Parsan Narang's Diary: Is Money supposedly to be the root of all evil and is also lack of money the root of all evil

My Dear Friends,

Good Morning to all! Hope you all are doing good!

For a real long time I have been wanting to pen down this article as it reminded me of my school days in the 60’s where we had a debate on the subject given below that I really enjoyed, so thought I will share it with you all.

Thank you and regards,

P. Narang

Is Money supposedly to be the root of all evil and is also lack of money the root of all evil

Love of money is a recognized evil and it is born of an excess desire for it. People want money for various reasons, for security, status, to be powerful and for various other reasons.

This is also known as materialism, which brings in its wake tension and unhappiness. Evil takes birth when people are obsessed with money and compare everything in terms of money. Desire to earn money is not the root of all evil; everybody needs money to fulfill their needs. The problem arises when our wants increase. Thus, the want of money increases, we start to crave more of it and are never satisfied, this gives birth to greed. Human beings should only have that much money which fulfills their needs. Love for money makes us selfish and proud. We tend to look down on others who have less money than us and even ill treat people with less money and start feeling superior. Money should earned in a right manner i.e. with your own effort and not through evil manner is all that matters. A man then becomes shameless. He will stop at nothing, to achieve his goals and fulfill his desires. People commit crimes for the desire to have more money affects everyone from world leaders to mundane people.

There is a famous proverb, greed begets sin and sin is the cause of death. Even in mundane life greed for money causes unrest because this desire is a self destructive passion. It will not let you live in peace until it completely destroys you. How much more unhappy can a man be?

It has been proved that merely a desire for money is not greed. There are people who have excess of money which can also be used for noble causes like help children in developing countries. They build hospitals and schools for children, also provide amenities for the poor in villages. They also have sponsorships for children to study further, also promote sports and so forth. They do not fall in the category of people who love money. They are guided by noble thoughts. So it can be said money is not the root of all evil.

You don't need money to commit a crime. You need a big rock or stick to murder someone. You need the other person not to notice to steal something from someone. Crime has been happening before a monetary system. So money is not the root cause of all evil.

All the fears you refer to only exist because we need 'money' to buy stuff but if there was no money and resources were distributed freely and equally there would be no need for petty cash or even less liquid monetary equivalents.

I respect both sides and I understand why many people believe that money is the root of all evil. But I have to disagree. The lack of money is the root of all evil. Back in the history of mankind, before money was invented, we bartered. Money was the result of hard working process. Bear in mind that criminals are all born in poverty and some of them live in poverty. The fear of lacking money haunts them constantly. It is the fear of not being able to feed themselves and their families that make them commit unthinkable crimes. If money is evil, could you live in a world without money? If greed or desire is evil, have you ever wanted something that is not yours? Any of you ever want an Iphone? Any of you can live without computer, electricity and all of modern comfort? Sometimes, we do think that if enough jobs are created by the Government by allowing big industrialists to invest in our country then maybe crime due to lack of money would be less.

Is Money not necessary. I like to ask those who think money is not necessary to point out a successful communist example. Money motivates people to work harder, smarter. But if there was no money (such as in the case of communism) the lack of it, wouldn't adversely affect anyone.

No-one is free of evil / desires, our argument is just as crudely sufficient as saying 'lying isn't bad because everyone has done it at some point'. The fact that we sin and / or are tempted to, doesn't not make it right / good.

I would like to conclude by saying there are always two sides to a coin. So to have excess money and not to have sufficient is both in itself root of all evil. It is best in itself to have sufficient to fulfill our basic needs.

Thank You!