Richard Aberdeen
Member
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2026
- Messages
- 140
Today there is some controversy over I Timothy 6:10, which in many modern Bibles is translated as "love of money". The original Greek appears to primarily mean avarice, which is defined as "extreme greed for wealth or material gain." Martin Luther translated it as "avarice", while William Tyndale chose to use "covetousness". Only later did the KJV translate it as "love of money". Apparently the Greek "philargyria" can refer to avarice, covetousness and the love of money, all three.
Human greed and love of wealth obviously involves much more than just physical money. People historically for thousands of years are seen as greedy over land, cattle, spouses, servants, slaves, silver, gold, jewels, art and other forms of wealth. Money on the other hand, represents a certain type of wealth. Unfortunately today, the love of wealth is at the heart of modern capitalism, which has caused much war and other violence and great and growing disparity of wealth between the rich and poor on a global level.
James teaches us that human greed is the root cause of war and other violence: "Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures" James 4:1-3.
From Wikipedia: "Accounting records, in the monetary system sense of the term accounting, dating back more than 7,000 years have been found in Mesopotamia and, documents from ancient Mesopotamia show lists of expenditures and goods received and traded; the history of accounting evidences that money of account predates the use of coinage by several thousand years."
Forms of wealth during the time of Abraham included servants, slaves, wives, children, land, cattle, camels, goats, sheep, jewels, gold, silver and more. Ancient peoples often traded cattle, goats and sheep, as well as food and clothing, rather than physical money.
It is historically quite clear, in spite of claims to the contrary, that human greed and the "love of wealth" are the root cause of war and other violence, slavery and other human oppression in all of its insidious forms. The Crusades for example, were not religious wars but rather, they were fought over land, gold, silver, jewels and more, much booty being promised to the victors and the ultimate prize being Constantinople, the wealthiest trading port of the time.
Whoever controlled Constantinople in large part, controlled the wealth of much of the known world during the time of the Crusades. Religion and/or misguided patriotism are often used as excuses for waging war, but they are not the root cause.
In Search of the Real Jesus
www.freedomtracks.com/revolution.html
Human greed and love of wealth obviously involves much more than just physical money. People historically for thousands of years are seen as greedy over land, cattle, spouses, servants, slaves, silver, gold, jewels, art and other forms of wealth. Money on the other hand, represents a certain type of wealth. Unfortunately today, the love of wealth is at the heart of modern capitalism, which has caused much war and other violence and great and growing disparity of wealth between the rich and poor on a global level.
James teaches us that human greed is the root cause of war and other violence: "Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures" James 4:1-3.
From Wikipedia: "Accounting records, in the monetary system sense of the term accounting, dating back more than 7,000 years have been found in Mesopotamia and, documents from ancient Mesopotamia show lists of expenditures and goods received and traded; the history of accounting evidences that money of account predates the use of coinage by several thousand years."
Forms of wealth during the time of Abraham included servants, slaves, wives, children, land, cattle, camels, goats, sheep, jewels, gold, silver and more. Ancient peoples often traded cattle, goats and sheep, as well as food and clothing, rather than physical money.
It is historically quite clear, in spite of claims to the contrary, that human greed and the "love of wealth" are the root cause of war and other violence, slavery and other human oppression in all of its insidious forms. The Crusades for example, were not religious wars but rather, they were fought over land, gold, silver, jewels and more, much booty being promised to the victors and the ultimate prize being Constantinople, the wealthiest trading port of the time.
Whoever controlled Constantinople in large part, controlled the wealth of much of the known world during the time of the Crusades. Religion and/or misguided patriotism are often used as excuses for waging war, but they are not the root cause.
In Search of the Real Jesus
www.freedomtracks.com/revolution.html
