Is greed always bad?

[Zach123]

I have a desire to chase money and always have. I often hear that greed is always showed as sin a very bad sin in the Bible and to give up all your wealth. Yet I still feel some sort of unknown motivation to acquire wealth (like large amounts millions[but not in any bad or evil ways]) I have sworn to myself no matter what to donate money during my life and leave all of it when I die like building a church, shelters, or starting a charity. Is this the devil trying to make me feel good about greed or a true calling by god to acquire wealth for a positive reason?

 

[PloverWing]

Jesus does warn that wealth can be an impediment to the spiritual life -- camels and needles and all that -- so it's good to be cautious if wealth does come your way. But a big part of the sin of greed is amassing possessions in ways that hurt other people, so I'd advise paying attention to points like these:

1) Has your wealth been created at someone else's expense? Does it involve underpaid workers (thus cheating the worker), or overpriced products (thus cheating the buyer), or passing off shoddy work as good work (again, cheating the buyer)? Does it involve harming or hoarding communal resources in some way -- using more than your share of water or land or some similar resource that lots of other people need? If so, try to fix the problem if you can. Pay your workers a living wage, with proper working conditions; set fair prices on what you sell; and pay attention to the way that your business affects communal and environmental resources.

2) Are you generous with the wealth you have? I like that you plan to donate money during your lifetime, as well as after your death. If you have wealth, you can be a benefactor for others who have less. Seek out those opportunities, not just once in a while, but frequently.

 

[Runningman]

I have a desire to chase money and always have. I often hear that greed is always showed as sin a very bad sin in the Bible and to give up all your wealth. Yet I still feel some sort of unknown motivation to acquire wealth (like large amounts millions[but not in any bad or evil ways]) I have sworn to myself no matter what to donate money during my life and leave all of it when I die like building a church, shelters, or starting a charity. Is this the devil trying to make me feel good about greed or a true calling by god to acquire wealth for a positive reason?

Imagine what the world would look like if all or most were truly greedy. There would be winners and losers. There would be people with a lot, people with barely enough, and people with nothing at all. Sound familiar?

Greed can produce inequalities, injustices, poverty, loss of income, loss of opportunity, and much more. While this is an extreme example, it applies on smaller scales too. If you truly have an insatiable appetite to acquire wealth then it's probably going to negatively effect someone whether you realize it or not.

 

[Estrid]

Imagine what the world would look like if all or most were truly greedy. There would be winners and losers. There would be people with a lot, people with barely enough, and people with nothing at all. Sound familiar?

Greed can produce inequalities, injustices, poverty, loss of income, loss of opportunity, and much more. While this is an extreme example, it applies on smaller scales too. If you truly have an insatiable appetite to acquire wealth then it's probably going to negatively effect someone whether you realize it or not.

Few have that " insatiable appetite".
And ftm, it doesnt work well for them.

What you are calling greed is human nature.
Social engineering experiments to eliminate thar so
called " greed" do and can only end in disaster.

Accident of birth has given me access to the lives
of somec" crazy rich" people.

The thing is, they get rich because they love the
game, money is just actually a marker....you have to
love the process, not just the result.

I have more than enough. But
I'm not interested in the process.

You and I are very fortunate there are people
who do love to build.

 

[Runningman]

Few have that " insatiable appetite".
And ftm, it doesnt work well for them.

What you are calling greed is human nature.
Social engineering experiments to eliminate thar so
called " greed" do and can only end in disaster.

Accident of birth has given me access to the lives
of somec" crazy rich" people.

The thing is, they get rich because they love the
game, money is just actually a marker....you have to
love the process, not just the result.

I have more than enough. But
I'm not interested in the process.

You and I are very fortunate there are people
who do love to build.

Yes I generally agree with you, but perhaps what you are describing is self-interest and not really greed.

 

[Soyeong]

I have a desire to chase money and always have. I often hear that greed is always showed as sin a very bad sin in the Bible and to give up all your wealth. Yet I still feel some sort of unknown motivation to acquire wealth (like large amounts millions[but not in any bad or evil ways]) I have sworn to myself no matter what to donate money during my life and leave all of it when I die like building a church, shelters, or starting a charity. Is this the devil trying to make me feel good about greed or a true calling by god to acquire wealth for a positive reason?

There are many attributes that are good that can be bad when taken to the extreme, such as eating food is good, but gluttony is not. God is a jealous God, but there is a form of jealousy that is not. We should love ourselves as God loves us, but we should not be lovers of ourselves. If we had no greed, then we also wouldn't have motivation to improve our lot in life and no one would want to do any work, so there is room for greed, but we need to be in control of it and not allow it to control us.

 

[Estrid]

Yes I generally agree with you, but perhaps what you are describing is self-interest and not really greed.

Of course

 

[Robban]

I have a desire to chase money and always have. I often hear that greed is always showed as sin a very bad sin in the Bible and to give up all your wealth. Yet I still feel some sort of unknown motivation to acquire wealth (like large amounts millions[but not in any bad or evil ways]) I have sworn to myself no matter what to donate money during my life and leave all of it when I die like building a church, shelters, or starting a charity. Is this the devil trying to make me feel good about greed or a true calling by god to acquire wealth for a positive reason?

As a fish is kosher only if it has both fins and scales,

so too with a choice, in this case, wealth.

Ambition is good if combined with integrity

The fins propel the fish forward=ambition..

the scales protect the fish=integrity.

Or maybe a better way,
trust in God, conduct yourself with integrity, and the One above will take care of everything.

 

[Jonathan_Gale]

I have a desire to chase money and always have. I often hear that greed is always showed as sin a very bad sin in the Bible and to give up all your wealth. Yet I still feel some sort of unknown motivation to acquire wealth (like large amounts millions[but not in any bad or evil ways]) I have sworn to myself no matter what to donate money during my life and leave all of it when I die like building a church, shelters, or starting a charity. Is this the devil trying to make me feel good about greed or a true calling by god to acquire wealth for a positive reason?

"Money" by definition should have at least three functions: intrinsic value of itself; measure of other commodities' value; medium in the exchange of other commodities. Since the gold standard was abolished, money no longer has no more intrinsic values, and since it has no value of itself, it can't be used to measure other commodities' value, the only function left is the third one. Therefore chasing money is chasing vanity once you understand the nature of money, it's just an empty number unless you spend it.

 

[Pommer]

“Greed” is just “lust for riches”.

 

[Pommer]

"Money" by definition should have at least three functions: intrinsic value of itself; measure of other commodities' value; medium in the exchange of other commodities. Since the gold standard was abolished, money no longer has no more intrinsic values, and since it has no value of itself, it can't be used to measure other commodities' value, the only function left is the third one. Therefore chasing money is chasing vanity once you understand the nature of money, it's just an empty number unless you spend it.

The thing about species currency though, is, you cannot eat gold.
Any “money” that isn’t a foodstuff has no intrinsic-value.

Is gold useful?
You bet!
But the money that buys the gold is only worth as much as we have agreed the gold is valued, today, since it fluctuates minute-by-minute.