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The Love Of Money

Nicole wrote (24 Sep 2000):

If the love of money is the root of all evil, I wonder how it works.

Does anyone know?

Does that explanation really explain ALL evil in the world?

Huh? Anyone?

Frank L. Hoffman wrote (24 Sep 2000):

Let's look at a few examples:

Armament - People who make money from the armament business have a vested interest in having their products used; thus the military-industrial complex supports war.

War - Nations go to war because they want what some other nation has - quite often it is tied to land, a kind of wealth (money).

Theft - People steal to get what someone else has, because they either can't afford it or because they want more.

Politics - Here I will quote Howard Lyman - "Politics and politicians operate by the golden rule. Them that got the gold, rule."

Health care - Drug companies don't make money unless they sell drugs. Doctors don't get paid unless they treat sick people. Health care institutions only get paid when people are in their care. Thus, it pays to keep people sick. Practitioners rarely are paid to prevent illness.

I hope these simple examples help. Perhaps the rest of you could come up with some other examples.

As a follow-up to your question as to whether the love of money is the root of ALL evil, I like the NASV translation the best for it expresses the thought of 1 Tim 6:10 as, "all sorts of evil".

There are two major types of evil activity that are expressed in the Bible that are not necessarily connected to money. They are sexual acts outside of marriage and idolatry, and this list could be expanded to include other categories.

Aaron Cardenas wrote (24 Sep 2000):

NIV says: For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.

Nicole wrote (24 Sep 2000):

Yes, this is all true, and we have no shortage of good examples of how greed and "the love of money" do horrible things, destructive to humans, nonhumans, and the ecosystem.

But can this explanation, "the love of money is the root of all evil", really explain ALL evil?

Isn't there some malice which is NOT motivated by greed? Isn't there some "wrong" or "evil"

And what about "doctrinal error" which numerous Christians seem to think is an evil. Is THAT motivated by a love of money? No doubt, when we explore the social world, we see that perhaps SOME "straying" could be explained by being wooed by the world, and perhaps even it's a rationalization of what one is doing because of one's love of money, but is money REALLY the ROOT of ALL evil?

Frank Overman wrote (24 Sep 2000):

Let me share what I think the love of money is all about. If a person loves money, they aren't serving God. A person can have a lot of money, yet not love it. When you loves money, that becomes your focus, and God needs to be our focus. When we place anything above God, that is the start of evil in our lives. I hope this helps you understand this verse.

The love of money is the root of all evil in the life of the person who loves it. I don't know if it's the root of all evil throughout the world, but I think it plays a big part. Take wars for example, most wars in the world, if not all have been planed because war generates a lot of money for arms dealers. The is a lot of money made in the beef, pig, and chicken industry. Money made through genetically altered foods, without much, if any thought to whether it is good for people.

Nicole wrote (24 Sep 2000):

I think that the NASV translation would be acceptable to EITHER NAVS, inasmuch as neither ALL eating of dead animals nor ALL vivisection seems directly related to the love of money, although some surely is, as many animal rights people have energetically made known to us.

Peter Muller wrote (25 Sep 2000):

How is love of money the root of ALL evil?

Let me give it a try

My interpretation of scripture is a lot less literal and more symbolic than many members on this list (from what I've seen so far) -- so please don't let that bother you.

In the beginning, after mankind evolved (as did our fellow creatures) in a land (Africa) which was filled with fruit and plants to nourish us and sustain life -- life consisted mostly of sitting around talking about religion, politics, astronomy and solving puzzles. Whenever someone got hungry he or she just reached up to pluck a banana from a tree or walked a couple feet to a berry bush or a manna tree. Thing were just dandy until one day some person discovered that food could be stored. If you gathered and stored enough food for a week you didn't have to get up and pick food you could just remain seated. If you had food you could offer someone else food now if they would bring you 10% more as soon as it stopped raining or the wind died down or whatever. Soon accounts were kept as to who owed whom food; tokens representing stored food were used to make the transactions easier and money was born. Now hoarding and piling up more food than was necessary to sustain oneself and one's family started to accelerate we created "laws," defined crimes, protected "rights to hoard" and to pass on hoards to future generations an -- in short created the hell-on-earth that we call civilization.

Debra Stitt wrote (25 Sep 2000):

God is Love - All Powerful, All Knowing, Intimately Acquainted with all our ways... Jealousy? Coveting?

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Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.

Psalm 37:7 NIV

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Neither shall you covet your neighbor's wife; and you shall not desire your neighbor's house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor's.

Deuteronomy 5:21 RSV

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Do not envy a man of violence And do not choose any of his ways. For the devious are an abomination to the LORD; But He is intimate with the upright.

Proverbs 3:31,32 NASB

Frank L. Hoffman wrote (25 Sep 2000):

I have been pondering over Nicole's statement: "neither ALL eating of dead animals nor ALL vivisection seems directly related to the love of money, although some surely is, as many animal rights people have energetically made known to us."

I'm not sure that this is true.  I lean more toward Peter Muller's humorous way of interpreting the Bible.  When people learned about money and wealth, and the storing of food, they also began keeping animals, for they saw them as a form of wealth, too. Thus, I must conclude that all animal agriculture is tied to the love of money in one way or another, and today, it certainly is filled with much evil.

My previous comment about the health care industry also links the vivisection issue to the love of money.  I can think of no example where it is not linked.

Aaron Cardenas wrote (25 Sep 2000):

The frontiersman who hunts or fishes for dinner for him and his family does not have love of money as his motivation.

Similarly, the typical elementary or middle school youngster does not connect the ham-and-cheese sandwich his mother packed for lunch with a love of money.

Nicole wrote (25 Sep 2000):

An economic reading of the agricultural history of both Europe and the Indian subcontinent supports this interpretation, Frank.

Even the old "Christian" song goes "He owns the cattle on a thousand hills, the wealth in every mine."

But I agree with Maynard that Psalm 24:1 teaches us that animals are NOT ours to eat, wear, or experiment on, for "The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof, the world and they who dwell therein."

But, again, if we're going to be "tough-minded" -- and we let the "tenderness" be in our hearts, not our minds, is ALL evil rooted in the love of money?

This is a logical and a philosophical question, and the dodging of the logical dimensions of the question may be characteristic of Christian apologists AND vegetarian advocates.

"If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." Psalm 66:18

Peter wrote (25 Sep 2000):

This Scripture quite well answers the question about the love of money - Ps 66:18.

Also in James 4:17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

Before I became a vegetarian, I had no idea about the eating of animals as being wrong.

Frank L. Hoffman wrote (25 Sep 2000):

In reference to Aaron Cardenas' two statements:  I can agree with his example of the frontiersman, but I disagree with the example of the mother making a ham and cheese sandwich. 

Since ham and cheese come from an industry that makes money through the inflicting pain and suffering upon innocent animals; then, to me, the buying of their products, supports their love of money and their indifference to the suffering of others, and in turn becomes part of the evil.

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