For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. 1 Timothy 6:10.
People are. So the good people need to learn how to build wealth. I’m sick of people talking about “greedy rich people” or “evil CEO’s.” Having money doesn’t make you greedy or evil. Not having money doesn’t make you good either. Money or lack there of doesn’t have any bearing on what type of person you are.
Money is simply a means to trade goods and services. It makes transactions convenient. It is a little worthless piece of paper, or some bits in a computer somewhere. Having more of it just means you can do more things with it. You are the person that decides whether those are good things or not. Many people with great wealth use it to better the world. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are actively working to give away their fortunes. Buffett actually pledged 99% of his wealth to go to charity during his life or at his death. That is a huge sum of money.
Having money didn’t make either of those men greedy or evil. It simply benefited the rest of the world greatly. They actually have been secretly (until recently) trying to get the billionaires of the world to pledge at least half their wealth to charity before they die. This could result in over half a trillion in donations to charities around the world.
Now before everyone starts to give me examples of evil rich people, I know they exist as well. First, the point is it isn’t the money that makes them evil, it just magnifies it and lets everyone else see it. I know plenty of poor jerks as well, they just aren’t famous. Second, the thing to realize here is that the money can just as easily magnify good as it can evil. That is why I started this website. Christian Common Cents is about teaching the good people how to get out of debt and create wealth.
If we can get more of the good people to stop making stupid financial mistakes, we can make this world a better place.
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I think money is good, b/c it can be used to help others. I donate the majority of my online income to charity, and I think that is a good thing.
Whenever we do an estate plan and the discussion of whether moeny should go outright to children we go over that money can do good things or bad things.
I would say that the love of *other* people’s money is the root of all evil. Well, perhaps not the root of all evil, but it certainly isn’t good.
We view money as a tool. And usually, having more of it only makes you more of what you are. So if you are greedy, selfish and a rude person, having more money will bring out these traits even more. but if you are caring, selfless and humane, then having more money will likely give you the outlets to help more people…and further be a blessing on the world.
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