"Therefore human desires to increase the production of goods and services are not in themselves greedy or materialistic or evil. Rather, such desires to be more productive represent God-given desires to accomplish and achieve and solve problems. They represent God-given desires to exercise dominion over the earth and exercise faithful stewardship so that we and others may enjoy the resources of the earth that God made for our use and for our enjoyment."
Wayne Grudem, Business for the Glory of God, p.28
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7 comments:
Do you supposed bringing order to a home or even cleaning mud the dog tracked in on the carpet count?
>God-given desires to accomplish and achieve and solve problems
Anything described as "god-given" is only such because man has ascribed those powers to it. As one of your own great Bishops (Spong) has declared, god was created by man for man as a cushion against the self-awareness of man's own mortality.
Halfmom - I can't imagine that it wouldn't include "bringing order to a home"or "cleaning mud the dog tracked in" or baking cookies for your family or raking your neighbors yard. Last time I checked, all the above constitute work and can be done to glorify God.
Maalie - good to hear from you. Sadly, there is much that Spong and I do not agree with. I hardly consider him as representative of faithful Christians.
I am interested that you don't agree with the Very Rev. Bishop John Shelby Spong. Frankly, I am more inclined to go along with a Bishop. Of course, the fact that there is such lack of agreement within is one arguement for the absence of an external deity in the sky.
Of course another of his persuasive arguments is that if your god is omnipotent then he has the power to intervene to forestall human tragedies (e.g. the shocking mortality of babies from AIDS in Africa). If he does not intervene it must be because he chooses not to. You call that a merciful heavenly father? I don't, and neithern does Bishop Spong!
Apologies for typos!
Good quote, ESI. I agree. Of course what is good is tainted with sin, as we well know. So both have to be kept in mind. And what is good as part of God's creation ends up redeemed in Christ.
Maalie - sorry for not replying to your question. I've been traveling in late June and of course, there is the World Cup to distract me from important matters of this blog ;-)
I'm now catching up...so where do I disagree with Spong. I am not studied in Spong's position but here are a few of positions he holds that I disagree with.
He does not believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God.
He does not believe in a literal heaven and hell.
He does not believe in the work of Jesus as a work of atonement for our sins.
From what little I know of your beliefs, you are probably closer to Spong than to me.
You also said - you're more inclined go along with a Bishop. It's certainly your prerogative to do so but my positions are not "mine"alone but asserted by the Bible and validated by the beliefs of generations of Christians throughout history... some of them, even Bishops.
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