Is Money the Root of All Evil?

Many of you know that I am a financial advisor...so I work with people in helping them manage their money.  Every day I receive emails the are industry specific.  Today I received this one from a money management firm...a firm that has NOTHING TO DO WITH THE BIBLE!

Is money the root of all evil?

New research suggests that just thinking about greenbacks might cause people to subconsciously make unethical decisions.  

People are more likely to lie or make immoral decisions after being exposed to money-related words, according to researchers from Harvard and the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business who published a report last month in the journal “Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes.” The findings show that “even if we are well intentioned, even if we think we know right from wrong, there may be factors influencing our decisions and behaviors that we’re not aware of,” says Kristin Smith-Crowe, one of the co-authors and an associate professor of management at the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business.

People are more likely to lie or make immoral decisions after being exposed to money-related words, according to researchers from Harvard and the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business who published a report last month in the journal “Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes.” The findings show that “even if we are well intentioned, even if we think we know right from wrong, there may be factors influencing our decisions and behaviors that we’re not aware of,” says Kristin Smith-Crowe, one of the co-authors and an associate professor of management at the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business.

 

The study asked college students studying business to make sentences out of various word clusters before answering questions and playing several games. Some of the phrases contained a financial focus such as “She spends money liberally,” and others that were neutral, such as “She walked on grass.” Researchers found that people who were exposed to the financial phrases lied more often in subsequent activities if they knew doing so would earn them more money. Subjects shown the money-related words were also more likely to make an unethical decision even when there was no direct financial reward, such as hiring someone who promises to share insider information from a competitor.

Here;  http://thetrustadvisor.com/headlines/thinking-about-money

We will lie if it means more money!!  Who is the "father of all lies"?

There is probably a reason that Jesus talked more about money than he did any other topic...because he KNEW that it was going to be a stumbling stone for just about all of us!!  How hard it is to live in America and resist the lure to worship Mammon.

"But Dennis, I don't worship Mammon!"

How much time do we spend working for money, saving money, dreaming of spending the money, using credit cards to access money we don't have, managing our money, buying stuff we think will make us happy?  How many families have been split apart by money?

Now ask ourselves if we spend an equal amount of time in our relationship with Jesus?  Do we read his word?  Do we take a week vacation every year to spend time with Jesus?  Do we seek His kingdom first before we make our own plans?  Did we spend more time managing our 401k than we do discipling new believers?  Do we have a tough time giving God 10% of everything God gives us in the form of money?  Do we know people who spend more time reading MONEY MAGAZINE than they do reading the Bible?  Is that person you?

When you look at the facts...it's easy to see that most Americans (even those who call ourselves Christians) have a very difficult time living in this Mammon infested land...where wealth can often end up as a curse rather than a blessing.

"But the cares of this world and the desire for riches make it so they never mature." (in their faith), said Jesus.