Andy Hawthorne has a brother, Simon, who now runs the business himself, who has a view nothing like that of his brother. Simon Hawthorne believes it is acceptable to be rich if you do not waste the money and will not be corrupted by it. He too is involved in charity work supporting less developed countries such as India where he helped to build a school in a remote part of the country.
Sir John Templeton is a very rich financial consultant on Wall Street in New York. Throughout his life he always tithed 10% of his earnings and gave it to charity. Through his ability in investing other people’s funds he managed to gain a substantial amount of money. He started the Templeton prize in 1972 to be awarded for progress in religion. This has since become worth more that the Nobel Peace Prize. Sir John Templeton gives money to many projects around the world. He was knighted in 1987 for ‘services to philanthropy’ - services to mankind. He believes very strongly in the value of religion and culture. Sir John Templeton is an admirable example of a businessman who is rich yet uses his money for good.
The Apostles in the early church gave up everything they owned and preached about Jesus. ‘They would sell their property and possessions, and distribute the money among all, according to what each one needed’ Act 2:44-45, this enabled them to serve God wholeheartedly. One example is when ‘Joseph…sold a field he owned, brought the money, and handed it over to the apostles.’ Acts 4:36-37. But as these people spent most of their time travelling and preaching, then their property became useless.
Marxists believe that there should be no rich people as long as there is poverty in the world. They believed that everything should belong to the state which would share everything equally. They forced their ideals upon the Russian people after there was a coup d’état by the Bolsheviks in November 1917. But their untried theories did not work in practise and those in the political elite used the money for their own benefit. There were different shops, houses and freedoms for Communist Party officials.
Within the Old Testament in Isaiah 58 it says ‘share your food with the hungry and open your homes to the homeless poor. Give clothes to those who have nothing to wear and do not refuse to help your relatives’. This shows that it is a duty to give your money to the poor, but if one is not rich then how does one feed the poor? So it is alright to be rich as long as one is not a miser.
Jesus is quoted in Mark 10 saying ‘Go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor and you will have riches in heaven’ this takes away the temptation of money and power so that one is able to serve God with no distractions. He goes on to say ’It is much harder for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven than for a camel to enter the eye of the needle’, what he means is that it is so hard for a rich man not to become greedy and selfish that one would be better off being poor. In Matthew 6, Jesus says ‘You cannot serve both God and money’. This again highlights the problem of money corrupting someone and taking over their moral duties.
However, in the parable of the Good Samaritan the Samaritan uses his wealth to revive and care for the dying Jew. This shows that if you can keep your money and not be corrupted, then you will be able to use it for the able to use it for the benefit of others. In the New Testament in 1 John, 3.17-18: ‘My brothers, what good is it for someone to say that he has faith if his actions do not prove it…’ This can be interpreted by saying that with money you can use it for good and for what it is needed for. Without money you can hope that someone gets better but you cannot actually physically help them in a state of financial need.
I believe the statement, ‘there should be no rich people as long as there is poverty in the world’, is wrong. I believe that not everyone wants to be equal, not just the rich but also the poor. Many people are content with the life they are living in the middle of nowhere, with no electricity or sanitary system. I feel that people should tithe their earnings, give money to charity so that those who live out a miserable existence can become content with life. I completely disagree with the Marxist notion that everyone should live equal lives, I believe everyone is equal before God and not in front of money. I do see how money can corrupt and that too much off it can be dangerous, but people become stronger if they can resist temptation.
