Here I Stand II: Sound Mind Investing Can Go to Hell, Hopefully So Others Won't Have To

I don't think I'll finish this rant for some time (if ever), but a few preliminary thoughts I'd like to float out that really do mean a lot to me. First of all, though, I do admit I've used the word "Hell" in vain a lot. That's a bad thing that I shouldn't do. However, I really do mean "Hell" when I say "Hell" in this headline.

Anyway, back to Sound Mind Investing. They're a Christian organization designed to give "Biblically sound principles" for investing one's money so that you can have a stable, safe, virtually risk-free life. In other words, the "Christian" response to money is to worship it, but intelligently, so that one can be blessed with the safety and security of wise financial choices.

If any other followers of Christ want to become Christian-haters, I completely understand.


"You will not find a truly generous person among the rich, even on accident. The reason is simple: in order to become rich, you have to be the sort of person who wants to become rich."
-G. K. Chesterton, imprecisely quoted (I think he'd understand.)

(And yes, this is personal. And yes, I am angry. In other words, I'm being Luther again. Tell your mommy to make me stop.)

What Would I Do Without Straw-Men...

G. K. Chesterton said that the reason he returned to Christianity (and eventually to the Roman Catholic tradition he grew up in) wasn't because of what Christians said about Christianity so much as because of what atheists said about Christianity. Reading this article in The Guardian, I can understand the feeling... and can't wait to see the new adaptation of Lewis' The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

Notable conclusion:

Children are supposed to fall in love with the hypnotic Aslan, though he is not a character: he is pure, raw, awesome power. He is an emblem for everything an atheist objects to in religion. His divine presence is a way to avoid humans taking responsibility for everything here and now on earth, where no one is watching, no one is guiding, no one is judging and there is no other place yet to come. Without an Aslan, there is no one here but ourselves to suffer for our sins, no one to redeem us but ourselves: we are obliged to settle our own disputes and do what we can. We need no holy guide books, only a very human moral compass. Everyone needs ghosts, spirits, marvels and poetic imaginings, but we can do well without an Aslan.

I am quite grateful for the opportunity to kneel in reverence before a god who is not only not human, but indeed holds "pure, raw, awesome power." Especially when I have such vivid prose to remind me that, in fact, there is something inherently offensive about God; that the good Aslan is still, in fact, not quite a safe lion.

So my hat's off to Poly Tonbee for reminding me again of one thing I forget every day -- that God is, in fact, quite the Big Deal. Even as I wish he could understand the wisdom of humility, and recognize that "there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed up in your philosophies."