On Abundance, Part 1: Needs and Wants

We humans need stuff. We need food, and clothing, and shelter, and we need a way to get those things. The past year has made us aware of how much we need other things, too: love, companionship, interaction, variety.

We also want stuff. We want money—always just a bit more than we have. We want better health—even if we live in ways that seem to contradict that. We want recognition, which these days comes most commonly by way of likes and shares and congratulatory comments.

Discussion

Who Is Rich and Who Is Poor?

Body

“Sixteen years ago, my wife and I winnowed all our earthly possessions to eight suitcases, turned down a pair of six-figure incomes, and became missionary physicians in rural Africa. In doing so, I thought I was choosing a life of modest poverty. Instead, I discovered I was an amazingly rich tycoon.” - Mere Orthodoxy

Discussion

Study: Next Generation Christians Will Give Differently

Body

“Millennial Christians and their generational peers are in the process of becoming stewards of the largest amount of wealth that has ever passed from one generation to the next. Roughly $124 trillion will shift from the current generation to the next as the Great Wealth Transfer transpires.” - MinistryWatch

Discussion

LDS Church could be a $1 trillion denomination by 2044, report suggests

Body

“With an estimated wealth of $236 billion in 2022, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints could potentially cover all of its current expenses ‘forever’ with returns from current investments without collecting any additional tithes from congregants.” - CPost

Discussion

No, the Pandemic Has Not Surged Billionaire Wealth

Body

“This claim has made headlines in CNBC, Fox Business, Business Insider, CNN, Reuters, Newsweek, and the New York Post. It has also been shared tens of thousands of times on social media….Yet the claim that billionaire wealth has surged ‘since the beginning of the pandemic’ is flatly untrue.” - N. Review

Discussion

Is "Financial Independence" Biblical?

Body

“Having enough money so we don’t have to work anymore or don’t need any money or people to help us? Is that the abundant life Jesus is talking about? I am not so sure.” IFWE

Discussion