punchy line

...and he (Simon Peter) saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the face-cloth ... not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself. - Jn 20: 6-7
-Jn 20: 6-7

Friday, May 29, 2015

Why I Believe Greed is the Most Pervasive Sin of Our Culture Today

As a Silicon Valley resident I have a front row seat to some of the greatest financial disparities in the country. CEOs commute to work in their luxury cars on the same freeways as their vanpooling, underpaid workers.  Here, some live as kings while the majority are exploited.  Greed's theater.  It's a world surely envisioned by the enemy and sculpted by human greed.  

But even if I didn’t live here, per se, judging by how it’s going in other places of the country, I would argue that in many aspects of our culture, greed is the most pervasive sin of our time.  Here’s why:

Greed keeps people quiet, noses to the grindstone…if those people are lucky enough to have jobs, that is.  Are you sad the Millenials still can’t find work?  I’m sure our parents aren't happy about it either, but it perplexes me that so few have vocally protested.  But then again, they seem to be the only ones working, if not in the best financial positions of their lives… and they’re staying very, very quiet about it.  

Greed leads to corruption in schools, churches and charities.  Why is Fr. Liturgical Dance driving a luxury car while only one percent of his parishioners can afford his parish’s private school?  Why is Catholic School now for the wealthy (is this really what we want, Church)?  Why do charities and universities have six and seven-figure salaried leadership? There sure is a lot of money to be made as an administrator of a tax-exempt organization.  Speaking of taxes...

Greed leads to the misuse of your taxes.  I live in a state with almost the highest taxes on absolutely everything.  Where does it go?  Oh to things like this, this, and this.  Thanks for nothing, Sacramento. 

Greed leads to the spreading and acceptance of more greed.  Is it not in the interest of the greedy to lower social mores and encourage greed in everyone else? Trust me, even the poor can become greedy.   We’ll march off and get our birth control, kill our babies, kill our own bodies so long as the uppers of society will keep us employed.  Don’t forget to tell us our decisions are somehow ‘empowering.’  The manufacturers of liberation are sure profiteering as the serfs buy their propaganda.

Greed insulates against having to feel any responsibility for anyone else and fools you into thinking you are just being practical.  Money Insulation.  This is the condition wherein plenty of comforts can be purchased to distract you away from truly caring about the state of the world.  What else do you need? Just a 401K, right?  Practical.  Just like, say, building barns to store surplus wealth.  Oh, wait…(and no, I'm not saying retirement plans are evil).

Greed delays true maturity.  Why do people put off marriage, kids, and growing up, i.e. real life?   Many may be desperately trying to establish themselves, which is honorable.  However, there is a wisdom in starting a family “before it’s too late” because of its positive effect on you. 

The family is where you learn to sacrifice, share, to let go of worldly treasure and of course, raise kids.   Starting young-ish means you are not too old or too set in your ways to change.  Many who delay starting families even for practical reasons (see above) inadvertently risk never growing up, and getting stuck pursuing prosperity as an end unto itself (i.e. greed). 

Good ol' Rover.
Greed replaces children with “stuff.” It can kill the family before it ever gets started. You’ll have lots of stuff though!  And pets! And lots of stuff for the pets!  You get the picture - and it’s probably a framed one of the Boston terrier on the mantle.

Greed makes you compete for handouts instead of fixing the system.  All of my friends who voted for Obama did so based on just one thing, “He’s going to get us free health care.”  I sympathize.  When your rent increases hundreds of dollars in one month, as it is like to in the Bay Area, you are desperate not to die.  Free healthcare should be something the Church provides… justly.  But we don’t, do we, Church? 

And now Generation Desperation will elect whatever corrupt politician promises them what they need FOR FREE.  This politician or series of them, will stay in office until the Church finally figures out that if we don’t fix problem of the uninsured, someone else will, and it will probably come at the expense and persecution of the sitting-on-our-hands Church.

So to sum up, greed is the most pervasive sin of our time because it is responsible for an era where a working class remains silent in the face of injustice, of over-inflated salaries for administrators, misuse of taxes, lowering of morals, indifference, immaturity, materialism as a substitution for children, and it keeps people clawing for handouts and electing corrupt politicians who promise to fulfill their needs for FREE.   (Side note: murder-for-hire organizations such as Planned Parenthood are thriving in this environment.) 

Hmmm…sounds like my generation.  Have I missed anything?

What the Holy Father has to say about greed.

17 comments:

  1. Well said! Nice original insights.

    The greed demons are having a field day on us. Its not even close. I hate greed, and you are right even poor people can get greedy. And greed is can even infiltrate intellectual life, relationships, spiritual life, pretty much any sort of human relation.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Very true. There was so much more I could have included especially about how greed affects Christians, even "good" Christians, but that seemed like a completely separate post - or novel.:-) Thanks for reading!

      Delete
    2. REAL AND POWERFUL LOVE SPELL THAT WORK FAST AND EFFECTIVELY https://ancientspiritspellcast12.wordpress.com

      Hello everyone i know there is someone somewhere reading this,My name is Dena Cruz from Leicester city,England,I want to share a great work of a spell caster called Priest Ade my husband and i had a fight which led to our divorce but when he left me a part of me left with him and i was to sad and cried all day and night i was searching something online when i saw people testifying about his great work and i just decided to give him a try i did everything he told me to do and he assured me that after 24 hours my husband will come back to me,the next morning to my greatest surprised a car stopped outside my house and it was my husband i'm so happy he can also help you email him at
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      REAL AND POWERFUL LOVE SPELL THAT WORK FAST AND EFFECTIVELY https://ancientspiritspellcast12.wordpress.com

      Hello everyone i know there is someone somewhere reading this,My name is Dena Cruz from Leicester city,England,I want to share a great work of a spell caster called Priest Ade my husband and i had a fight which led to our divorce but when he left me a part of me left with him and i was to sad and cried all day and night i was searching something online when i saw people testifying about his great work and i just decided to give him a try i did everything he told me to do and he assured me that after 24 hours my husband will come back to me,the next morning to my greatest surprised a car stopped outside my house and it was my husband i'm so happy he can also help you email him at
      ancientspiritspellcast@yahoo.com or ancientspiritspellcast@gmail.com  

      Blog: https://ancientspirit1.blogspot.com
      Website http://ancientspiritspellcast.website2.me
      WhatsApp +2347059715465









      REAL AND POWERFUL LOVE SPELL THAT WORK FAST AND EFFECTIVELY https://ancientspiritspellcast12.wordpress.com

      Hello everyone i know there is someone somewhere reading this,My name is Dena Cruz from Leicester city,England,I want to share a great work of a spell caster called Priest Ade my husband and i had a fight which led to our divorce but when he left me a part of me left with him and i was to sad and cried all day and night i was searching something online when i saw people testifying about his great work and i just decided to give him a try i did everything he told me to do and he assured me that after 24 hours my husband will come back to me,the next morning to my greatest surprised a car stopped outside my house and it was my husband i'm so happy he can also help you email him at
      ancientspiritspellcast@yahoo.com or ancientspiritspellcast@gmail.com  

      Blog: https://ancientspirit1.blogspot.com
      Website http://ancientspiritspellcast.website2.me
      WhatsApp +2347059715465


      Delete
  2. As I read this, I find that I keep wondering whether envy is an equally pervasive and destructive vice. And one that sees greed when it may not even be existent in all cases.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not sure what you're implying, if anything, but did you know that greed is a form of envy? It's the "lust" of the eyes - in the sense that the greedy constantly compare themselves to those who they perceive as having more and they "envy" the blessings even of those worse off than themselves as though they alone are entitled to material comforts. Check out this article here:http://www.catholic.com/magazine/articles/the-sin-of-greed. Thanks for reading!

      Delete
  3. Hello Marissa. Greed is neither the most pervasive nor the most destructive sin of our day. As always, the root of all sin, most pervasive and destructive, is pride. The most destructively pervasive manifestation of pride today is gender ideology. it is ripping families apart and seeks to destroy the Church. Greed is a distant third. It is interesting that the French Revolutionaries, and their Communist successors also thought that the main sin against humanity was greed. This allowed them an excuse to engage in envy and wrath in order to correct the sins of the greedy. But at root, they were the spawn of satan, and as his children it was pride that motivates all behavior.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think it is very unwise and counterproductive to debate which sin is the more devastating. All of the deadly sins [pride, envy, anger, avarice, lust, gluttony, sloth] are destructive of our human nature / community.

      Of course, avarice / greed is widely practiced. Consider this: 1 Timothy 6:10: "The love of money is the root of all evils": -- Ignatius Bible RSV Catholic Edition [same translation as the King James Version]

      All sin involves, at its root, some form / degree of pride. I agree that gender ideology is growing and is a threat. Yet, the seven deadly sins are spiritually / organically connected to each other: they spring from the same fallen nature. We need to support each other in humbly identifying, resisting, and rooting them all out with the help of God's Grace---first in ourselves and then elsewhere.

      Marissa, great blog. This was my first read. Thank you for your courage, faithfulness, and perseverance. Keep close to God and keep upo the good work

      Delete
  4. Yes, I have seen this for years. I have seen it and it will hurt everybody, it hurts the rich (for obvious reasons) the middle class (we work our tails off for everything...striving to death for stuff...like expensive colleges etc), it also hurts the poor, the material wealth and ideals are tough to attain for middle class folks, it is difficult for the poor, but maybe middle class way of life is not something toward striving for. Not everyone needs a gingerbread house and a quarter acre lawn and two cars, phones etc. I see hamsters on wheels and family life is destroyed. I have years experience watching this work in the culture. I have also worked (for all the wrong reasons) in a day care for a few months...don't even get me started.

    ReplyDelete
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    ReplyDelete
  6. HOW DR. UNEME brought back my ex lover unemespellben@gmail.com
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    ReplyDelete
  7. HOW DR. UNEME brought back my ex lover unemespellben@gmail.com
    Am DONNA, am from UK. After been in a relationship with my Boyfriend for 1 year now and we were planning to get married soon and all of a sudden he left me for another girl. of a truth, I really love this guy and never can I imagine life without him. I further tried all my best to get him back but all my effort to get him back in my life did not work out. It was on this faithful day, I came across some Testimonies on a website about this great spell caster called (Dr. UNEME) any persons claimed that he help them to renew their relationship and bring their ex lover back, I had to contact him because he was my last hope. I contacted him through his email and he assured me that in three days time my boyfriend is going to leave the other girl and come back to me and it was a very great surprise to see my boyfriend coming back to me after three days the spell was done. I am so very happy today that he came back to me and i achieved this with the help of Dr UNEME I equally want to use this opportunity to Tell/Advice to as many who need their ex back, if you need his help you can Contact him through
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    ReplyDelete
  8. HOW DR. UNEME brought back my ex lover unemespellben@gmail.com
    Am DONNA, am from UK. After been in a relationship with my Boyfriend for 1 year now and we were planning to get married soon and all of a sudden he left me for another girl. of a truth, I really love this guy and never can I imagine life without him. I further tried all my best to get him back but all my effort to get him back in my life did not work out. It was on this faithful day, I came across some Testimonies on a website about this great spell caster called (Dr. UNEME) any persons claimed that he help them to renew their relationship and bring their ex lover back, I had to contact him because he was my last hope. I contacted him through his email and he assured me that in three days time my boyfriend is going to leave the other girl and come back to me and it was a very great surprise to see my boyfriend coming back to me after three days the spell was done. I am so very happy today that he came back to me and i achieved this with the help of Dr UNEME I equally want to use this opportunity to Tell/Advice to as many who need their ex back, if you need his help you can Contact him through
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    Thank You Once Again Dr.UNEME

    ReplyDelete
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  11. HOW I GOT MY EX HUSBAND BACK WITH THE HELP OF REAL AND EFFECTIVE SPELL FROM DR Osasu My name is Olivia Jayden, I never thought I will smile again, My husband left me with two kids for one year, All effort to bring him back failed I thought I'm not going to see him again not until I met a lady called Jesse who told me about a spell caster called Dr. Osasu , She gave me his email address and mobile number and I contacted him and he assured me that within 48hours my husband will come back to me, In less than 48hours my husband came back started begging for forgiveness saying it is the devils work, so I'm still surprise till now about this miracle,i couldn't conceive but as soon as the spell was cast,i became pregnant and gave birth to my third child,if you need any assistance from him you can contact him via:email: drosasu25@gmail.com Or WhatsApp or call him now:

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    ReplyDelete
  12. Greetings to every one that is reading this testimony. I had been rejected by my husband after five(5) years of marriage just because another woman had cast a spell on him and he left me with 2 kids to suffer. One day when i was reading through the web, i saw a post on how he help a woman to get back her husband and i gave him a chance he told me that my husband is under spell, he said that he will help me and after 7 days that i will have my husband back. i believed he and today i am glad to let you all know that this spell caster has the power to bring lovers back now my husband is back with after 7 days . he also gave me a financial magic ring to boost my business and removed bad luck. i am now happy with my husband. Thanks you Dr. love please contact him at (lovespelldoctor0@gmail. com)

    ReplyDelete
  13. HOW DR. UNEME brought back my ex lover unemespellben@gmail.com
    Am DONNA, am from UK. After been in a relationship with my Boyfriend for 1 year now and we were planning to get married soon and all of a sudden he left me for another girl. of a truth, I really love this guy and never can I imagine life without him. I further tried all my best to get him back but all my effort to get him back in my life did not work out. It was on this faithful day, I came across some Testimonies on a website about this great spell caster called (Dr. UNEME) any persons claimed that he help them to renew their relationship and bring their ex lover back, I had to contact him because he was my last hope. I contacted him through his email and he assured me that in three days time my boyfriend is going to leave the other girl and come back to me and it was a very great surprise to see my boyfriend coming back to me after three days the spell was done. I am so very happy today that he came back to me and i achieved this with the help of Dr UNEME I equally want to use this opportunity to Tell/Advice to as many who need their ex back, if you need his help you can Contact him through
    EMAIL: unemespellben@gmail.com WHATSAPP HIM @ +2348143813120


    Thank You Once Again Dr.UNEME

    ReplyDelete

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