 7 Deadly Sins & 7 Life Giving Virtures "You cannot serve God and mammon." Avarice implies
obsessive acquisitiveness especially of money and strongly suggests
stinginess. Bernard Haring simply writes that avarice is
inordinate pursuit of material values. Avarice, as a deadly sin,
is the fountainhead of many false values and evil actions. First, avarice can
easily erode our spiritual instincts and in a sense make us less than
human. It distracts us from what is important in life and gives
us a false perception of ourselves and the world. It
depersonalizes our own selves in the objects that we use to represent
and announce our status and in the end dehumanizes us. Avarice
leads to a form of self-annihilation. Second, avarice catches
us up in the pursuit of "more" for its own sake, distracting us from
caring about those who have practically nothing. It places a blindfold
over our eyes so that we no longer see the poor and needy among
us. Thomas Aquinas tells us that greed takes mercy from our
hearts and makes us unfeeling toward others. Third, avarice is often
a driving force to immoral acts, such as stealing, bribery,
embezzlement, and "white-collar" crime. The temptation to
"possess" or to "acquire", when given free reign, can drive us into
behaviors that not only violates God's commandments, but also leads to
social injustice. We live in a
materialistic and consumer-oriented culture which continually
advertises avarice as a virtue, calling that, which is harmful,
good. Jesus teaches often on this subject and establishes a truth
that "It will be hard for one
who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven...It is easier for a camel
to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter
the kingdom of God. (Matthew 19:23-24) "Where your treasure is,
there also will your heart be." (Matthew 6:21) "No one can
serve two masters...You cannot serve God and mammon." (Matthew 6:24) To balance the problem
of avarice and the relationship with money and possessions, Jesus
denied that is was impossible to get into the kingdom of heaven but did
state that for the rich to be saved, they, like the poor, would need to
recognize their dependence upon God for their salvation. (Matthew 19:
16-26) (Tomorrow, an attitude of poverty to deal with avarice.) -thoughts taken from Choosing Virtue in a Changing World: A New Look at the Seven Deadly Sins Please Email Us With Any Comments or Feedback At ©2005 CopperCountry.com,Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. |
