Avarice. The casino guy washing himself in fountains
of coins splashing out of machines; the oligarch plotting the offshore travels
of rivers of state funds through money laundering channels to private island
accounts: greed is godless. Amos the prophet on the case of the fashionista
with the $15,000 handbag; the Temple treasury taking the widow’s last mite. The
Scriptures are pitiless about greed. Zaccheus must restore fourfold all he’s
extorted.
Greed destroys the earth. Deep sea mining. Deforestation.
Animal extinctions. So much beauty. In heaven as it is on earth: colonising
even the moon.
Benefactors as well as malefactors. How was the money acquired?
Is there a tax deduction? The good old Biblical term “the poor” has fallen out
of favour: can it be you, or me? Or not? Be careful here. Paul advises balance.
(“According to your means”). Not too little, not too much. Check yourself at the door. Give eagerly, but
wisely.
Hoarding specifically demonstrates greed. Cornering
limited resources for personal benefit, national glory, ethnic dominance.
Letting others suffer and starve.
Tax can be good. And greed can be bad. At the end of
your life, “Whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?”
