Is personal wealth a sin?
No matter our personal beliefs we all aspire to be able to provide a certain lifestyle to ourselves and those around us. However, spiritual beliefs can sometimes hinder our chances of earthly riches.
When you look at the world through a Christian lens, as most religiously motivated Christians do, then it’s hard to ignore social justice and equality. When we think of Christian ideals we think of love and not long after that helping the needy. However, the New Testament scriptures present believers with a dilemma. To provide for those less fortunate you must be yourself presumably rich, or at least have a good stable income. What does Jesus say of people of great wealth?
It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.
Mark 10:25
So the Christian bible is very clear regarding wealth, or at least excessive wealth. It blinds one to the riches of the spiritual “Kingdom of Heaven” preached by Jesus. What does Jesus think if someone is just moderately wealthy? Say, someone with a good income but an expensive mortgage? I would think that Jesus’ advice to someone like that would be to just walk away from your mortgage and preach the Kingdom of God.
That isn’t a viable option for all of these middle-income wage earners who are simply trying to provide for their families. So, I would assume God is simply looking at your wealth's purpose and where it comes from. The Bible is, after all a very old-fashioned document - so old-fashioned it has rules for good slave keeping. So if you’re going to take everything in the Bible seriously you’re going to have a bad time spiritually and economically. So there’s nothing inherently evil about having wealth, just the spiritual perception of evil.
There was a time in my life when I despised wealth. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t hate rich people, I just disliked what wealth did to some people (and what some people will do to get rich). I was also a single guy. Now, I am married with two kids so reality tends to trump the fantasy of living off of God alone. Don’t get me wrong, I am grateful in my life for all that God has achieved. However, I am also acutely aware that I need cash to survive in this world.
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning
James 1:17
We can take from this verse that if God blessed someone with a $90 million lottery win then this is indeed a great thing. However, this type of momentous ‘good gift’ from Heaven would presumably come with responsibilities to spend it appropriately. It also comes with that previous warning from Jesus that no rich man can enter heaven.
We can understand from Jesus’ teachings and state of mind that he would be considered an extremist in modern times. Giving away all of your wealth just doesn’t vibe with our capitalist utopia, but neither does hoarding too much wealth. However, the popularity of billionaires probably proves me wrong. People love the rich. They despise the poor because they remind them of all the failings in this capitalist utopia.
Whether you are rich or poor, bold or meek, I wish you all a Merry Christmas for 2023. Thanks for joining me this year as I write about religion, mental health and more. This might be my last article for the year so I will be writing for you all again in the new year!