“For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil…” (1 Timothy 6:10 - The Bible)
Not long ago a young 20-something who lives at our house and claims to belong to us said, “Dad, I’ve got a question for you.”
Ever eager to maintain my sterling reputation as a fountain of all knowledge for the scheming youth of the modern day, I readied myself to dispense yet more pearls of wisdom.
“If,” she began with boldness – an inclination both inherited from and applauded by my marital partner of some 32 years – “If the church teaches that the love of money is the root of all evil, why are you preachers always asking for it?”
The question was posed about two weeks ago. This weekend our daughter will be permitted to leave her bedroom and resume dining with us. I will return her (my) car keys and resume sharing our (not her) food and contributing to her (not our) tuition payments.
Yep - young people these days! Snarky little ne’er-do-wells, aren’t they? Perpetual drains on the family economy! Know everything wanna-bes! How dare they begin to think for themselves? How dare they challenge traditional authority or criticize established protocol? Always wanting to change something or do things differently. Why they’re even brash enough to assume change has always been a part of history!
Good for them. Many are doing the very thing that great minds of yesteryear like Copernicus and Galileo were bold enough to attempt in taking on the status quo.
That’s what I’ve been thinking as I’ve watched, listened and read about the Occupy Wall Street movement currently receiving no small amount of publicity on the world’s stage. If I recall correctly, it wasn’t all that long ago that North Americans watched and applauded as Communism was dealt a combination of lethal blows from which it may never recover. Remember how we cheered when the Berlin Wall came down?
Well, guess what, my friends? The ancient sage was on to something in suggesting that the love of money or, to use more modern parlance - unfettered capitalism - is a root of all sorts of evil too. Greed. Deceit. Exploitation. Abuse of power. White-collar crime. Injustice. Narcissism. Egomania. Encountered any of these lately?
Connect the dots. That’s what many perceptive young people associated with the Occupy movement have done. And we should be applauding them.
Tim Callaway is the pastor of Faith Community Baptist Church in Airdrie, and welcomes your feedback at: [email protected]
