Albert wrote:I implore you to find where Jesus preached that prosperity leads to sin
I never made this claim, I thought I was quite explicit.
Victoribus Spolia wrote:Correct, which is why I am not a communist (among other things), for obviously the possession of wealth is not sinful.
Likewise, Satan's request to tempt Job proves that even he believed that the removal of possessions would lead to Job blaspheming God as that would have been a common reaction, God let Satan tempt Job because God knew that Job was an exception, He was righteous in this regards (and some argue he even typifies the Christ to come). Indeed, God even gave Him more wealth as a reward.
However, such can be a temptation, if it were not, we wouldn't have warnings against the love of money, worshiping money rather than God, etc. Even the offering of immediate gratification and abundance was used against Our Lord by the devil himself in the midst of his fast (which is the quintessential act of delayed gratification).
I will restrain myself from the belief that you are intentionally trying to misunderstand me, so I will merely make very succinct points on this.
1. The possession of wealth is not sinful.
2. abundance is a blessing.
3. wealth can be a temptation to sin.
4. the love of money is the root of all evil.
I affirm all of the above # 1-4.
Albert wrote:This is why we sin, because we enjoy it.
Agreed.
Albert wrote:Also consider career criminals, they lead destitute lives yet many of them do not turn to god. That is because evil loves destruction, regardless if it is in wealth or poor, evil people will do evil regardless. Because evil loves evil, that is why evil people do evil, because they derive joy from it.
I am not denying this, nor am I denying that many wealthy men can serve God, and I am not even speaking in regards to wealth
per se, only the correlation between people with high time preferences (instant gratification) and low time preference (delayed gratification) and how such can be correlated to their spiritual states.
Criminality increases in societies with larger governments and welfare states as people in these communities become accustomed to instant-gratification lifestyles which makes criminality more appealing overrall (which is my entire point).
Why is this the case?
Why did the advent of social security lead to a decrease of patriarchal values that are taught in Scripture?
Why did the advent of welfare lead to the black family abandoning Christian marriage?
The immediate answer is sin and faithlessness; however, we must also ask why this sort of pattern even exists at all, how do we describe it?
Why do societies with unprecedented wealth and ease of lifestyle tend to be the most decadent?
That is what I am getting at.
Do not misrepresent my arguments as so simplistic as to say that wealth is sinful and poverty is righteous. That is not my position in any manner whatsoever.
I believe that men tend to create governments which necessarily create social conditions that de-civilize people by making it so that all of the people under their control no longer need to manage scarcity out of necessity. That is my position as to universal societal patterns of decadence and civilizational decline, and if you want to ask me why this pattern even exists at all, I am going to say:
"because of sin."