The love of money and paths to destruction

The Bible has many warnings about greed, avarice and the love of money. Probably the best known of the passages is Paul's word to Timothy that "the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils..." (1 Tim 6:10a). Paul's words just before this verse help to make sense of what he is saying to young Timothy: "Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content" (1 Tim 6:6-8). Timothy was to be content with what was necessary and beware of the temptation to want more than is needed.

Renee Rivkin's story is a tragic testimony to what can happen when wealth creation and all its trappings dominate one's life. A successful entrepreneur, multi-millionaire, investor and stock broker, he was convicted and gaoled for insider trading in April 2003 and ultimately took his own life on the 1st May 2005. Born in China to Russian-Jewish parents, he had been seen as the model self-made man. And yet his life ended in sadness and tragedy.

The auction of some of Rivkin's personal possessions this week provides a sad insight into a life where money and the things it can buy were seemingly in over abundance. His 37 specially made Swiss dress watches being auctioned are expected to bring prices of up to $20,000 each. Like the 3,000 pairs of shoes of Imelda Marcos, (the former first lady of the Philippines and wife of 10th President and dictator Ferdinand Marcos), such excesses provide a lesson to guard against the temptation to want more than we need.

But I don't want to judge Rivkin, for while his wealth allowed him to spend large sums of money on watches that I could never afford, I need to look for parallels in my own life. In what parts of my life do I demonstrate the tendency to horde and collect more than I need? How can I avoid the temptation to give too prominent a place to money, and to avoid the excesses that can flow from it? Once again, the Bible has wisdom on this that should give direction to my life. Jesus shared this parable (Luke 12:16-21):

"The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, 'What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?' And he said, 'I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God."

We need to avoid the temptation to build 'bigger barns' or to collect up things for ourselves well beyond our current needs. The Bible teaches that this is to one of the marks of the child of God. The preacher in Ecclesiastes understood this well:

"He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity" (Eccliastes 5:10).

The Bible also teaches that we are to be generous with what God has given us. Paul also encouraged Timothy to be generous with God had given him (1 Tim 6:17-19). It isn't having money and possessions that is wrong. Rather, it is the place they hold in our lives, our attitude to them and what we do with what has been entrusted to us. It is only in relationship to God that we find ultimate satisfaction, not the things of this world. When Jesus spoke to a Samaritan women as she drew water from a well (John 4:13-14) he said:

"Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

Censorship

Censorship is a topic that polarizes people. Most Christians believe in censorship, certainly for children, and also as part of their own self discipline. We try to avoid books and films (in fact anything) that we judge will make it harder to be "imitators of God" (Eph 5:1). Hence, over the years Christians have played their part in arguing for censorship of specific books, films, art, stage productions etc. Some have suggested that censorship was invented by Christians, but this is an overstatement. Censorship is an important topic and so Christians need to think about where they stand on such matters - for personal reasons, as parents (and teachers of any kind), and for apologetic reasons. The latter has many dimensions; people 'read' the way Christians challenge ideas, the way we pro-actively argue our position, the reasons we give in defense or attack and the manner in which we engage with public issues.

Parents and teachers will frequently face situations where they need to decide if a book is appropriate for their children. One of the most recent debates has concerned the book "The higher power of lucky" by Susan Patron (Simon & Schuster), with many parents and librarians wanting it banned. In a recent video interview the author provided an overview of the book and her reasons for writing it. In spite of some opposition, the book won the coveted Newbery Medal that is awarded each year to the book judged to be the best work of fiction for children in the USA.

The book tells the story of a 10 year old girl in Hard Pan (California) a town of just 43 people. She aspires one day to be a scientist and her curiosity leads her to eavesdrop on a group of people meeting in the local museum who share their life stories of addictions that were turned around with the help of a Higher Power. On the very first page Patron writes:

“Sammy told of the day when he had drunk half a gallon of rum listening to Johnny Cash all morning in his parked ’62 Cadillac, then fallen out of the car when he saw a rattlesnake on the passenger seat biting his dog, Roy, on the scrotum.”

While this is an unusual opening for a book written for 9-11 year old readers, would it lead you to stop your children reading it? I don't think it would lead me to remove the book from my child's reading list. But in reflecting on this, I wondered what things would lead me to consider censorship

What issues should lead me to challenge the appropriateness of specific titles on school reading lists? Or to suggest that my child should not read something? It is interesting to consider the American Library Association's list of the 100 most challenged books (1990-2000) for adults and children. This list contains some child and adolescent books that I certainly wouldn't challenge as a Christian if the books were read by the right age group. For example, "Bridge to Terabithia" and "The Great Gilly Hopkins" (both by Katherine Patterson). There are some that I would stop specific age groups reading (e.g. Judy Blume's "Forever"). What are the things that would excite me into action? And on what basis would I do it?

As a Christian I did censor some of the books that my children could have read. But as a parent of young children I always had more problems deciding about films, magazines and television programs. I'm sure parents today would add the Internet and electronic games to my list.

As well as dealing with such matters within the family, we will (at times) feel the need to enter public debate. The way we present ourselves to the world on such matters, is even more difficult. How do we take such stands, and on what authority do we do it (hopefully the Bible is the foundation informing our wisdom). When Christians enter public debate about censorship, our worldview is displayed and judgements are made about Christians and Christianity (rightly and wrongly).

Once again, should I be concerned about the use of the word "scrotum" on the first page of a book meant for upper primary children? I don't think so, I'd take it as an opportunity to teach some basic anatomy - well vocabulary, because at age 11 the terms 'penis' and 'vagina' would have been understood and discussed before. But I would get excited as a parent of young children when blasphemy was evident (e.g. in music video clips), when I saw immoral behaviour presented as acceptable, when texts sought to present as normal that which the Bible taught was not normal or was wrong, and when there was evidence of exploitation (e.g. the way women were portrayed).

This is a complex topic on which there are many views inside and outside the church, I'd be interested to know what others think about the various issues I have raised and how they have dealt with them at a personal level as well as in roles where you have had responsibility for children.

Writing, communication, technology and relationships

This is my third post about writing. In this post I want to make some comments and pose some questions about the impact of new forms of information communication technology on how we communicate.


The impact of technology

I write this Blog as a 55 year old who can remember as a child our manual exchange home phone being the only one in our street (and everyone using it) and the day our first (black and white) TV arrived (I was 11). I have participated in many subsequent technology advances – colour TV (I bought one just after our kids were born and kept it till they were grown up), personal computers (I bought my first one in 1984), faxes, videos, mobile phones (my first in 1989 and I still have the original phone number), the computer mouse (a big step forward), email (1989), websites, call centres, DVDs, a Blackberry (will I ever escape email again?!), Blogs, Facebook and so on. We've come a long way since Eniac was commissioned in 1946 (photo is a US Army Picture).

With some lived experience of technology I know firsthand that it changes things. I also know that the changes are not always good. When television arrived it reduced family time together (certainly in terms of interaction), it had negative effects for children who watched too much TV, it closed lots of community cinemas etc. I could repeat this for other technology forms – there are always negative impacts, as well as the positive. So as we continue down this path of constant communication technology change it is good to pause (before the next development hits) and question just where each major new wave is taking us.

Language changes

Language is changing all the time (both spoken and written). The most obvious way this occurs is in terms of language use, particularly in relation to words, spelling and grammar. New words are added to the lexicon with each passing year. What was once seen as an established grammatical form slowly disappears (e.g. the split infinitive rule – I know some of you out there are still holding out on this one). Incorrect spellings become optional spellings and in some cases (over time) preferred spellings. Text genres also change and are adapted to changing needs and purposes. The company memorandum (on paper) has largely been replaced by emails. Personal letters have largely been replaced with SMS messages, emails, Blog posts, Facebook entries. Even literary forms such as the novel are less often straight-forward narratives to become more complex and diverse forms. This type of change has always occurred, but seems to have accelerated in the past 30 years. One of the key drivers of such change has been communication technology (and with it globalisation) which has had an impact on language use as well as the way we communicate.

The word and new media - multiliteracies

One of the most significant changes has been the extent to which the spoken or written word has been supplemented, replaced or changed by images, video and film, and even led to new representational forms (gaming is a perfect example). This has led some to suggest that the written word is less relevant than it was once. There is little doubt that the written word is used increasingly with other forms of communication and that in our world we are surrounded by more complex ‘multiliteracies’. By this I mean new forms of communication that are multimodal and require much more interplay between words, images, sound, video, spoken language etc. However, we still have much to learn about this topic. For those interested in reading a more scholarly discussion of some of this as well as a defence of the importance of narrative for children, you will find a recent paper I presented on this on my website.


Anyone who reads a Blog will know that there are communication options available today not dreamed of 20 years ago and this is changing the way (at least) some people communicate. If there are people out there (probably not readers of this Blog) who don’t think new forms of communication are emerging, they need to consider the more recent Web 2.0 developments such as MySpace and Facebook. There is little doubt that these new forms of social networking are having a big impact on the way under 30yr olds communicate. Of course, we’re not sure what impact this might have long term on the way we relate to one another, but members of Gen Y have embraced it with great enthusiasm.

Advantages and disadvantages of ICT

The advantages of modern Internet enabled communication forms are obvious:

• The Internet offers global reach at minimal cost.
• It is very easy for anyone to publish and communicate ideas (including Christian truth) in forms that are visually attractive and effective.
• It is possible to build cyber networks of relationships and to engage with others concerning just about anything, including matters of faith.
• We can have access to written texts, images, audio files, video material from our lounge rooms, including significant historical source material, newspapers, images, videos – the web is an incredible resource.
• Search engines like Google are powerful tools for learning when used well.

But there are disadvantages:

• Web-based communication is less permanent (links quickly disappear, websites close down, Blogs 'mutate' into new untrackable forms etc).
• The reliability and accuracy of any communication is largely untested and unreviewed, hence anyone can present themselves as an expert on anything.
• Individuals are also able to misrepresent themselves more easily to unsuspecting audiences.
• The ease with which anyone can self-publish may well give individuals a misplaced sense of their own expertise and knowledge.
• There is a tendency for the message to be limited in depth.
• There are moral questions for any Christian about the less than helpful content that is available at the click of a mouse for adults and children and at times the negative impacts a technology application might have on us personally. Nicole Starling (my daughter!) has an interesting post that talks about eBay and the impact it can have on us.
• The shear amount of time that the Internet can consume can be excessive – new communication forms can become addictive (Josh Harris has an interesting post on why he left FaceBook after a week).
• The fascination with new communication forms may well lead to the neglect of traditional forms. What is lost when children don’t read (or hear) as much literature? When adults don’t read novels or even their Bibles as much as they once did?
• There is a danger that for some the “medium is the message” to quote the Canadian educator, philosopher and professor of English Marshall McLuhan, who suggested that for many the generic form of media is more important than any "meaning" or "content" that the medium conveys (something I'd contest of course but he'd see new ICT forms as evidence of the validity of his statement).
  

Some random implications

Here are what I think are just some of the implications of the above:

1. When we communicate have a clear purpose and audience in mind and choose the most appropriate form for your message. A Blog is a perfect way to establish and encourage interaction and knowledge sharing amongst a network of people interested in a specific topic and who have similar life experiences. But it isn’t the best way for the Australian Tax Office to fulfil its responsibility to inform citizens of changes to tax laws and interpretations. One reader of this Blog commented in a response to one of my previous posts on writing that he isn't about propose to someone by email, but I've observed some examples that come close.

2. Make the most of new media without reducing the importance of the written word - remember the message is the key, not the medium. By all means use data projectors in churches but don’t discourage the personal use of Bibles by projecting all passages and removing Bibles from pews. Conversely, do use the data projector for showing an alternative translation of a passage or to draw in additional material that might support the teaching of God’s word. And all should know about BibleGateway.com. Some churches might even consider using Blogs, Facebook, and MySpace as part of its community building strategies (hopefully not as a replacement for other things).

3. Encourage young people to evaluate critically the impact of each new form of communication and to be aware of potential problems (e.g. web scams, net predators, the dangers of publishing personal information on the internet for the world to see; how relationships might be affected by the way we communicate etc).

4. Don’t replace personal conversations with your friends, family and neighbours with SMS messages, Facebook, emails and Blog posts. Yes, they can work well when you’re on the other side of the country or the world but there is no substitute for personal communication.

5. Do use new media to point others towards significant wisdom and knowledge. A communication diet based exclusively on YouTube, SMS or Facebook entries has some significant limitations. But all are mediums that could be useful ways to communicate significant messages such as biblical truth and to strengthen relationships and networks of people exploring life’s big topics together.

Readers interested in more posts on literacy, communication and related issues might find my blog Literacy, Families and Learning of interest.

Oliver O'Donovan speaks on Moral Reasoning

Audio files and PDF transcripts of Oliver O'Donovan's three 2007 New College Lectures are now available to download from the New College website.

Series Title:
Morally awake? Admiration and resolution in the light of Christian faith

Tuesday 4th Sept | Waking

The metaphor of wakefulness is constantly drawn on in the Gospels to focus the heart of moral sensibility. How does the invocation of God serve to make the moral stance conceivable to us?

Wednesday 5th Sept | Admiring

Moral attentiveness to the world is a task of affective intelligence, of “admiration”, not merely of “cognition”. What kind of coherence and order do we suppose in our world and how do assertions about a “Word of God” serve to underpin that coherence?

Thursday 6th Sept | Resolving

How can we make the transition of reason from what is the case to what we are to do? How may we intelligently “frame” an action to perform without arbitrariness?