dougs digs

Money is not only a necessary medium of exchange for goods and services, as the prophets of capitalism would have us believe. Money and wealth have become Mammon, a means to power over other human beings who are also “created in the image of God.” Archbishop Romero of El Salvador said before he was murdered in 1980: “Money is good, but selfish persons have made it bad and sinful. Power is good, but abuse by humans has made it something to fear. All has been created by God, but humans have subjected it to sin” (The Violence of Love).

These prophets of Mammon often use the “Christian” jargon of the self-proclaimed righteous ones, the “Moral Majority,” the “saved” ones. Yet strangely enough, they all seem to come down on the side of wealth and property, and consequently, power over others. They claim God’s special blessing, but they worship the Golden Calf.

And if things don’t go well for our modern day prophets of profit, the solution is to punish or eliminate the “bad guys,” the “evil-doers.” Sound simple, doesn’t it? They would have us all believe that there are simply bad guys and good guys, and that we know who they are.

Now, if you are a follower of Jesus you know that there are really no “good guys” or “bad guys.” All people have the same basic physical needs to sustain life, the same human nature, and the same desires and motivations, such as self-preservation and generosity, sexual desire, and the need to love and to be loved. We are all capable of goodness and sin. We can all be selfish or unselfish, violent or peaceful, loving or hateful, constructive or destructive, compliant or obstinate. As Walt Kelly’s Pogo has told us, “We have met the enemy, and he is us!”

http://www.bruderhof.com/articles/Prophets-of-Profit.htm?source=Breakfast