at·tach·ment

əˈtaCHmənt/

noun

noun: attachment; plural noun: attachments

1.

an extra part or extension that is or can be attached to something to perform a particular function.

greed

ɡrēd/

noun

noun: greed

intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power, or food.

What Is Environmental Degradation?

The environment is just the natural world that surrounds us. Our environment provides us with
everything we need: air, food, water, and all the natural resources needed to build our civilization and
keep it running. Because human beings are entirely dependent on the environment for our continued
survival, it’s important that we keep it clean and utilize it in a sustainable way.

Simply put, environmental degradation is a decline in the quality of our environment. This can be a result
of pollutants that spoil the air, water or food supply, the over-extraction of resources so that little
remains for future use, or the destruction of habitats so that the resources they once contained are no
longer available. While natural disasters can cause environmental degradation, more often it is the result
of human activities.

Causes of Environmental Degradation

There are many causes of environmental degradation, nearly all of them rooted in human technology.
While some are the result of the unintended consequences of technological advancement, others are
examples of humans becoming too successful and efficient at resource extraction. Here are some of the
ultimate causes of environmental deterioration.

Global Climate Change

This phenomenon is a result of the unintended consequences of burning fossil fuels and releasing
staggering amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Mega-droughts have already left cities like
Cape Town in South Africa without water and have led to massive die-offs in the Amazon rainforests of
Brazil.
Industrialization

The industrial revolution increased human life expectancy and gave us the affordable luxuries of the
modern world. It has also led to air, water and soil pollution that has direct affects on human and animal
health. China’s explosive industrialization since the 1980s has led to some of the worst air pollution in
the world. Industrialized agriculture in the American heartland sends so much fertilizer down the
Mississippi River each summer that it causes an annual “dead zone” roughly the size of Connecticut in
the Gulf of Mexico.

Overconsumption

Overfishing

Improvements in fishing techniques allowed humans to fully exploit or deplete over 90 percent of the
fish in the ocean. While fishing companies made excellent profits for years, those same companies have
collapsed as fish stocks have disappeared.

Deforestation

War

Armed conflict does irreparable damage to the environment in addition to its costs on human life. The
Iraqi food supply, for example, is still contaminated with depleted uranium from a nuclear reactor
bombed in 1991.

Effects of Environmental Degradation

Environmental degradation has a host of negative outcomes that effect human beings both directly and
indirectly. Here are just a few.

Increased poverty

The depletion of natural resources leads to a loss of livelihood, leaving communities in poverty. When
the New Foundland cod fishery collapsed in 1992, for example, 30,000 fisherman were left with no way
to support their families. Similar stories can be found for logging and mining towns that depleted local
resources.

Conclusion

Human activity is the ultimate driver of environmental degradation, but it doesn’t have to be. Cleaner,
more sustainable technologies are being developed all the time. By minimizing your contribution to
problematic activities and supporting sustainable ones whenever possible, you can do your part to
preserve the environment for future generations.

What Is Greed?

Gordon Gekko’s rant on the virtues of greed in Oliver Stone’s 1987 movie Wall Street has become an
iconic touchstone in our cultural image of business.

Over the last 30 years, the media has done much to promote the idea that the essential qualities of
the free market system are to promote greed and give unscrupulous businessmen a vehicle to line
their pockets at the expense of others.

Certainly there have been many non-fictional events to help support this stereotype:

Stock trader Michel Milken‘s indictment and conviction on 98 counts of racketeering and securities
fraud in 1989.

The bankruptcy and scandal surrounding energy giant Enron Corporation in 2001.

The U.S. subprime mortgage crisis which led to the late-2000’s financial crisis.

Contrary to Gordon Gekko, greed is not good. It is extremely destructive.

Before we dive into the question of greed and the market, it’s first important to define greed.

Common Definitions of Greed

Webster’s Dictionary defines greed as a selfish and excessive desire for more of something than is
needed. WordNet, a project at Princeton University, defines greed as an “excessive desire to acquire or
possess more than one needs or deserves.”

Although most people, including many Christians, embrace this definition, where do we draw the line
regarding “more of something than is needed” or what do I “deserve”? Is it greedy to drive a
Mercedes when a less expensive automobile could get me to my destination just as well?

This type of thinking has led some Christian scholars to suggest that the top one percent of wealthy
individuals in the United States are all greedy, because by almost anyone’s definition they have more
of everything than is needed.

This is a relativistic definition of greed. Who decides not only what is needed, but when someone has
more than enough? How do we know when too much is too much? Who decides what one needs and
deserves? These definitions aren’t clear on these questions.

Fortunately, we as Christians have a better source than Webster’s Dictionary to help us understand the
problem of greed.

The Bible has a lot to say about greed, and its definition is different than the one that is in use by most
of our culture today.

Towards A Biblical Definition of Greed

The Greek word pleonexia, originating from the Greek πλεονεξια, is the word that is most commonly
translated as greed or covetousness in the New Testament (see Colossians 3:1–11; Luke 12:13–21; 1
Thessalonians 2:5; 2 Peter 2:3).

Biblical commentator John Ritenbaugh describes it as a “ruthless self-seeking, and an arrogant

assumption that others and things exist for one’s own benefit.” This word is also found in the writing
of both Plato and Aristotle, and is strictly defined as “the insatiable desire to have what rightfully
belongs to others.”

New Testament Greek scholar William Barclay describes pleonexia as an “accursed love of having,”
which “will pursue its own interests with complete disregard for the rights of others, and even for the
considerations of common humanity.” He labels it an aggressive vice that operates in three spheres of
life:

In the material sphere it involves “grasping at money and goods, regardless of honor and honesty.”

In the ethical sphere it is “the ambition which tramples on others to gain something which is not
properly meant for it.”

In the moral sphere, it is “the unbridled lust which takes its pleasure where it has no right to take.”

The Missing Component

There is an important thread that runs through these biblical definitions that is strongly missing from
the typical definitions of greed. It is the idea that greed fosters the taking of something that is not
rightfully ours. Our culture’s current relativistic definition of greed does not address this component.

In our postmodern culture where the concepts of right, wrong, and absolute truth have fallen on hard
times, it is easy to see why even in Christian circles we have inappropriately morphed the definition of
greed to eliminate anything to do with objective moral truth.

Yet, as Christians we are called to a much higher standard. Through the scripture we have been given a
moral code, which we have been called to live by in all areas of our lives.

There is much misunderstanding regarding the concept of greed, business and the role we have been
called to play as Christians in the workplace. We will have more to say about this subject in future
posts.

Attachment

Galatians 5:19-24 ESV / 17 helpful votes

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery,
enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and
things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the
kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. ...

Hebrews 13:5-6 ESV / 14 helpful votes

Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will
never leave you nor forsake you.” So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear;
what can man do to me?”

Psalm 34:18 ESV / 12 helpful votes

The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.

1 Peter 2:2 ESV / 11 helpful votes

Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—

2 Timothy 2:15 ESV / 11 helpful votes

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed,
rightly handling the word of truth.

Matthew 4:1-10 ESV / 11 helpful votes

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting
forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son
of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man
shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Then the devil
took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple ...

1 Corinthians 13:1-13 ESV / 7 helpful votes

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging
cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have
all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I
deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does
not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or
resentful; ...

Revelation 3:20 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to
him and eat with him, and he with me.

Revelation 2:1-3:22 ESV / 5 helpful votes

“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right
hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. “‘I know your works, your toil and your patient
endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call
themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and
bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you
have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent,
and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place,
unless you repent. ...

1 Thessalonians 2:7 ESV / 5 helpful votes

But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children.

Luke 15:11-32 ESV / 5 helpful votes

And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father,
give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. Not
many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there
he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine
arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the
citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. ...

Mark 10:17-31 ESV / 5 helpful votes

And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good
Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No
one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit
adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” And
he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” And Jesus, looking at him, loved him,
and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have
treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” ...

Revelation 22:19 ESV / 4 helpful votes

And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in
the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.

Revelation 22:18-19 ESV / 4 helpful votes

I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will
add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of
this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described
in this book.

Hebrews 9:27 ESV / 4 helpful votes

And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,

Galatians 5:6 ESV / 4 helpful votes

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working
through love.
Romans 10:13 ESV / 4 helpful votes

For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

John 8:44 ESV / 4 helpful votes

You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from
the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he
speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

John 1:14 ESV / 4 helpful votes

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son
from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Mark 9:48 ESV / 4 helpful votes

‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’

Matthew 5:1-7:29 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.
And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. “Blessed are the
meek, for they shall inherit the earth. ...

Psalm 131:2 ESV / 4 helpful votes

But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my
soul within me.

Deuteronomy 4:2 ESV / 4 helpful votes

You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the
commandments of the Lord your God that I command you.

Genesis 3:1 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He
said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”

Revelation 22:16 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and
the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”

Luke 16:23 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.

Luke 11:27 ESV / 3 helpful votes

As he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb
that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!”

Matthew 23:13 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's
faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.

Daniel 10:1-21 ESV / 3 helpful votes

In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a word was revealed to Daniel, who was named Belteshazzar.
And the word was true, and it was a great conflict. And he understood the word and had
understanding of the vision. In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three weeks. I ate no delicacies,
no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, for the full three weeks. On the
twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was standing on the bank of the great river (that is, the
Tigris) I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, a man clothed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from
Uphaz around his waist. ...

Deuteronomy 31:6 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes
with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”

Genesis 2:7 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath
of life, and the man became a living creature.

1 John 3:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that
when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not
grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so,
through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a
word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede
those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command,
with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will
rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to
meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. ...
John 3:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish
but have eternal life.

God’s View: It’s Okay to Have Nice Things!

I can still smell the beige leather interior in that gorgeous red Cadillac CTS. Ahhh. Let me tell you, she
was a sweet car.

It’s been nearly a decade since that Cadillac was mine—for less than 48 hours. Here’s what happened:
I bought the car on a Saturday morning and drove it around all day. I was really enjoying it! The next
day I drove it to church. After church, it hit me—an overwhelming wave of guilt. So I returned the car
to the dealership. (They gave me two days to change my mind.)

That car was too nice for me to own. I didn’t deserve it, and I shouldn’t have spent money on
something so . . . extravagant. At least that’s what I thought. Have you been there? I think most of us
have. Sometimes buyer’s remorse is justified. But other times, it leaves you with uncertainty in the pit
of your stomach.

So was my purchase too extravagant?

Whether that car was too nice or not had nothing to do with the car. It did, however, have everything
to do with my financial circumstances at the time. What might be too extravagant for one person’s
budget is a drop in the financial bucket for someone else’s budget. And based on my financial position
at the time, there was nothing wrong with me buying that car.

Too bad I didn’t understand that back then!

I had been challenged my whole life to work hard and succeed, and I was finally seeing the results of
years of good decisions. My wife and I were out of debt. We had several months of income saved in an
emergency fund. We were contributing 15% of our income to retirement. We were tithing. And I paid
for that beautiful red car in cash! Yet guilt made me take it back.

What’s that about, anyway?

The pressure I was feeling was not the Holy Spirit, that’s for sure. It was social pressure that stems
from a modern-day version of a belief that’s been around for thousands of years: Gnosticism. In a
nutshell, Gnosticism says that only spiritual stuff honors God. That means the material things our
financial success can buy are never okay—regardless of a person’s circumstances. Sounds a lot like our
culture today, huh?

But the Scriptures are clear that the Gnostics are wrong. In fact, God’s not only okay with us being
financially successful, but He wants us to be:

“Here is what I have seen: It is good and fitting for one to eat and drink, and to enjoy the good of all
his labor in which he toils under the sun all the days of his life which God gives him; for it is his
heritage. As for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, and given him power to eat of
it, to receive his heritage and rejoice in his labor—this is the gift of God” (Ecclesiastes 5:18-19, NKJV).

Do you see it? It’s “appropriate” to enjoy the gifts God has provided—including “wealth and
possessions.” And God is the One who actually gives us the ability to enjoy them.

God has set some standards around that, though. He wants us to enjoy the fruits of our labor, but only
if we’ve managed our blessings in a way that brings glory to Him. And we should never let our stuff or
our pursuit of success become idols. God has to remain first in our lives.

First Timothy 6:9–10 reminds us of this: “Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap
and into many foolish a and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love
of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith
and pierced themselves with many griefs” (NIV).

Accumulating stuff just for the sake of stuff takes us down a dangerous road. When we keep our focus
on God, though, and use money for His glory, He blesses us with more. It makes sense! He wants His
resources to be in the hands of those who steward them well.

So if your heart is in the right place with God and you’ve worked hard to succeed, don’t let anyone tell
you not to enjoy it. We can be generous and enjoy God’s blessings ourselves at the same time—He
wants us to! Even if that blessing is a red Cadillac CTS.