I find these TV Evangelists to be loathsome and disgusting. I think they range from out-and-out cons with no faith at all to those with a faith that I would regard as twisted and wrong as they exploit people and pile up riches just for themselves.
Yeah, I'll bet. You probably have your own TV station. You Christians are all alike.
RE 'the world, the flesh and the devil'. I think that 'the world' stands for ideas such as 'the rat race', judging someone's value by their wealth and possessions, thinking that appearance is more important than what is inside someone - that kind of thing.
True, but it is not so simple. While not a slave to mammon, I do respect people who have become successful by legitimate means, even moreso if they delve into philanthropy. We all have needs (just ask Maslow) and it is not evil to want those needs satisfied.
Yeah, I know that you probably mean something like "wanting wealth for the sake of wealth" or even plain old greed for more than you could possibly need. But once again, in the real world, those lines are not so easy to draw.
This point really is a dilemma for me, because I think of myself as a caring and giving person, yet I have not taken any vow of poverty nor do I feel inclined to spend my retirement pension on the poor. Maybe Jesus had the right idea when he said "there will always be poor". I kinda like his pragmatism there, but it sure makes him look like a regular guy, not a savior of mankind.
'the flesh' may be seen as serving one's bodily desires to an extent that is out of balance.
Another "tricky" one. I can think of lots of examples of people who have let their bodily desires to get out of wack, (like every teenage boy in the world), but again, there are so many cases which are not clear cut. Is a compulsive wanker out of balance? Maybe it's God's way of keeping the population down.
'the devil' is a tricky one.
I resemble that remark.
Some will say that it means precisely that, a personal chief demon, Lucifer. Others will say that it is a metaphor for evil desires in people and harmful aspects of systems (such that the poor are exploited, that kind of thing). I am not sure. I think the existence of a personal Devil is unlikely but wonder whether there may be dark forces at times to be found in people and circumstances - I have not ruled it out and I certainly don't know.
Sure there are "dark forces", depending of course on your moral code. But I cannot think they are driven by anything more than basic human and animal nature.
I find it odd, though, that insurance companies refer to natural disasters that kill or harm great swaths of humanity as "Acts of God".
