A Great Way to Lose Weight

Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Luke 6:25


I stated in a previous post that I would be cogitating and blogging on real, practical ways to help poor people … and then I stopped blogging for about four months, perhaps leaving my reader (Hi, Mom!) with the impression that I had either lost steam with this blog or I didn’t have any bright ideas on the subject. Well, neither is true. I have been steadily working on this idea of how to really help poor people--it was frequently on my mind as we travelled through Bolivia, one of South America's poorest countries--and I do have some more ideas, like microlending that I blogged about some months ago, but I have not been in a season of blogging. So, just waiting for the season to change.

Meanwhile, the above scripture has been buzzing around in my head for some time, aching to be explored more fully. I quoted it to my daughter one day and she said, "Oh, no!" We both thought that was funny--ha ha, woe to us 'cause we are well-fed now! But wait, is God's word something to be taken so lightly?

Is this scripture one of those instances in which Jesus uses hyperbole, or did he actually mean this literally? Are we really headed for an eternity of hunger if we are well fed on earth? We could surely say, "No, God has provided for us abundantly and if it is God that provides the blessing, then it is meant to be enjoyed without fear of eternal penalty!" And further, how could we, sons and daughters of the Most High, go hungry for eternity, or even for a season in eternity? There is no punishment in Heaven, right?

Maybe this scripture means that if you are well fed now and are stingy toward God, then you will go hungry later. I'm recalling here the parable about the rich man who had a good crop and decided to tear down his barns and build bigger ones to hold all the harvest, thinking he would be set for some years and could just take it easy. But then God said to him, "You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you." Of him Jesus said, "This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God." (Read the whole parable in Luke 12.) Can we apply the teaching of this parable to being well fed? Maybe it is OK to have a bounty on your table everyday as long as you are giving God the credit for it, appreciating it, sharing it through acts of hospitality and not failing to give back to God the first fruits of your time and money. After all, we know there were many rich and faith-filled characters in the Bible: Abraham, Isaac, David, Solomon, Jabez and many more. Surely they were well fed! And if they were, could it be wrong for me to be?

Here's a question for you: Do you think that any of the well-fed faithful of the Bible were also overweight? I'm on a tangent here, but it is something God showed me. If you are not well fed, you cannot be overweight. And if you are not overweight, your "temple" is in better shape to be useful to and bring glory to God. Of course, there are genetic factors… but wait, why is it that there are no genetically fat people in the underfed parts of the world? Even a genetic predisposition, or being "big boned," cannot cause a starving person to look fat. Fatness comes from being too "well fed"--end of argument. So for those of us struggling with weight (count me in), this scripture holds a key to weight loss. Stop feeding yourself so well!

This scripture isn't just an indictment of the rotund, however, in fact, it doesn't mention being fat at all. Woe to you if you are well fed probably means having plenty to eat and eating it, regardless of what size you wear. Jesus also "woed" those who are rich now, because they have already received their comfort. So if you are well fed and rich--double your woe!

Double my woe, then, because I am well fed and, though not rich according to U.S. standards, according to the standards of all history and humanity combined--which are the ones I will be judged against--I am rich. I have net worth, clothes to give away and my own private mode of transportation! Okay, so I need to do something about this because I don’t want a double portion of woe. Let’s see what Jesus suggests: "Sell your possessions and give to the poor." Gulp. He follows this up by saying if we do this thing, we will have rewards in heaven (Matt 19:21). So let's add this up: If I am well fed and rich now, I am going to go hungry later and shouldn't be expecting an eternity of comfort, since I have already had mine. However, if I will just sell my possessions and give to the poor, then I won't be rich anymore and I won't be able to feed myself well anymore, cancelling my double woe, and to boot, I'm promised rewards in heaven!

For a person who really has her bearings set on eternity, this seems like a no-brainer. What are you waiting for—hang out that "for sale" sign today! But for the rest of us who firmly have at least one foot planted on earth, we can find all kinds of reasons why that is just not feasible. "I've got kids!" "I have a job that requires x, y and z electronic toys and fast cars!" "I'm using my computer for God's glory!" Yep, there are all kinds of reasons why we can't sell it all and follow Jesus… and He's heard them all! "I have to bury my father;" "I just bought some new livestock;" and even "I just got married!" There are lots of good reasons why we can't do what Jesus is asking us to do. Spend a minute now and think of your own! Or, in other words, make a list of the things you have not yet trusted to God and the things you would not sacrifice for your faith.

Don’t get mad at me; I’m just blogging, which almost literally means talking to myself in cyberspace. This message is for me too! I have so much crap (a spiritually technical term for my earthly possessions), that I hold on to for nonsense sake. Lord, help me let go.

Let’s be real. I don’t have (and probably you don’t either) the kind of spiritual maturity needed to sell it all and live on daily bread. So what to do! Just ignore that scripture about being well fed, like the entire nation of the United States of America is doing? After all, it’s not like if I eat any less, there will be more food for people in Africa. If I drop down from a half-pound of protein a day to a quarter-pound, will the difference be redirected to the world’s hungry? No. And I can’t send them my leftovers either, so what’s the point? God blessed me and please pass the potatoes! (And meatloaf, green beans, gravy, oh, and give me a roll, would ya? And I can’t wait for dessert! I want to try that layer cake and have a piece of my favorite—pecan pie. Mmm!)

Brother and Sister in Christ, if you contemplate this scripture and receive this message and have gotten just an inkling of the absurdity that is the American diet, in contrast to the malnutrition of the majority of the world, and then do nothing different, you can triple your woe, because for those who know to do right and do it not, it is a sin. Ignore this scripture at your own spiritual risk.

I encourage you to feed on this scripture for one day. Give up food for one day and chew on this text instead. See what God reveals to you. “Oh, I have x, y, or z medical condition, and I can’t fast.” Bologna! (ha! Punny, considering the topic!). You can too fast! Call your doctor and ask if going without food one day will put you in the hospital. I betcha he says it won’t. Do you think God will allow you to die or become deathly ill while in the midst of a spiritual discipline to bring yourself more in line with His will? Oh, you of little faith. Fast, already!

I want you to hear from God on this for yourself, but I will nonetheless let you in on what I got (after three days on liquid only), not so you can shortcut the fast and go with what God gave me, but because I think He wants me to share. And if you do this and you get something different than I got, please, e-mail me or comment to this blog (that would be better, so my mom could see it too, haha) and we’ll spur each other on toward good works in that way.

Here’s my word from God. “Okay, Donna, you lack faith to sell out and follow me, so I will do what I always do and meet you where you are. How about this: You know what you have budgeted for food every month, right?”

“Yes, Lord, $900.” (Family of four with three dogs and includes cleaning supplies, etc.)

“How about you set a goal for yourself to cut the fat out of that budget and give the savings to the poor. Start with 10 percent. Save $90 a month on your food budget and instead of buying clothes with it or sticking in the kids’ college fund, add it to your gifts to me.”

I can do that. I pride myself on being an economizer (emphasis on the MIZER!) and probably just by replacing one meat meal with vegetable protein each week and dropping out some of the fun foods that are bad for my temple anyway, I can save $90 a month. If we eat out one less time a month, we could cut $40 or so and cut our calorie count too.

I could probably save $90 just by using coupons, planning meals better and shopping the sales at various stores, and I should, but that wouldn’t impact my being well fed. I believe one of the spiritual objectives here is to challenge us to do the most good we can with what we’ve got. But there are others. Three I readily see are moderation; “temple management” or good health; and putting food in a proper spiritual perspective (Do not set your heart on what you will eat… Luke 12:29.) I am sure there are others.

Now, what will I do with the extra $90 a month that I have to give to the poor? I’m not sending it to some top-heavy organization that will trickle down a bag of rice to some refugees. I want it to make an impact. That brings me back to the matter of how to really help poor people. So stay tuned… the seasons are changing.

The Cure for PGD (Post Gifting Depression)

I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure… Yet when I surveyed all my hands had done... everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun. Ecclesiastes 2:10-11 (in part).

When I was in the Peace Corps in Ecuador, I took a liking to a six-year-old boy who had run away from home and was staying in an orphanage while officials tried to locate his parents. I wanted to do something special for this boy, so I asked permission to take him home with me for one night. I worked in the social service system, and the powers that were knew me, so they agreed. This happened to correspond to my house-sitting for an American diplomat, so I took the boy to the diplomat's house, which was a lot nicer than my humble Peace Corps abode, and was fully stocked with toys, as the diplomat's family included two children.

The little boy was from a poor family, undoubtedly. And although the orphanage had some playground equipment, I doubted this child had played with very many toys in his life. In contrast, the two American children had a lot of toys -- an entire room dedicated to toys. For one night, the little runaway would get to live like the privileged American children of that household did every day -- quite Prince-and-the-Pauperesque.

When that little boy saw all those toys, his face glowed like a sunrise. Upon my urging, he dug into the toys, fast and furious. He picked up each toy, looked at it, asked me what it was or how it worked, made it do what it was supposed to do, put it down and then moved to another toy. He spent about two hours going through every toy in the room. When he had played with the last toy, he sat down, looked up at me with a sort of spoiled look on his face and said, "Is this all there is? I want more." Amazing. I wish Guinness had been there; I'm sure that I must have set the world record for spoiling a child in the least amount of time.

He was still the sweet kid I picked up from the orphanage that day, but in short order, he had exhausted modern life. In a matter of hours, he completed a cycle that takes many of us half our lives, while many others never come full circle. He had gone from having nothing to having everything he could ever dream of, only to arrive at the absurdist conclusion: Is this all there is?

Fast forward to here and now and you and me, this Christmas. Something similar to this happens to me each year on Christmas morning. I've been anticipating opening gifts for weeks, and then in a colorful frenzy of flying paper and bows, it's all open and laid bare at my feet. As I survey the loot, my internal smile fades as I ask myself, "Is this all I got?" OK, I’m being really honest here, so please don't think I'm a brat. Furthermore, I don't think it's just me. I'm willing to bet a lot of brutally self-aware people would admit to this letdown too. I think it's just part of the process -- all those gifts put us on an artificial high from which we have to come down. On the outside, we may be descending gracefully, as we store our new socks and sweaters, and show off our new jewelry to our Christmas dinner company. But on the inside, we may be pitching a little fit, thinking, I wanted more!

Just like I didn't dare say, "Shame on you!" to that sweet little runaway (OK, I admit, I can't remember his name!), I'm not going to shame you or me either -- well, not for that feeling of wanting more after the last gift is opened, anyway. What we should be ashamed of is that we've made the birth of our Lord and Savior the annual occasion that sets us up to experience the absurdity of materialism. That we are eager and willing participants of it on any date is to our discredit, but on the birthday of Jesus Christ? How very wrong.

As I see it, there are two possible ways out of this conundrum -- and neither is easy to pull off. 1. We could control our experience to ensure that letdown doesn't happen on Christmas morning, by insisting that someone (boyfriend, parents, rich uncle) gets for us the ultimate gift -- that very thing that could not disappoint. For me, this year, it would be a cruise to Antarctica. I can almost guarantee there would be no anticlimax to finding tickets for that under my tree. 2. We can control our experience to ensure that letdown doesn't happen on Christmas morning by making that day about something other than gift-giving. Sounds radical, but it's very doable. We actually have a holiday like that -- it's called Thanksgiving. No one expects gifts on Thanksgiving. It's a wonderfully sacred day for family and appreciating our heritage and our many blessings. No gifts, no letdown, and we generally keep the true purpose of the holiday in focus.

Why couldn't we do this for Christmas? I know exactly what you're thinking: Nobody else is doing it; the whole world would be against it; it would be complete and total nonconformity; and furthermore, I like Christmas the way it is! Ironically, those are also the strongest arguments for ditching our current tradition. As followers of Christ, "everybody’s doing it" cannot justify our actions. Jesus said, "Wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it" Matt. 7:13b-14. And we also know that we are not to conform to the pattern of this world (Roms. 12:2a). We're in this world, but not of it, which requires us to examine all we do under the tough scrutiny of this standard: Would Jesus approve?

Would Jesus approve of $500 of spending per person on Christmas gifts? If not, what amount do you think He might approve of? Maybe the amount doesn't matter if the gift is practical and will be put to good use, like a cappuccino machine or Hickory Farms sausage rolls? (Oops, I'm being sarcastic again.) I'm not going to answer this question, just pose it: How do you think Jesus would like for you to spend your money on His birthday?

My birthday is coming up, and as the keeper of the purse in my house, I care very much about how much is spent on that occasion. I want a homemade cake, a clean house (without any effort on my part) and a pedicure -- $10 at a local beauty college. I approve of this frivolous use of $10 on my birthday! On the other hand, though I would be endeared at the gesture, if my husband were to bring home an emerald ring (I've always wanted an emerald ring), I would wear it on Christmas and then insist he return it and get our money back on December 26. I could not in good conscience enjoy that ring, knowing the power to pay other obligations that it represented. If wearing an emerald ring were a higher priority than publishing my next Christian book or saving for my children's college education, I could keep it and enjoy it. And this, I'm afraid, is why we can enjoy so many of the expensive and not-so-expensive trinkets we give and get at Christmas... because having them is higher on the priority list than some other things.

Smile Train can fix a cleft palate for $250. For the same cost as my emerald ring, I could make a life-changing gift to two children. But who's thinking in these terms as we cruise the mall looking for gifts? Nonetheless, I am not exonerated in choosing an emerald ring simply because I didn't think of giving the money instead for two cleft palate surgeries. I feel certain that "It never even occurred to me," will not work as an excuse when Jesus is separating the sheep and the goats.

Please don't think me a Grinch. I love holy days as much as the next good Christian and I'm deeply sentimental, which is why I want my holidays to mean more. I'm not against gift-giving, but I am for gifts that mean more than fuzzy socks do (although I love me some fuzzy socks!). What rational argument can be made against gift-giving in a way that is consistent with our espoused values and beliefs? Gifts given and received in His spirit will not create a letdown, and are anything but meaningless.

End note: In preparing this article, I came across an interesting Web page entitled Liberal Reasons Not to Celebrate Christmas. If my reasons for nonconformity with current Christmas practices haven’t resonated with you, maybe some of those will.

The American Delusion

Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own? Luke 16:10-12

Are you hiding something in your closet? I am. My closet is downright junky looking - shoes strewn all over the floor, clothes stuffed on the top shelf almost up to the ceiling. Other shoes crammed precariously in shelves, and the dirty clothes hamper on the floor, in an almost constant state of overflow. If there were something precious in my closet, no one could ever guess by looking. But there is something precious in there, lots of things - at least I thought so at the moment I parted with my hard-earned cash to purchase them. Or even more extreme, when I indebted myself with up to 20 percent interest to have them immediately when I really couldn't afford them.

But now look at those things - all crammed in together and hardly ever seen, let alone put into use. My closet reveals an unflattering truth about my house-keeping skills, but the real skeletons in it are the sins of ingratitude and greed. The truth is that I no longer appreciate many of my clothes and shoes, but at the same time, I'm not ready to part with them so someone else can appreciate them.

In 1995, I moved to Savannah, Ga., in a Mazda Protégé with a car-top U-Haul container. Everything I owned fit in or on top of a compact car! Five years later, when I moved to Corpus Christi, I needed a 17' U-haul truck. Four years after that, when we moved to Arkansas, we needed a 24' U-Haul with a car trailer behind, the car in tow was completely stuffed, and our Ford Ranger was overloaded, towing a 5'x 8' U-haul trailer behind it!

Clearly, over the last 15 years, I have been a rabid consumer. It is certainly no coincidence that in these same 15 years, I've struggled with credit card debt. How much of these things did I really need? Very few. Furthermore, I probably wouldn’t miss about 90 percent of it if tomorrow I gave it away. Quite often, I go through the house filling boxes and bags to take to the local thrift store. After the things are gone, not only do I never miss them, I can't even tell by looking that I gave anything away. In a hard analysis, I have to admit that I have been entrusted with more than a little and have not handled it very well.

Surely you can relate, if not personally, through the experience of a family member or friend. It's OK to have some things in reserve for special occasions, but most American families have much too much of more of the same. More CDs, more DVDs, more books, more clothes, shoes, picture frames, trinkets, wall hangings... This is, at very least, poor stewardship, and at worst, a mild form of mental illness - pakratitis.

I know, you think you need these things. This is typical American thinking, but when our thinking doesn't correspond with reality, it is a delusion. And in the last 60 years, Americans have become terribly delusional when it comes to their stuff. I count myself in this lot. I am becoming aware of my delusional thinking and behavior, but I haven't progressed to the point of behaving differently.

I am a big advocate of foreign travel, the kind that allows you to enter homes and see how people live. I've done a great deal of this kind of travel and have been privileged to be hosted in homes in France, Germany, Holland, Spain, Portugal, Chile, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, Guatemala and Morocco. From the richest to the poorest, from the comfort of a Parisian flat, to a cane shack in the Amazon rain forest, each of these diverse homes and families had something in common: they operated with far fewer, and I mean far, far fewer material goods than the average American home. Clearly, our belief that we need our stuff does not correspond with reality.

Americans are so incredibly blessed, but I'm sad to say we've not been trustworthy in handling our worldly wealth. We've used our excess to fill curio shelves and closets. When our houses overflow, we buy sheds and rent storage units. And if that isn't crazy enough, we’re constantly moving from one house to the next and carting all that crap with us!

I am moving out of the country this summer, and it's going to present an opportunity for me to behave differently. Will I choose to pay to store away things I don't need? Or will I part with them, hopefully never to fill my closets with such nonsense again?

Our verse certainly gives me encouragement to do the right thing and give away the things I no longer value - and restrain from obtaining replacement trinkets. But it's countercultural to do so, and it seems to run in my family.

When my grandfather died, all the family that came to the funeral went through his garage and took something to remember him by, or anything they wanted or could use. When the garage was thoroughly picked over, it still held enough to stock a hardware store. What was the point of accumulating all that junk? If you're under the influence of another delusion, thinking that you're saving stuff for your kids: Newsflash! Your heirs don't want it.

I pray that God will continue to open my eyes to the truth about stuff and things and lead me to a better understanding of how earthly possessions affect me spiritually. I pray that He will cure me of my delusional perspectives, open my eyes to the reality of what I really need, help me to value the things I have, or let them go, and teach me to be a better steward of worldly wealth. I pray all of this, because I want to be able to be trusted with true riches.

Contemplate this: Do I value the things God has allowed me to have?

One Wrong + One Right Does Not Make a Right Either

Better a little with righteousness than much gain with injustice. Proverbs 16:8

Have you ever priced a hearing aid? These tiny electrical gadgets, some small enough to fit completely in the ear without being seen, range in cost from $1000 to $4000. I feel sure that no hearing aid manufacturer would make this information public, but I bet the raw materials on each hearing aid cost about 25 cents. A say this based on the fact that I can purchase an AM/FM radio in the dollar store (the one where everything costs a dollar). Hearing aids are made with the same raw materials as that radio, but fewer of them. As editor of a magazine for people with hearing loss, I know the industry rationale for the other $999.75 worth of cost on even the basic model: research and development. It is true that there are many scientists and engineers working on improving the quality of hearing with amplification. It’s also true that all of the major hearing aid manufacturers not only spend hundreds of thousands of dollars advertising their products to audiologists and hearing aid dispensers, and have nice profit margins, they each also have a philanthropic spin-off organization or at least, some sort of philanthropic program within the company.

This is a pretty common thing among large corporations, and in fact, many people are influenced in their purchasing decisions by whether or not the company in some way “gives back” to the community or the world. I like to eat small, compressed wheat rectangles for breakfast. Recently, one producer of this type of cereal advertised that they are giving away a million bowls of cereal. My purchase of said cereal is going to generate another free bowl of cereal for some hungry kid. “Good!” I think. “That’s nice. If only all corporations would give back in this manner, the world would be a better place.”

Then it dawns on me that if I weren’t be overcharged for my bowl of cereal, Post company wouldn’t have a margin of profit so far above its shareholder expectations that it is able to give away a million bowls of cereal without ticking off the shareholders, cutting back on salaries or advertising, or even lowering office thermostat in winter. The same is true about hearing aid companies. Should I feel good that Starkey Hearing Foundation gives away on average 38,000 hearing aids each year at the expense of those honest hard of hearing folk who bought one of their products?

According to a 2009 Consumer Report, hearing aids are marked up on average 117 percent after all the costs of materials, research and development, advertising and professional services rendered by audiologists are taken into account. That’s a free-market economy at work. Consumers will pay it so companies can charge it. But I have to ask: In all this economic theory played out, where is justice? Oh, right, it’s in those one million bowls of free cereal and in the 38,000 hearing aids a year that the company is giving away. In my opinion, that is dissociated, post-coital justice: an attempt to make things right with a third party after having screwed your customer. Here’s a radical idea: Why not offer the product at a price where the margin of profit is not obscene? Post Shredded Wheat cost $2.98 at my local supermarket. If they adjusted their price so that they couldn’t afford to create a philanthropic program to feed a million, I bet more of America’s truly poor people could afford to buy it. Then those poor people wouldn’t need to stand in a bread line in front of some social services organization to get their free bowl of cereal. And if you think I’m harshing on Post, you should know that their bite-size wheat cereal costs almost a dollar less than the same product under the Kellogg brand.

And yet, it seems an almost insurmountable feat to radically lower the price of cereal, not to mention hearing aids. It would shake the industry if Post or Starkey started pricing their products with a modest profit margin. It could topple the economy! I fully recognize that it’s not just as easy as deciding to do the right thing when it comes to large corporations that are industry leaders. I also fully recognize that those corporations are made up of individuals who will be held accountable by a just God for their daily decisions.

But while I’m pointing the finger at large corporations and the individuals who run them, I should note the three fingers pointing back at me. First of all, I could well be a shareholder of one such company. I have no idea if I am or not. As I’ve mention in a previous post, our global economy and the convoluted way in which we invest money today, through funds, is a huge barrier to tracing my investment dollar and its impact on society. I could be part of the problem! Secondly, small businesses employ over half of private sector employees in the United States in approximately 29.6 million small businesses, according to the Office of Advocacy, which means small businesses play an important role in the economy and also have ample opportunity to justly or unjustly price products and services. Thirdly (the pinky finger), what am I doing as a consumer to let large corporations know that I’d prefer that they price justly, enabling more people to afford their products and services, than to overprice and then scrape off some of their crumbs to the poor, perpetuating a “welfare mentality”?


Contemplate this: Am I economically supporting, philosophically endorsing or perhaps even actively participating in unjust gain?

The Sock Drawer and Other Ethical Investment Tools

Dishonest money dwindles away, buy he who gathers money little by little makes it grow. Proverbs 13:11

Have you been wondering when I would get around to actually saying you should throw away your 401K? This could well be the time. What’s in that 401K anyway? Who are you enriching as you gather money toward your golden years? While I’ve got one finger pointed at you, four are coming back at me. To be honest, I have investment products – several in fact, about which I’m rather clueless. I know what they’re called and my balance on them in any given quarter, I know the company through which the investment is held is on the up and up, but I really don’t have a good idea of how my dollar breaks down into nano-units and travels across the globe to impact some poor rice farmer in China. It is conceivable that the negative impact of my invested money could be outweighing the positive impact of my tithes and offerings. In the big balance sheet in the sky, I might be in the red!

It’s the darned global economy, right? How can a person be expected to understand the impact of her money in such a labyrinth? Investing today can be done in such a way that it truly is impossible to know who you’re impacting. We assume it’s all for good – money into the market can’t be hurting anyone can it? The investment company is making a profit – good for them. The financial advisor assigned to my account is getting some kickback – good for him. In a strong economy, I’m making a profit – good for me. The company in which the money is ultimately invested is making a profit – good for its shareholders and employees. Just in the direct investment stream alone I’ve positively impacted thousands of people!

You know what’s coming though, don’t you… How are the companies in which my dollar is being invested impacting the world? Are they selling smut? Are they polluting rivers? Are they using child labor? Are they abusing their adult workers – like the diamond industry is renowned for doing? Or maybe they are a fairly reputable company just going about their business, like Coca Cola Company, for instance, but in the final analysis, not doing the world any favors by being in business. Think of the rotten teeth, malnutrition, obesity, diabetes and other health issues to which consumption of Coca Cola can contribute. Sure, it is consumers’ responsibility to brush their teeth and limit their intake, but on judgment day would you want to be the CEO of a company that produced liquid junk and made it cool?

There is no chance of that for me (even if Coca Cola did have my name on a short list of candidates to next take their helm, I’m sure they have scratched me now!), but there might be a chance that on judgment day I will be held responsible for financially supporting and personally profiting off of a company that produces liquid junk and made it cool. If ignorance of the law is no excuse from the law when I am unknowingly speeding through a school zone, how will I be excused from having invested and profited off of immoral and unethical businesses to make my golden years more comfortable?

Just as my investing practices can be making a negative global impact of which I’m unaware, and yet accountable, my consumption practices are equally perilous in this global economy. That is a whole other sticky wicket, but just thought I would throw that in there to think about and bolster the point that when it comes to buying, selling and even investing, thinking locally has its advantages, foremost of which is I know what I am supporting.

You might think that sticking your money in a bank and letting it gain a pittance of interest is an easy answer to ethical investing, but not only is the return about as good as stuffing your money in a sock drawer, it is not any more ethical than investing in mutual funds. Banks turn right around and use your capital to invest too – and no telling what all they are in to. Another option might be to invest in things that are easy enough to track, like real estate or municipal bonds, but for investors who have small amounts to save each month, this is not feasible. What we need is a way to invest only the good, profitable companies, not the bad, profitable companies. That is not as improbable as it sounds.

There are a number of companies that have investment options that have gone through ethics filters. For example, the Timothy Plan has all the regular investment options, just screened for practices that do not line up with Judeo-Christian principles. And yet, as one of their blogging critics has pointed out, The Timothy Plan does not filter out manufacturers of weapons and ammunitions. War may line up with Judeo principles, but some Christians oppose it as strongly as tobacco and pornography. Another such company, Christian Brothers Investment Services, screens companies with objectionable products and practices and further engages the companies they invest in to become better corporate citizens. Or perhaps if it is good for the environment, it is good enough for you. In that case, you have more choices among the many “green” funds that have sprouted in the last decade. A good starting place to learn more is www.sustainablebusiness.com.

If after a thorough study of the scriptures on the matter of money, you feel God leading you to continue to save money and invest it in stocks, it is not going so far out of your way to seek out ethical investments. If you don’t, despite that nagging voice (darn conscience!), don’t be surprised to see your hard-earned money dwindle away, maybe when you need it most. Obviously, this won’t happen to everyone who invests haphazardly, the history of the stock is evidence that many who deal in ugly companies profit handsomely. However, if the Holy Spirit is telling you to get out, there is a good reason. Ignore that voice at your own peril.

Contemplate this: Maybe I should move my money to ethical investments.