The Root Of All Evil.

[wmenorr67]

I have figured out that money is not the root of all evil.  It is religion.  What else besides turf is the most wars fought over.  People have been fighting wars since the beginning of time over religious differences.  If money was the root of all evil this war in Iraq would be over with.  The reason being after spending the afternoon here in Baghdad it dawned on me that this would be a perfect tourist destination if not for the bloodshed.
The weather during our winter is perfect.  You can also grab tourists for the history.  Three of the biggest religions all call this area of the world the birthplace of civilazation.  What more could a resort ask for.  Let companies like Hylton, Marriott and others invest in building resorts and this place would be swimming in money.
Too bad the people of this once great land can't see all of that.

[charby]

I've known that religion is the root of a most of the big problems for a long time.

-C

[K Frame]

Religion isn't the root of evil.

It's how people PERCEIVE their religion as it relates to those who have different religious beliefs that generates the evil that is done in the 'name' of religion.

[Manedwolf]

I have figured out that money is not the root of all evil.  It is religion.  What else besides turf is the most wars fought over.  People have been fighting wars since the beginning of time over religious differences.  If money was the root of all evil this war in Iraq would be over with.  The reason being after spending the afternoon here in Baghdad it dawned on me that this would be a perfect tourist destination if not for the bloodshed.
The weather during our winter is perfect.  You can also grab tourists for the history.  Three of the biggest religions all call this area of the world the birthplace of civilazation.  What more could a resort ask for.  Let companies like Hylton, Marriott and others invest in building resorts and this place would be swimming in money.
Too bad the people of this once great land can't see all of that.

I think people of that region stopped seeing that way back when they were stealing all the polished white limestone facing off the Pyramids to build mosques.

Because leaving someone else's vast works alone and quarrying stone for their own would have been far too much WORK...and at the core, they do not respect other cultures' accomplishments at all.

Also stuck minarets around Hagia Sophia, tacked up some ugly giant billboards inside and called it a mosque, so hey.

[Sindawe]

"Religions are grand, lofty ideals.  Religious followers... now that's a different story."

[SteveS]

People are the root of all evil, and no, I am not suggesting that we go away.  Besides religious differences, you have wars over territory, natural resources, ideology and ethnicity.  While history is full of religious conflicts, there have also been many that have had little or nothing to do with religion.

[El Tejon]

Lack of guns is the root of all evil.

[Matthew Carberry]

It's not "money" anyway.  It's "love of money" or, more simply, "covetousness", or even more simply, "desire for that which is not ours".

Which is fairly easy to wrap up in religious trappings for justification.

[Manedwolf]

People are the root of all evil, and no, I am not suggesting that we go away.  Besides religious differences, you have wars over territory, natural resources, ideology and ethnicity.  While history is full of religious conflicts, there have also been many that have had little or nothing to do with religion.

Except that greed, desire for land and resources and such can't motivate people to blow THEMSELVES up and end their own lives for a cause. Only religion or leader worship is capable of that.

[Matthew Carberry]

People are the root of all evil, and no, I am not suggesting that we go away.  Besides religious differences, you have wars over territory, natural resources, ideology and ethnicity.  While history is full of religious conflicts, there have also been many that have had little or nothing to do with religion.

Except that greed, desire for land and resources and such can't motivate people to blow THEMSELVES up and end their own lives for a cause. Only religion or leader worship is capable of that.

Sure about that?  Are people not willing to die suicidally in the name of freedom or other non-religious ideals?

[Manedwolf]

People are the root of all evil, and no, I am not suggesting that we go away.  Besides religious differences, you have wars over territory, natural resources, ideology and ethnicity.  While history is full of religious conflicts, there have also been many that have had little or nothing to do with religion.

Except that greed, desire for land and resources and such can't motivate people to blow THEMSELVES up and end their own lives for a cause. Only religion or leader worship is capable of that.

Sure about that?  Are people not willing to die suicidally in the name of freedom or other non-religious ideals?

In a battlefield charge or such, yes. Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori and all that. Walking into a quiet cafe full of men, women and children and blowing themselves to messy bits, that takes some serious brainwashing.

And religion even plays into the first. How else can you convince people to end their existence completely, stop existing, be gone forever, unless you give them some hope of some kind of "afterlife" to run with?

[CAnnoneer]

My dislike for religion is well known. No point in extra flogging.

That being said, people are the root of all evil (and good). Eliminating religion would leave other things for them about which to be nasty (or pleasant) towards one another. To be rid of all evil, you must live like Robinson Crusoe (without Friday).

[De Selby]

Manedwolf,

How do you account for the fact that hardcore marxists invented the suicide vest?

Atheists do commit suicide.  An afterlife isn't the only thing that motivates people.  This should not be a controversial position.

[Brad Johnson]

I have figured out that money is not the root of all evil.

Probably the most mis-quoted verse in the entire Bible.  People seem to have this nagging problem with dropping the most important word in the verse.

1st Timothy, 6:10

"The love of money is the root of all evil."

Makes a little more sense now, doesn't it.

Brad

[Perd Hapley]

Brad,

The NIV and NASB translate this verse as "the love of money is the root of ALL KINDS of evil," which would be a much different meaning.  I don't know which is right. 

I have figured out that money is not the root of all evil.  It is religion.  What else besides turf is the most wars fought over.  People have been fighting wars since the beginning of time over religious differences.

Seriously?  When was the last time you got caught up in Catholic/Protestant violence here in America?  We've got a lot of those two groups here, you know.  I could see why you might say that Islam is the root of all evil.  But religion in general? 

[cosine]

When was the last time you got caught up in Catholic/Protestant violence here in America?  We've got a lot of those two groups here, you know.

What he said. C'mon, fistful, it's time to get to that. We've been putting it off far too long, you know.








 

[zahc]

It's how people PERCEIVE their religion as it relates to those who have different religious beliefs that generates the evil that is done in the 'name' of religion.

Right. Or in otherwords, it's religion.

[Brad Johnson]

But religion in general?

Actually I have to kinda agree.  Too many people have put the mechanics of their particular branch of "Religion" ahead of what's really important, their faith.  Religion is what you are on the outside.  Faith is what you are on the inside.  Religion is what you do when everyone else is looking.  Faith is what you do when no one else is around.  Religion is easy.  Faith is hard.

Ideology is a powerful motivator.  Possibly the most powerful, in personal terms.  There is simply no getting around the fact that the mechanics of religion, or more precisely the differences between the mechanics of two religions - no matter how closely related - are the basis for much of the world's long-standing conflicts.

Heck, in my home town the Baptists and Methodists almost came to blows trying to see who could be first in line at the cafeteria for Sunday lunch.

Brad

[Jamisjockey]

I have figured out that money is not the root of all evil.  It is religion.  What else besides turf is the most wars fought over.  People have been fighting wars since the beginning of time over religious differences.  If money was the root of all evil this war in Iraq would be over with.  The reason being after spending the afternoon here in Baghdad it dawned on me that this would be a perfect tourist destination if not for the bloodshed.
The weather during our winter is perfect.  You can also grab tourists for the history.  Three of the biggest religions all call this area of the world the birthplace of civilazation.  What more could a resort ask for.  Let companies like Hylton, Marriott and others invest in building resorts and this place would be swimming in money.
Too bad the people of this once great land can't see all of that.

The love of money (ie Greed) is the root of all evil is how the saying actually goes.

[MechAg94]

I would suggest that religion has caused fewer wars than most people think.  I think greed/power is the real motivator.  Religion is just one of the tools that leaders use to get the riff/raff to agree to it. 

[Lee]

Religion is no different than a gun...it's what people do with it that matters.
And Carebear is correct...it's greed (the love of money) that makes the bad stuff happen.  Someday I hope to learn what G*d has said to most of the world's leaders (especially religious leaders) about their hunger for gold. The scale of theft varies, but they all are looters essentially, who hope to convert their unearned spoils to gold. 

[wmenorr67]

So I may have missed quoted but does it take away from the idea that if the love of money or greed was the problem we wouldn't be having as many problems with religious extemeist from whatever side they were on?
The basis for this post was to point out if you take away the religious violence from most places they would be able to prosper as tourist traps if done correctly.

[BakerMikeRomeo]

Money, religion, sex, drugs, music (that dingus who shot John Lennon [also a dingus, btw]), politics... Pick your poison.

The root belief of all evil action is the holding of some other thing in higher regard than another person's life. Hurr durr.

~GnSx

[Stand_watie]

Brad,

The NIV and NASB translate this verse as "the love of money is the root of ALL KINDS of evil," which would be a much different meaning.  I don't know which is right...

Darby and a number of other commentators go with " ..the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil..".

Gill suggests Paul is paraphrasing a Jewish proverb/saying and referring to money love as idolatry ... "idolatry..the root of all iniquities"...he quotes the phrase (twnwe lk rqye), but it's all greek to me.

[cosine]

The root belief of all evil action is the holding of some other thing in higher regard than another person's life.

~GnSx

Excellent observation.