By Rev. Mark H. Creech
June 9, 2003

(AgapePress) - I've been working in the General Assembly of North Carolina as a lobbyist for nearly four years. And recently, I've been grievously disappointed at what I've come to believe actually drives the place. At the risk of sounding terribly cynical, I'm convinced it is greed that is the modus operandi within those supposedly hallowed halls.

Yes, you read it right -- greed! I wish I could say it was the noble virtues of public service and corporate morality, but it isn't! Instead most of our lawmakers demonstrate time and again they are simply a reflection of our society's materialistic way of life, which largely motivates us to compromise principles of justice, to yield on the canons of morality, and even to lose our own souls.

Just last week, North Carolina legislators approved a bill that significantly loosens alcoholic beverage control measures -- allowing for a restaurant's gross receipts for beverage alcohol to be as high as 70%. Who will benefit from this legislation -- the people of North Carolina? Of course not! According to the Alcohol and Drug Council of North Carolina, for every $1 generated in tax revenue from alcohol sales in the Tar Heel State, there is a corresponding expenditure of $21.42 to clean up the mess caused by alcohol use and abuse. No, the people of North Carolina will not prosper. But the fat-cats of the alcohol industry and all their cronies will be rich.

This week North Carolina lawmakers will be considering whether to enact a state-operated lottery. Month after month, North Carolina's leaders seem to get a little closer to approving lottery legislation. In a weakened economy, the governor vigorously pushes the lottery as a legitimate source of new revenue. But it's a sad day when state government preys upon the poor and the weakest among us in order to sustain its affluence.

What's true for North Carolina is also true for the nation. Most of the decisions in Washington are about the bottom line. No subject seems to be of greater importance in Congress than the economy -- not even the war on terrorism.

If we are honest with ourselves, we have to admit that greed is at the heart of our economic system in its present form. In his book, Essays in Persuasion, Maynard Keynes says, "For at least another hundred years we must pretend to ourselves and to everyone that fair is foul and foul is fair; for foul is useful and fair is not. Avarice and usury and precaution must be our gods for a little longer still. For only they can lead us out of the tunnel of economic necessity into daylight."

Please don't misunderstand me. I'm not unhappy with our form of government. I'm not anti-capitalism. Each system is the best our world has to offer. But I am concerned that if our government and capitalistic way of life is not redeemed from the practice of greed, both will severely be judged by God. I don't think it was coincidental that the 9/11 attacks on our nation occurred on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon -- two of America's most prominent symbols of its economy and government.

Moreover, at a time when the church ought to be calling our nation away from greed, it appears to be caught up in its own brand of avarice. Huge expensive edifices are constructed to house mega ministries, most of which minister to wealthy and spiritually bloated parishioners who rarely lift a finger to help the sick, sinful, and downtrodden sectors of society. The Church's emphasis is not so much on helping and healing, but on the marketing of Christianity! I tell you if the Church will not once again herald and demonstrate the message of self-sacrifice, there is no hope for our nation.

In the ideal society set forth in the Scriptures, no one enjoys abundance at the expense of others. None are to live in a way that threatens the natural balance. In all that people do, there is consideration for others. None is to put a stumbling block in front of the other. Each is to esteem others as more important. Our security is not in the accumulation of things, but in our relationship to God. The will of God is that each of us should have enough, but never more than is just in our relationship to others.

Tolstoy often told the story of a peasant who was offered all the land he could walk around in a day. So the man, hurried to cover the ground of as much land as possible. But the exertion he put forth was so great that he fell dead just as he got back to the place where he started. He ended up with nothing. His desire for possessions was greater than his desire to live. It's a travesty when what we possess is more important to us than who we are -- when in a relentless pursuit for prosperity we ultimately lose both!