Just finished reading the online chapters of Robert Kiyosaki (of “richdad” fame)’s latest book, “Conspiracy of the Rich“ which was published online as well as in the bookstores. I found myself agreeing with him on many things apart from his dissection of the well known (and oft-misquoted) Bible phrase “For the love of money is the root of all evil”.(1 Tim 6:10)
Is it the love of money, or ignorance of money, that is the root of all evil?
Robert Kiyosaki
Kiyosaki asks the question whether it was love of money or the ignorance of it that was the root of all evil. It’s clear he thinks the latter is the cause, and bewails the dire lack of teaching on financial literacy in our schools. Ergo, it’s as though we are to infer scripture is incorrect at that point. I have to disagree with Mr Kiyosaki. We have plenty of current circumstantial evidence to support the original biblical text i.e it is the LOVE of money that is at the root of all evil. Ask Bernie Madoff, and his victims. Greed is everywhere from the small-town chancer to those movers and shakers who control the economies of nations.
Money is important;it is not evil-it is a neutral substance
I think he asks many valid questions but this is the wrong question. It is not whether it is the love of money or the ignorance thereof that is the root of evil. The question(s) for Christians, and those who still have a moral framework, is whether money is important in life, whether Money is intrinsically evil, and if not, how best to put it to use in this life? Believe it or not, many Christians still have this view that money is evil because of a simple misquote of the scripture mentioned-you hear “money is the root of all evil“which is not what the text says- as well as a failure to understand the prosperity that is inherently promised to those in a covenant with God. I have studied Bible and money as a theme, both privately and in Bible College, so I simply share my opinion. I do not have space in this post to give a detailed exegesis on the subject, but suffice it to say that I can categorically affirm that God is more than ok with Christians having money-even prospering.
Jesus spoke more on money than on heaven and hell combined. Why? Because it is clear from Biblical texts (e.g the Parable of the Talents) that your money represents your Life and what you do with it represents who you are. So money is not evil. Money is immensely important. Christians and religious people lose out when they separate spiritual from physical and say “money isn’t important”. God is interested in both. Money itself is neutral-it can be used for great and glorious purposes or for evil purposes. It takes on the character of its owners.
Poor financial education is a modern evil: it is bad for for all but the rich
What Robert Kiyosaki is right in saying in his book Rich Dad’s Conspiracy of the Rich: The 8 New Rules of Money is that lack of financial education is a bad, even evil, thing. As he says in his introduction to the book “One of the causes of this financial crisis is that most people do not know the difference between good financial advice from bad financial advice. Most people cannot tell the difference between a good financial advisor from a con man. Most people cannot tell the difference between a good investment from a bad one. Most people go to school so that they can get a good job, work hard, pay taxes…and hand over any extra money to a financial planner-or an expert like Bernie Madoff.” He then also points out something very relevant to today with people losing their houses, and a point he made in his seminal book Rich Dad, Poor Dad. “Most people are in trouble today because they believed their home was an asset, when it was really a liability.”
So one of the conclusions one draws from this book is that those with financial literacy will not so easily fall prey to dishonest or deceived financial advisers. I don’t know if I would go so far as Kiyosaki and suggest the above are tools of the uber-rich in that they sell products like mutual funds which make the rich richer but do not make you much richer;but I do know enough about the Financial Services industries in countries like the U.K, where I briefly practised as a financial adviser, that the salesmen of financial products often know nothing about investment or business themselves, and live off pay check to pay check whilst advising people of wealth and means. Whether one can believe that there is a “conspiracy” from reading this book is hard to say. Kiyosaki admits that conspiracy theories are a dime a dozen, but then seems to freely opine that there is a conspiracy of the rich today. Ironically Kiyosaki himself is a rich man but he has become so by shrewd investments, helping people through educating them on financial matters, and because he had a “rich Dad”, someone who mentored him on financial matters. He made mistakes, but he used those mistakes to learn from and teach others;also he was able to discern the wood from the trees in the world of financial instruments and jargon, which most of us are not.
The Federal Reserve
For example (and this is something I did know already) most people do not know that the Federal Reserve in America, is neither federal, nor American, and it doesn’t have much reserves, and is not a bank. As he says “Once the Fed was in place, there were two sets of rules when it came to money: One set of rules for people who work for money and another set of rules for the rich who print money“.
I do not have Kiyosaki’s financial knowledge but I do share with him the belief (which I have held for the last fifteen years) that we are headed for a Depression (hence the title of my blog); that the causes of the great depression are similar to those of the recent economic downturn, and reading books like this will help you prepare for it. Whether there is a “conspiracy” of the rich I doubt personally-I think the rich (like the poor) generally gravitate to their own kind, without consciously “conspiring” to do so, but you can click here for “Conspiracy of the Rich” to draw your own conclusions.
For a look at other useful Wealth creation books (including “Conspiracy of the Rich“,go to johnreason.com
John Reason,
Salesman, teacher, article writer, Internet Marketer.
© 2010
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