“No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Mammon” (Matt. 6:24)
Z.K. Pahrü | BTC, Pfutsero
Mammon is commonly understood as money or capital or wealth that, in the process of accumulation, replaces God in a fetish manner. Fetishism is the primitive worship of things. From the perspective of present-day capitalist society, Franz J. Hinkelammert, a liberal theologian, in his book, “The Ideological Weapons of Death: A Theological Critique of Capitalism”, define fetish as “the ‘personification’ of commodities (money and capital) and the reification or ‘commodification’ of persons”. Since commodities begin to become ‘personified’ in the process of capitalist production, the human being (producer) has to become subordinated to them in order to live. In the process of circulation, money became the supreme symbol of the community and exercise an omnipotent will. As pursuing after money or the accumulation of wealth becomes a work of devotion, it threatens the livelihood of the common people, the nature and of our faith in God itself.
Martin Luther, a great Reformer of Christian faith, blamed the early capitalism as responsible for moral problems as well as faith and declared mammon to be the most common God. In his exposition of the First Commandment, “Thou shall have none other gods but me”(Exodus 20:3), he [she] said, “Lo, he [she] has indeed a god, who is called Mammon, that is money and goods on which he [she] sets all his heart, and this is the commonest idol in the world.” As capitalism and the accumulation of wealth took the place of God he strongly protested against the commercialization of religion. He believed that trust and faith of the heart alone make both God and idol…for the two, faith and God hold close together. Whatever then one’s heart clings to and relies upon, this is properly one’s God. Whatever a person loves, that s/he will certainly pursue and enjoy talking about and will occupy all her/his heart and thoughts. St. Augustine said, “Whatever I love, that is my god.”
We cannot have two gods at the same time, either we will hate one or the other. So it is that a lover of money and property inevitably becomes an enemy of God (cf. Matt.6:23,24). In the pursuit of money or accumulation of wealth, a person totally ignores his/her neighbour’s needs and even forgets the true God. Since greed is the basic principle of capitalism, one has to acquire more and more to satisfy one’s wants at whatever cost. Hence, mammonism or the pursuit and worship of money/wealth is not only a threat to one’s faith but also to the community and to the nature as well.
Per Frostin strongly believe that the root cause of problem of the Christians in modern world is that the First World people have been turning away from Lord Jesus Christ to another god, an idol. As they opted out God for mammon, they are spiritually bankrupt. Aloysius Pieries maintain that ‘no religious persecution can be compared to the subtle undermining of religious values which capitalist technocracy generated in our culture (since it) pollutes religion by betraying it to mammon’. Gabriele Dietrich, a theologian and social activist, has rightly pointed out that with mammon having replaced God, the concept of unlimited growth has taken on “meta-cosmic” dimensions. In this, Christian capitalist perception-“unlimited growth”, stands for the omnipotence of God. And hence the ‘acknowledgement of entropy and human limitations is considered to be an expression of lack of faith in the resurrection power of Jesus.
With the popular understanding that wealth is the result of devotion shown to Almighty, the dimension of “holiness” and “spirituality” got detached from the societal dimension of fairness to nature and fairness to the neighbours (as shown in Leviticus 25- Jubilee Year) and became a highly privatized, individualized relation between “Me and my God.” The individualization of social life and the individualization of spirituality became complementary in the pursuits of profits, wealth, money and power at the expense of nature and through the exploitation of the neighbours. C.T.Kurien, a famous Indian economist, has rightly said that ‘in its cruder version, individual spirituality became a close ally of personal aggrandizement interpreting material progress and personal success and profits as the result of pleasing God through private devotion, thus converting the God of justice into an accomplice in the pursuit of Mammon.’
“In God We Trust” is a labeled phrase of the USA Dollar. Judging from the present day capitalist society, this ‘God’ could be at best described as the ‘ultimate concern’ and that is no other than mammon (money). Today money becomes an omnipotent god – that controls everything. This fetished money ceased to be a mere medium of exchange. It became a powerful autonomous factor in the global market. Those who own money owns life for they control and decide everything. Money is the gate through which all commodities have to pass. As the unlimited accumulation of wealth is possible through money, the global financial market acts as empire and god. It is bolstered by military, political and ideological power, and its forces determine the survival of the countries and people at large. Thus the power of true God and the power of mammon are in contestation with each other.
In Biblical perspective such a system in which wealth is accumulated at the expense of the poor and responsible for much preventable human suffering is seen as unfaithful to God. Worship of mammon (gold or wealth) became a national symbol during the time of Daniel in which he and his friends refused to comply with the order of King. This was again very visible during the time of Jesus under Roman’s Empire. Jesus agrees with Amos that money (mammon, wealth or possession) is tainted (Luke 16: 9, 10) as it is the product of injustice. Mammon comes at the expense of the ‘needy’ and the ‘poor’ through the means of swindling and tampering (cf. Amos 8:4-6). Jesus warned his followers that they cannot serve both God and Mammon (.Matthew 6:24). Money is the source of many evils and hence Apostle Paul warned Timothy against the ‘love of money’ (I Tim.6:10). Paul advised him to be content with what he has. The capitalist society of today, who worship mammon as ‘god’ destroys nature. Its pursuit and accumulation of mammon as ‘devotion’ kills other. It silences justice. It makes people corrupt. It destroys life. It knows no love towards neighbours. It replaces the true God. By definition, a capitalist is one who loves mammon more than God. Hence, a true worshipper of God cannot be a capitalist. Where do we stand today?
