Solves World Problems. Details at 11:00, was I exaggerating? I think that if you literally do what Jesus preached (and I mean literally as in the Bible is literally true and is literally the fully inspired, inerrant word of God and the Bible is literally absolute truth) then no, those were not exaggerations. But given how we interpret the Bible today (see my post The Bible and Society — which conforms to which?) I doubt we should be expected to take anything Jesus said as literally applying to us today since we are so far removed from the social situation of his time. But I would like you to think about a few things in light of Jesus’ generic commands of loving one another, helping one another, yada yada yada.

  • Should there be multi-millionare Christians? Is being a a plain old millionare not enough? Think about how much good those millions would do in the name of Jesus.
  • Should a Christian sock away 15% pre-tax in a 401(k) yet only tithe 10% (and often much less) post-tax?
  • Should a Christian drive the top of the line Mecedes sedan? The E-Class is pretty darn nice and think about how much good those tens of thousands of dollars would do in the name of Jesus.
  • Should a Christian have a basement full of stuff and a Public Storage space and a PODS full of stuff gathering moths and rust? Imagine if you sold everything you didn’t use or, better yet, didn’t buy it in the first place?
  • Should Christians take six-figure vacations or have six-figure weddings? Are they really necessary?
  • Should Christians work 60-70 hours a week and not have time to spend with his/her family let alone give of their time for others?
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What makes a Christian a Christian?

Published
by
Ken
on February 10, 2007
in christianity, jesus and money
. 2 Comments

Most Christians probably thing that it’s what you believe that makes you “Christian.” But there’s a lot in the New Testament that talks about what you do. Works demonstrates your faith. Love is above all. We are to emulate Jesus. So, I’m wondering what’s more important: The spirit of Christianity or the letter of Christianity.

The early church of, say, 34 A.D. would have to be — almost by definition, one could say — the definition of Christianity. And, yes, perhaps the majority of Christians today believe the same things the early church did. That is, the dogmatic points are, perhaps, the same. But the … how should I say it … degree or intensity of belief seems to me to be very different because of what Christians do today compared to what Christians of 34 A.D. did.

For example, I think the typical sermon in the typical church on a typical Sunday morning today would be, at best, a distant cousin to the typical sermon in 34 A.D. The apostles and early church were preaching Jesus in public and baptizing in public and speading the gospel to everyone. Today, Christians are huddled inside their churches with the doors closed and may or may not welcome strangers but probably don’t even talk to them beyond a possible “Hello.” Gone are the days of public baptisms. Gone are the days of public sermons. And how often is the gospel preached on a Sunday morning from the pulpit? Probably very rarely because there are no unbelievers there!

The early church did amazing things to help one another — they were a real family. But today, it may not be at all uncommon on a Sunday morning to find a very wealthy Christian sitting right next to someone in serious financial trouble or even in poverty. Is there any assistence given? Is there even an acknowledgement of the need? I doubt it. Yet the early church members were having “everything must go” yard sales and giving to anyone in need.

And what of Christ — the namesake of Christianity. I imagine that the early church were very busy doing the things Jesus preached when he was on earth. The humility, the love, the giving, the helping. Quite the contrast to the Christians of today who are too busy driving to church in their $70,000+ cars and wearing their designer labels and who are too busy condemning the sinners of the world for their murdering abortions, deviant sexuality, godless liberalism and who are too busy trying to protect their business, political, personal image. They are too busy to hear what Jesus said they should do and only hear what everyone else should not do. Too busy to act like a Christian on Monday and help out a Christian in need. Too busy giving a little of their lot and not noticing the poor Christian giving a lot of their little.

Too busy being their version of a Christian to be Jesus’ version of a Christian.

One of my favorite movies is The Name of the Rose. The main reason I love this movie is the subplot of why all the various Christian sects are converging on this one abbey. They are all there to discuss the very important question: “Did Jesus own the clothes he wore?” To me, the various answers and rationalizations argued by the attendees is much less interesting than the question itself. That the question needed to be asked at all is what is meaningful. They were not discussing whether Jesus owned a one-hump or two-hump camel. They were not discussing whether Jesus wore designer labels or knock-offs. They were not discussing how much Jesus socked away for retirement. They were discussing whether Jesus owned or simply borrowed one of the most basic necessities of life — his clothes.

So I wonder: even though Christians today may share a handful of beliefs with the early church, is dogma enough to really be Christian?

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Blogger Solves World Problems. Details at 11:00.

Published
by
Ken
on January 6, 2007
in But what about this verse?, christianity, jesus, money and wealth
. 1 Comment

This is a follow-up to my recent post No Christian should have a bank account or an IRA.

I started thinking about this and doing a little research and with the help of my trusty HP 15C calculator (which I swear is running on the same batteries since 1982) I’ve figured out the solution to all the world’s problems. Well, at least the monetary, hunger, and poverty problems.

The solution is … drum roll, please …

Do what Jesus tells you to do!

Imagine my surprise at the simplicity of it all. I mean, Christians are supposed to follow Jesus’ teachings, right? I mean that’s pretty much what the whole religion is based on, right? So, if Christians would just do what they are supposed to be doing in the first place then the world would be so much better. You can’t get any simpler than that. No extra work on anyone’s part. You gotta hand it to ol’ Jesus Christ. For being an uneducated carpenter he had a lot of foresight.

So, while I’m waiting for the Nobel Peace Prize commission to review my application and cut my check I’ll let you in on the details of the solution. Now admittedly, the numbers are approximate and some of my figures are a few years old but I do have other things to do than solve the world’s problems to the 17th decimal place and, in any case, you’ll see that it doesn’t make a whole lot of difference. So, here goes …

There are roughly 300 million people in the U.S. of which roughly 80% (or 240 million) are Christians. The average disposable income per capita in the U.S. is around $30,000. Now, the average disposable income is defined as “the income available to persons for spending or saving.” If you’re spending this disposable income it’s on things and according to Matthew 6:19 you are not supposed to do this:

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal [Jesus Christ]

If you’re saving this disposable income it’s “for a rainy day” and according to Matthew 6:34 you are not supposed to do this either:

Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself [Jesus Christ]

And this is the real key to my solution and what makes it so attractive. Christians can solve the world’s problems without selling everything they own or leaving their family to join a convent or shaving their heads and taking vows of celibacy or anything as unpleasant as that. All they have to do is stop buying things and stop saving for retirement. But, as Jesus said, you don’t need to do those things anyway because He will take care of you.

OK, you say. Nice thought but what’s the bottom line?

Here it is … if every Christian really lived by Jesus’ teachings then Christians (and I’m only talking the Christians in the United States) would have $7,000,000,000,000 to help the world. That’s 7 trillion dollars! That’s 7 trillion dollars a year!

What could we do with $7 trillion a year? Let’s see …

  • The national debt is around $8.7 trillion so in one year and about 3 months the country would be out of debt.
  • To sponsor a child through Plan USA costs $24/month or $288/year. For $7 trillion, Christians could sponsor 20 billion children every year which basically means they could sponsor every single child on earth with a whole lot left over!
  • There would be enough left over, in fact, for Christians to foot the bill so the U.S. could abide by the Kyoto Protocol and finally do something about all the pollution we create.

That would be an awesome start. Don’t you agree? And it costs so little! I’ll even kick in half of my Nobel Peace Prize award to get things started. OK?

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No Christian should have a bank account or an IRA

Published
by
Ken
on January 5, 2007
in But what about this verse?, christianity, god, jesus, money, religion and wealth
. 2 Comments

First of all, look at Matthew 6:

  1. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
  2. but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
  3. for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

These are words spoken by Jesus. So, Christians should not have bank accounts or stock portfolios or IRAs or money under the mattress for these are all “treasures upon earth.”

“But,” you say. “But what will we eat? What will we wear? How will we afford to live during retirement? How will we provide for our families?”

Well, Jesus addresses some of these very questions. Look a few verses later…

  1. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
  2. Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
  3. Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
  4. And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
  5. and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
  6. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
  7. Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
  8. (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
  9. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
  10. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Jesus’ answer to all our worries is “take no thought for the morrow!” I guess the original “Don’t worry; be happy.” He claims that if He takes care of the birds and the flowers and if you are so much more than the birds and the flowers that He will take care of you. Pretty radical, huh?

I mean, just imagine, having faith. Faith in an all-powerful, all-knowing, loving God capable of creating the entire world by simply speaking! Why do we think we need to help out God by balancing our portfolios and working our asses off 50 and 60 hours a week to bring home the bacon? God says that He will take care of us. He knows that we need to eat and drink and have clothing (see verse 32) and He will provide.

This is directly from Jesus. He is telling us how to live our lives. Christians are supposed to be like Jesus and do what He tells us to do. Why do so many simply ignore Jesus’ direct words? I’ve heard pastors and teachers talk about these verses but they always talk about getting through “rough times”, there’s a “light at the end of the tunnel.” When you’re out of work, take heart. God will provide. But I don’t read it this way. Jesus is not talking about times “between jobs.” He’s talking everyday.

What’s more, the early church believed this and acted on it! Look at Acts 2:

  1. And all that believed were together, and had all things common;
  2. and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.

They seemed to really believe what Jesus said about riches in Matthew 19:21

If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.

Jesus spoke these words to a young man who had kept all of God’s laws since he was a child. And don’t forget the camel and the eye of a needle comment Jesus makes.

Jesus was poor. His followers were poor. His early church sold possessions and land and gave the money freely to anyone who needed it. But so many in the church today, Christians of today, don’t seem to be listening to Jesus’ words anymore. They are worried about tomorrow and believing what Jesus said. They are basically calling Jesus a liar or not powerful enough to follow through on what He said.

That’s a pretty weak God they want the rest of the world to believe in.

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