April 10, 2013 | Antidote To Greed

“And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”

(Luke 12:15 NKJV)

False answer

When I taught Jesus’ remarkable parables recently I received a few questions from well-intentioned people wondering why I didn’t attack capitalism as part of the answer to covetousness. I expected such queries because capitalism-baiting has become quite popular in this age; however, I refuse to engage in the practice because it’s a false answer.

This side of Jesus’ kingdom, all world systems are flawed and worthy of continual scriptural reproof. However, Jesus remarkably avoids any specific attack on human systems – including free markets, private ownership of property, or any other hallmarks of capitalism. If anything, his stories emphasize these practices which of course are codified and protected in the Mosaic Law.

Therefore, according to both what Jesus said and what He didn’t say, the answer to greed comes from human hearts aligned with God’s character and values. The answer is not the elimination of capitalism. I experienced the difference firsthand when I taught in Belarus and Russia. What I learned there, and in many other places around the world, is that most attempts to curtail greed merely shift covetousness to a different place. Further, the bureaucracy established to police the problem usually stifles human freedom and thus violates another of Jesus’ greatest concerns.

Feeding the beast

Daniel Henninger of WSJ has great article on this. Discussing the new Roman Catholic pope, he writes: [You can access the full article Henninger: Capitalism’s Corruptions here]

“The plight of the world’s poor can be summed up in three truly ugly C-words: corruption, collusion and cronyism. All three may be kissing cousins but each in any language makes a mockery of both capitalism and justice.

Some 20 years ago economists began asking why so many countries, especially in Africa, never get better, even amid periods of global growth. An enormous body of economic literature now exists confirming that corruption keeps the poor down. A survey of this work for the International Monetary Fund concluded that countries get stuck in a “vicious circle of widespread corruption and low economic growth.” [WB note: Thomas Sowell’s work is particularly brilliant on this.]

Corruption suppresses growth because citizens in time recognize that honest work produces a lower return than spending one’s energies gaming the system. And, they’ve also found, the vicious circle worsens when real productivity falls alongside an inexorably expanding public sector. Global poverty persists because corruption kills capitalism.”

I’ve been to many deeply impoverished places in the world, and what I have seen lines up with Henninger and Sowell’s conclusions. Thus my heart often breaks when I hear Christians today scream for justice in the underdeveloped places, because our well-intentioned brethren are almost always just feeding the beast. Unless greed is attacked according to Jesus’ model laid out in those Luke 12 and 16 parables, the money sent to needy places will flow down a hole; doing nothing to really deal with the heart issue. In such cases, our efforts will actually place another layer of bureaucracy that will over time be tainted by more greed.

Likewise, I cringe when people applaud the positive power of greed in human systems like capitalism. While they may be economically accurate, they miss the soul for which God cares immeasurably. And the soul is warped by covetousness. This is why Jesus calls us to be on guard against every form of greed. This is an evil wherever humans exist and we can’t settle for political systems (or lack thereof) to eliminate the problem. We must turn to Christ and lead others to the Lord who guides us in God’s character, purpose, and values.

God bless,

Wayne