One of the contradictory things in the Bible is that those with resources are more likely to go to perdition. The poor are more generous — to charities, in New Zealand, at least.
Now: the issue of great wealth has to be considered. By the standards of the ancient world, almost everyone in the West is wealthy. And… like the rich elite throughout history. the west tends to look to their own pleasures, not thinking of the future generations, or even starting a future generations.
17As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. 19You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.'” 20He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.” 21Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” 22When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.
23Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” 24And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” 26They were greatly astounded and said to one another, “Then who can be saved?” 27Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”
28Peter began to say to him, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.” 29Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, 30who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age – houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields with persecutions – and in the age to come eternal life. 31But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”
Now, the aim of the Christian walk is to glorify God, and by walking with God become closer to him. The path of hedonism — pushed by the elite since the sexual revolution (which started when I was in the primers at primary school) has leads to the death of society, as Spengler notes,
Whether it is due to disgust at the misery of their circumstances, or the side-effect of drugs intended to dull the misery of their circumstances, women are abandoning sexuality.
When human beings cease to desire each other physically, it is because they have ceased to desire each other at all. The things that motivate human beings to unite in intimate and permanent union, procreating and acculturating another generation, give way to the pure exercise of ego. The typical American household no longer harbors a family but a person living alone. As Eric Klinenberg reports in his much-commented new book Going Solo, 28% of all American households now contain a single person, compared to just 9% in 1950.
Klinenberg, to be sure, thinks this is wonderful; his typical “Singleton” lives in Manhattan, hangs out at the local sushi bar and coffee shop, swims in a rich cultural current, and devotes himself to the grand diversion of the age, namely “self-realization”, which is easier to pursue in the absence of another self that might make competing demands.
In another 20 years or so, though, the self-sufficient singles of American cities will emulate the kodokushi (“lonely death”) victims of Japan, another much-commented 21st-century phenomenon.
It is only by giving up what we grow. Power, wealth, resources — used for others. Not grasping tightly to our pensions — governments still steal them in times of crisis. We need to dethrone bonking. And money. Look at the balance that Alte made in her comment.
We take breaks in order to read books, write higher-quality articles, make administrative changes, and… er… minister to our husbands. I’m only so prolific this week because my hubby’s gone. We’ve already got 73 articles in progress right now, so it’s not like we’re not writing while we’re on break.
It just helps us get our mojo back. Sometimes we run out of steam and need a breather from the immediacy of blogging. I was also trying to restart my prayer life, which had sort of collapsed for a while there, and that’s the part of Lent that has been going rather well.
We can enjoy these things, for we no longer worship them. If we worship them, they will destroy us.