Impossible to become "dead to the world"?

[hausofferni]

I’ve been reading a lot and pondering on “be dead to the world and live for Christ alone” but I’ve realized that this simply isn’t possible, atleast not for us regular people. This is possible for people who are nuns, brothers, priests etc, but not for us. I mean take a rich Catholic couple for example, they make a lot of money, donate to charity, and are good devoted Catholics, but what are they to do with all the money they make? Are they not supposed to buy any nice items or a nice home or car?? Ive tried to you know, become dead to the vanities of the world, but it’s like??? It’s easy for a monk or nun to do that, since they take a vow of poverty, but what are we lay people supposed to do? Does God not want us to have nice things? Is it okay to have nice things as long as we know that happiness and salvation can be acquired through God alone?

 

[mikekle]

There is a fine line between just having nice things and greed, somehow I have a feeling Gods definition and ours are much different too!!

Plus, I think God appreciates the $5. a poor person gives or donates versus the very wealthy couple who regularly give $1000s.

 

[hausofferni]

There is a fine line between just having nice things and greed, somehow I have a feeling Gods definition and ours are much different too!!

Plus, I think God appreciates the $5. a poor person gives or donates versus the very wealthy couple who regularly give $1000s.

Okay like you see! I feel like God looks down upon the rich, because they have so much money, but they earned it, or worked hard for it and then it makes you feel bad, because you have so much.

 

[dmar198]

I’ve been reading a lot and pondering on “be dead to the world and live for Christ alone” but I’ve realized that this simply isn’t possible, atleast not for us regular people. This is possible for people who are nuns, brothers, priests etc, but not for us.

Sure it is, because being dead to the world doesn’t mean not having nice things.

I mean take a rich Catholic couple for example, they make a lot of money, donate to charity, and are good devoted Catholics, but what are they to do with all the money they make? Are they not supposed to buy any nice items or a nice home or car?

They can have nice things. Nice things don’t make you vain and you can still be dead to the world even while you purchase nice things. It’s largely about detachment. A person who is detached from their riches can have them for purposes other than vanity (such as to glorify God) and if they lose them they won’t be upset. Detachment actually frees you to enjoy rich things more, because you aren’t so wrapped up in insecurities about losing them.

Does God not want us to have nice things?

He gave us nice things. He put gold and jewels in the ground, and made animals and plants produce fine fabrics for our use. He commanded us to build beautiful temples and palaces. God likes nice things as long as we don’t care about them for Their sake but for His sake. And when He takes them away, we should rejoice like Job did. The Lord has given and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. That’s the spirit of detachment, or being dead to the world, and it frees us from concerns about good things while also letting us enjoy them.

 

[hausofferni]

Sure it is, because being dead to the world doesn’t mean not having nice things. They can have nice things. Nice things don’t make you vain and you can still be dead to the world even while you purchase nice things. It’s largely about detachment. A person who is detached from their riches can have them for purposes other than vanity (such as to glorify God) and if they lose them they won’t be upset. Detachment actually frees you to enjoy rich things more, because you aren’t so wrapped up in insecurities about losing them. He gave us nice things. He gave us gold, jewels, and fine fabrics. He commanded us to build beautiful temples and palaces. God likes nice things as long as we don’t care about them for Their sake but for His sake. And when He takes them away, we should rejoice like Job did. The Lord has given and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. That’s the spirit of detachment, or being dead to the world, and it frees us from concerns about good things while also letting us enjoy them.

Ohhhhhh I see now!!! So like buying something but not being attached to it, sort of oblivious to it, but still go on praising God and living life?? Yeah the item is nice but you know that God is the only cause of our joy

 

[puzzledtoo]

I don’t think you’re on the mark with the statement of monks and nuns having it easy to be dead to the world. Any time we live and interact with others it will be difficult and there are temptations. Probably the only circumstances that would make it easier is if we lived in a cave or out in the forest or desert. This is why hermits, ascetics, etc… go places such as these in my view. They are called to a different sort of life. Blessings.

 

[dmar198]

Ohhhhhh I see now!!! So like buying something but not being attached to it, sort of oblivious to it, but still go on praising God and living life?? Yeah the item is nice but you know that God is the only cause of our joy

I think you’re pretty close to the mark, but the word oblivious sounds like a wrong choice. We don’t have to be oblivious to nice things. We can appreciate their beauty as a reflection of the glory of their Creator, and we can want to own them in order to show them to others through a beautiful house, a beautiful collection, a museum, a car show, or in many other ways. But we ought to be clear that these things are beautiful because God made them that way and perhaps because He gave people ingenuity to increase their beauty. And we ought not to get wrapped up in them – if we lost them, we must be able to praise God for the good we had and the goods we still have. Everything on this earth is so limited – we can’t place our happiness in having stuff or we will be miserable when we lose it. Our joy must be in God Who is unlimited and cannot be taken away from us. Then, we are freer to enjoy the rich things of this world because they reflect His glory without being so wrapped up in them that we would cry if we lost them.

And, of course, we cannot spend all our time collecting stuff on the excuse that we are doing so for God’s glory. The Bible says to give alms out of our excess wealth: “Of that which remaineth, give alms.” Luke 11:41. We should be generous to the poor first, and use our beautiful things so that they can experience them as well. If you have a nice house, let a poor person stay in it. And if the needy increase in their numbers, be ready to sell what we have and give it to the poor. And you will have treasure in heaven.

 

[Kurisu35712]

I would argue that being dead to the world is less about ignoring or renouncing things of beauty or “nice things” (which aren’t always the same), and more about recognizing that the beauty inherent in any given thing is in our lives as a sign and reflection of the eternal beauty inherent in God. The problem is when people neglect their proper recognition of God as the source of good in any given thing, and instead look to that thing as good in and of itself. I generally think of being dead to the world not as being an ascetic or living in austerity, but as just living in such a way as to recognize that the material possessions we have are just that. God’s Love can be found in and expressed through these things, but these things should not be prized as an end themselves.

The reason it can be harder to live this way when one is surrounded by an abundance of goods is because these things can easily become distracting and begin to be treasured on their own apart from God. Several things one must keep in mind is that, for one, these things are just that. Things. Objects, and part of a fleeting, material, mortal world. The wealth we may or may not acquire on this earth is irrelevant once we get to Heaven, excepting how we use what wealth we have in service of others. Similarly, the physical goods we have are temporary. We don’t take them with us when we die, regardless how much sentimental value we may attach to them. As an example, I have a tendency to hoard birthday cards from my grandma. I won’t take those cards with me when I die, yet they’re important to me. However, their importance lies in the fact that they are a reminder of my grandma’s love for me, which is something I will take with me. The cards are not important, but rather what they mean and what they remind me of, and even if I lose them, the meaning would still be there. In that sense, our material goods should not be valued for their own sake, but rather with the understanding that they are a message of God’s love for us. If I woke up tomorrow and everything I have was destroyed or stolen or just disappeared, as upset as I would be, it truly wouldn’t matter in an eternal sense, as God’s love is still just as present as it always was.

Another poster mentioned Job. Job lost his possessions, his livelihood, and even his family. But he did not lose God. And for that reason, he was able to rejoice, and recognize that in having God, he had everything.