Chapter 20

What Are Your Philosophies Concerning God, Religion and Money?

When I first read the title of this chapter, I didn’t know what to expect as usually any kind of topic mixing money and religion results in the usual “money is evil” routine and all. I guess I was kind of right as it kind of revolved around that. Robert talked about in his younger years how he was confused about religion as he would constantly be told by people that there is only one correct religion for the world and that it is the only way to go to heaven. After researching and learning about other religions and the people who practice them, he was shocked at how people can have such a narrow minded view about it as there were many great people who all practice a different religion.

When it came to money, he was also told that money is the root of all evil and that the rich are less likely to go to heaven whereas the poor will. In a nutshell, one day a youth minister was visiting a summer church camp he was at and when asked a question in regards to whether or not having a lot of money was evil, the youth minister answered in with a more open minded approach and simply told the story of the Parable of the Talents from the Book of Matthews. By simply telling the story, everyone’s interpretation of it was different as some people thought it meant that poor people are bad or that God wants you to be rich. Basically, he wanted people to make up their own minds and to interpret it in whatever way they want. For Robert, he concluded that in the story the master could create something when there was nothing and being able to do this infinitely was the joy in his life. Therefore, as he puts it “He was creative and creativity is infinite, therefore money was infinite – abundant” and that was the key to his joy in life.

Donald talks about faith and how believing that there is a higher power out there helps to keep him in line that his problems are microscopic when you compare it to the rest of the world. Although, he mentions that he doesn’t follow the teachings of his faith 100% such as how in business he believes that if people screw with you that you should screw them back. Instead, he acknowledges the sayings that he really likes such as “Be wise as a serpent and as gentle as a dove.”

For myself, I definitely believe that we are just a small part of something much bigger than ourselves. There are too many times in my life personally where it just seems like someone is intentionally helping you to make certain things happen as if you have a specific calling in life to fulfill. It’s almost like playing a videogame or watching a movie where the unexpected happens to help move the story forward. I guess in a way it does help to put one’s ego in check as well so that you can be extremely confident yet humble at the same time. When it comes to money, I personally do not think it is evil, but like most things it’s what you do with it that really matters.