The Hoarders

The Bible condemns the love of money. So why do so many Christians applaud the obscenely wealthy and their extravagant toys? We discuss.

[JackassJester]

The company I work for is currently painting a "Chick-fil-A resort home." Built on eight acres inside a gated community. This is a brand new five-bedroom, five-bath house where I can make out the tennis courts from the back patio with the built-in fireplace, nestled next to the frisbee course, with the cute little red and white bridge over the canal for the golf carts. I haven't seen the clubhouse, but I'm sure it's something to behold. The people staying in this "resort" can most likely afford to vacation in any part of the world they choose. You know as well as I that a Check-fil-A cashier will never set foot inside this resort home, let alone the gate.

[francelaferriere]

"All religion, my friend, is simply evolved out of fear, greed, imagination and poetry." - Edgar Allan Poe

[Kaltag]

I paid for my wife's wedding ring with my labor. She said that was more valuable to her than any amount of money I could have spent on it.

[docbauk]

Good talk. The hypocrisy is crazy. It’s like we are in a different dimension.

[JohnFleshman]

Billionaire money hoarders are the modern equivalent of a dragon from a fantasy novel. Just laying around on more money than some nations have just to say they have the money.

[jessetheskeptic]

Thanks for this, Seth. I've been thinking about the hypocrisy for the past few months and it's been driving me over the edge lately. How do I, an atheist, embody Christian ideals and values more than the religious people around me? And they think they're the good guys; that they hold the moral high ground! It's maddening.

[lori_ross]

My boyfriend of 9 years proposed to me last fall, with a silver ring I think he might have paid $25 for. I am the luckiest woman in the world, and he could have proposed with a twist tie off a bread bag and I would feel no less cherished.

[D-Pocalypse]

Religion, Money, Power, Race, and Competition will never allow equality or peace. The reasons why there will always be a battlefield and rumors of

[CHRISSLATTERY-ir]

No one should be allowed to accumulate wealth of such absurd proportions since all too often, they become dangerous.

[Chris-opyt]

look into elon some more. he's no inventor or innovator. just a salesman with lots of broken promises, but his fans think he's a genius.

[nadirku]

It might have been 10 years ago now, but I remember hearing a news story on the radio during my work commute home, the news story was about the "American Dream", and "upward mobility" in terms of wealth in the United States. The two things I remember from that story was the percent of people who would end up in a higher economic position than their parents was down from what it has historically been, I think the upward mobility rate at the time of the report might have been under 10%, if not under 5%, or even 3%, the other thing I remember the news story reporting was that the "ends of the economic wealth distribution are 'sticky'", that if your parents are on the poverty end of the spectrum, you are likely to end up even further into poverty than them, and that if your parents are extremely wealthy, you would likely end up even wealthier than them, this second point seems very intuitive, but good to know the data confirmed it.

While it is all too easy to understand how a society could end up like this, with wealthy/powerful people using that wealth, and power to gain even more wealth, and power, that also seems to be exactly the opposite of how we should want society to operate.

[Spock_Rogers]

I love your voice and content, Mr. Seth! I don't listen to the hard rock or heavy metal anymore. I'm glad I don't feel that anger like I used to. I'll blame religion and carnism. 😉My favorite song right now is called 'The Face I Love' by Stacey Kent. I like to sing it to a little calico cat I know named Face.

[goofusmaximus]

Those who would cosplay as the moral superheroes amongst us show themselves as the moral superzeroes amongst us.

[TheRealJamesKirk]

Pity I can't in touch with Rich... I'm (585) as well. Born in Rochester, left NY for the South at 18 (partly to avoid the draft... my number was 8). I spent roughly 38 years (4 from '75 to '79) in the Atlanta area. I moved back to Rochester a year ago, escaping the heat, the traffic, and the "stroad", cul-de-sac, and strip mall model of city planning.
I've been an atheist for approx. 58 years, at the age of 12. After a year with my mother ("anointed") and stepfathet, both Jehoovies, I came to understand that the bible was bullshit. In my mid-teens I came to understand that all the other religions, as well as New-Age type stuff, Paganism, etc were all bullshit as well.
I'm also more Progressive at 71 than I became at 15/16, when I met some SDS folks as well as encountering Hoffman's Magic Potion. I'm already registered to vote in Monroe County, and you know I'm voting BLUE.

[DebraKemp-qb]

Thank you Seth for speaking out about this. It's amazing how people drop their morals when dazzled by the thought of money.

[PuppyLuver]

Frankly wrt the wedding ring thing, if I had a girlfriend and she proposed to me and _needed_ to include a ring of some kind, I'd be happier with a Ring Pop than any diamonds or precious gems that put her in a financial hole. I don't like wearing rings in the first place (aside from my spinny ring), Ring Pops are a tasty treat, and she gets to save her money for something that will make us or even just herself happier than a ring would. Win-win!

[BoneySkylord]

I remember Oral Roberts on TV “giving away” “free” copies of a book - How I Learned Jesus Was Rich - in exchange for a $100 “donation”. I had never seen such a blatant hustle! 😳

[NatsukiTakama]

🇯🇵 *音楽はハラーム*
ダンスはハラムです
*ペットの犬を飼うことはハラムです*
歌うことはハラームです
詩（文学）はハラムです
マジックショーはハラムです
ユーモア（コメディ）はハラムです
ロマンチックな愛はハラムです
漫画（ドラえもん）はハラムです
ゲーム（チェス）はハラムです
写真はハラム
アートスケッチはハラームです
つまり、創造性はハラームですが、嫌悪と退屈はハラールです。

[maemorri]

I often feel frustrated listening to conversations about "hoarding wealth". In a capitalist country 90% of what people think of as "hoarding" wealth is not hoarding wealth. If I have $1B in a bank account, would Seth say that I am hoarding wealth? That those resources could be used to clothe the naked? But in a capitalist credit-based system, money in a bank is not sitting in a sack in the back. It is out in the community, funding mortgages and paying credit card balances. At 44:00 the Rochester caller was saying that if taxes were fair Tom Golisano would be forced to sell his stocks and invest that money. I'm sure if he thought about it, he would understand that statement makes no sense, but he's the one who said it.
So let's distinguish between the capitalists and entrepreneurs who spend their money building companies and employing workers, and the worshippers of Mammon, who spend their money on yachts for their yachts or lawsuits against geese.

[timothymulholland]

He could have built Ken Ham's Tower of Babel in every country in the world, so they could understand the origins of the various tongues.