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Christphr
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Why is material progress and wealth our kingdom?
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Jesus taught, "My Kingdom isn't of this world". Why do we expand ours?
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Tis_Bearself
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Because many of us are first and foremost, concerned with providing for the needs of ourselves and our loved ones. It takes a considerable amount of money in USA just to have a stable life that will allow you to have things like regular meals, transportation to get where you want to go easily (including to church, shrines etc.) and a roof over your head where you’re not at the mercy of a landlord or scraping to pay the mortgage or keep up the property.
When you’re constantly worrying about where the next meal or rent payment will come from, or having to plan your life around a schedule of public transport that’s not very good and requires you to be standing around out in freezing weather waiting for a bus, it doesn’t leave room for much of a life beyond that 24 hour period. You may not have any energy to concentrate on anything else you wish to do beyond meeting basic needs. You may well not be able to go to college and learn about things you enjoy, or pursue any hobbies, or even spend extra time reading about religious things. You also don’t get to travel and see the world and appreciate other cultures and art.
If you have anyone who is wholly or partly dependent on you, such as a spouse, kids (who also generally attend college), elderly parents, or anyone with a chronic illness, you further appreciate the need for money. Just seeing the difference between the nursing homes where poor people go vs. nursing homes where people go who can afford to pay is enough to motivate me to make money, right there.
Most people are not knocking themselves out to make money so they can live like a Kardashian. A guy at dinner this week was talking about how much money he made liquidating some stock. He is planning to spend it repairing the bathroom in his home which is currently leaking water into his living room. I suppose we could all go back to living in little huts with fireplaces and outdoor privies, but the zoning boards of our cities and towns would frown on that.
When you’re constantly worrying about where the next meal or rent payment will come from, or having to plan your life around a schedule of public transport that’s not very good and requires you to be standing around out in freezing weather waiting for a bus, it doesn’t leave room for much of a life beyond that 24 hour period. You may not have any energy to concentrate on anything else you wish to do beyond meeting basic needs. You may well not be able to go to college and learn about things you enjoy, or pursue any hobbies, or even spend extra time reading about religious things. You also don’t get to travel and see the world and appreciate other cultures and art.
If you have anyone who is wholly or partly dependent on you, such as a spouse, kids (who also generally attend college), elderly parents, or anyone with a chronic illness, you further appreciate the need for money. Just seeing the difference between the nursing homes where poor people go vs. nursing homes where people go who can afford to pay is enough to motivate me to make money, right there.
Most people are not knocking themselves out to make money so they can live like a Kardashian. A guy at dinner this week was talking about how much money he made liquidating some stock. He is planning to spend it repairing the bathroom in his home which is currently leaking water into his living room. I suppose we could all go back to living in little huts with fireplaces and outdoor privies, but the zoning boards of our cities and towns would frown on that.
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D
DarkLight
Guest
Also, let’s be honest, some of us would die pretty quickly. I’m blind as a bat without my glasses, can’t breathe around smoke, and get secondary infections if my allergies aren’t well controlled. Income means I get to help fix those things.I suppose we could all go back to living in little huts with fireplaces and outdoor privies, but the zoning boards of our cities and towns would frown on that.
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