Greed

[Hoosiernorm]

[Torchwood]

It's the sin the Puritans and tele-evangelists don't notice.

The wonderful thing about capitalism is that it is so peaceful, because greed substitutes for naked violence. Seems it still could destroy us all.

[Tinker]

[Ibrahim]

[noddy]

[lzzrdgrrl]

awww....... Uncle Milty.....;)))))........

Greed is not rational self-interest, it's the existential mania to make oneself significant by occupying a larger portion of the universe. Either by acquisition, appropriation or simply taking over priority. Sorta like when the puffer fish blows himself up, that deal.......

[Demon of Undoing]

All sins are one, and eternal in the mind of God, the only permanent store of info. If only he may be persuaded to forget them in order to remember us...

[Mr. Perfect]

Greed is a concept with little utility and collapses into the logic loop of the old selfish vs unselfish (when you act unselfishly you are actually being selfish because you are doing something you think is right, selfishly appealing to your vanity, and so forth).

So Tinker's examples are what they are but one could say that one could be greedy about their health, greedy about your significant other, etc. A better word to describe these things would be "balance", because by pursuing too much of one thing we can pursue too little of another. And that word bears less on money.

Eg, the word itself does not appear in the KJV one time, and words like greedy or greedily only a handful of times. And that is offhand, never the root of a teaching.

The Bible concerns itself far, far more with coveting, which is a different deal. We see the occupy people coveting heavily, to their detriment, damaging their lives and spirit. The second and more relevant bible aspect is idolatry, or putting the material ahead of the divine. Remember JC said that he wanted to alleviate poverty, not create it. Somebody's gotta be makin some money somewhere in order to do that.

In the traderverse the psychologists think the markets are driven by fear and greed, but they are dead wrong. You can buy from greed or fear, and sell on greed or fear. Cancels itself out. Buyers are lessening their exposure to opportunity cost, sellers are lessening their exposure to risk. That is not fear or greed, or it is both.

One way to look at what people mean by greed is perhaps preoccupation, excessive focus on money. But I believe the problem their is the preoccupation, not the money. Preoccupation isn't good for you.

So it is time to lay aside greed in economic parlance. It worked for a while but it is time to move on. From that word.

[Tinker]

The occupy people aren't coveting. You're a moron. You really cannot comprehend that not everyone wants what you want. It's kind of pathetic.

I wish you'd stop trying to say that Christ is really Mammon so you can square your true God with your professed faith. You say it's less so with money, and yet Christ said the exact opposite. The Parable of the Talents was about talents, not about money.

We're on our way to throw you out of the temple moneychanger.

[Mr. Perfect]

[Nonc Hilaire]

Quick note on the cardinal vice of sloth, and they are cardinal vices not sins. They lead to sin, and are good indicators one is heading off-track spiritually but are basically human weaknesses and not sins. themselves.

Sloth is not the contemporary meaning of laziness. It is not taking one's spiritual life seriously. It is living in the world with no thought of why why one was created. One of the many cases where the meaning of a word has changed over the centuries.

[Ibrahim]

"Vanity of vanities, all is vanity."

Nobody on this forum is actually a Wall Street investment banker.

I do believe that one or two people are involved in Occupy Wall Street, but different people.

[Tinker]

[Mr. Perfect]

[Captain Murphy]

Jesus wanted all mammon given away. Attachment to worldly possessions was to be shunned.

[Mr. Perfect]

[Captain Murphy]

[Mr. Perfect]

[YMix]

Matt. 6:19-24
"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where you treasure is, there your heart will be also…No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."

Matt. 8:19-20
"Then a certain scribe came and said to Him, 'Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.' And Jesus said to him, 'Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head'."

Luke 18:24-25
"And when Jesus saw that he became sorrowful, he said, 'How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of heaven. For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

Luke 6:20, 24
"Then He [Jesus] lifted up His eyes toward His disciples, and said: 'Blessed are you poor, For yours is the kingdom of God…Woe to you who are rich, For you have received your consolation.'"

Luke 21:1-4
"And He [Jesus] looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. So He said, 'Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had."

[Mr. Perfect]

[YMix]

[Tinker]

[lzzrdgrrl]

[Captain Murphy]

[Mr. Perfect]