Covetousness
Covet
To covet is to yearn, to possess or have (something). From Old French cuveitier, based on Latin cupiditas. Covetous means having or showing a great desire to possess something, typically something belonging to someone else.
Synonyms of COVETOUS. Greedy, acquisitive, grasping, avaricious. While covetous implies inordinate desire for especially material possessions, greed implies lack of restrain in that desire. Grasping adds to covetous and greedy an implication of selfishness, and it often suggests unfair or ruthless means to acquire what is desired. Avaricious strongly suggests stinginess.
- Wanting or desiring a nice car or more food or a great wife does not really qualify as "coveting". Coveting is wanting your neighbor's nice car or his food or his wife. That is amoral. Amoral is the absence of morals. The amoral actions of society are the result of a lack of moral character. Moral character is the result of the practice of social virtues. We know nature abhors a vacuum so if society does not regularly engage in charitable practices it will find itself engaged in covetous practices thinking them to be moral. They will call evil good and good evil.
The Effects of Covetousness
Desiring the things like what your neighbor has is not coveting. Coveting is wanting what your neighbor actually has, to the point you are comfortable with your neighbor losing some of what is his if it means you get what you desire.
Yes, "Capitalism is the state of nature". Every squirrel is a capitalist.
The nature of economics in a hunter gatherer society is capitalist and so was the first farmer. While, the hunter, gatherer and private farmer may share what they produce by choice which is called charity, they alternatives usually engage in covetous practices. Democracy, Socialism and Communism empower the mob or the State to make that choice of what to share, taking the right to choose from the individual producer. True capitalism allows the one who produces a gathered value to choose to share or not. The desire to take that right of free choice from the individual is the nature of covetousness.
The effects of covetousness on the part of the people is always a loss of freedom.
“The real destroyers of the liberties of the people is he who spreads among them bounties, donations and benefits.” —Plutarch
Polybius believed all democracies fail.
"The masses continue with an appetite for benefits and the habit of receiving them by way of a rule of force and violence. The people, having grown accustomed to feed at the expense of others and to depend for their livelihood on the property of others... institute the rule of violence;[1] and now uniting their forces massacre, banish, and plunder,[2] until they degenerate again into perfect savages and find once more a master and monarch." — Polybius
Even Lincoln said in his speech at Edwardsville, Ill., Sept. 13, 1858, "Accustomed to trample on the rights of others, you have lost the genius of your own independence and become the fit subjects of the first cunning tyrant who rises among you."
The authoritarian state uses force and violence to become the Benefactors of the people. They force one class of citizen to provide for another. Christ forbid that type of government. He told us not to make the Fathers of the earth our Benefactors.
Even though this principle was well known in history, still we see in Luke 16:16, "The law and the prophets [were] until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it."
The word "presseth" appears twice in the Bible, and both times it is describing the contrast of John's teaching to what were the common aspects of welfare at that time.
We see the same word in Matthew 11:12, "And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force."
Here it is translated "suffereth violence". It is from the word biazo [3]
John spoke about how you were to provide for the needy people of society with Pure Religion that did not depend upon what we see called the World. He is talking about those Jesus called the "Fathers of the earth" or the "Benefactors who exercise authority". One way is by forced contributions and the other is by charity. When the people asked John "... What shall we do then?"
Hinduism and the religion that came from it,[8] and even Sikhism[9] are in opposition to desiring anything that belongs to another. Just to desire anything that the product of the life of others and certainly to conspire or scheme to obtain what is the rightful property of others is a primal betrayal of a moral conscience and degrades the fabric of society and the individual if not the rights of the individual.
There is only one Commandment that prohibits a thought, and it is this: "Do not covet." Why does the Bible, which is preoccupied with behavior, legislate a thought? The foundation of all Socialism is coveting your neighbors stuff. Prager University Time 4:31
"He answereth and saith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise." (Luke 3:11)
There were riots at the time of Christ, and they were put down violently by Pilate.
Why?
The people complained about their new social welfare system called Corban that was started under Herod the Great. They claimed the funds were being pilfered by the government and used on other civic projects, such as an aqueduct into Jerusalem.
The Great Society Schemes
Since the days of Cain and Nimrod, men have plotted and planned for power. All governments expand their power or influence over the people in schemes with offers of gifts, gratuities, and benefits,[10] which gives government an increase in authority and compels a corresponding decrease in the individual’s right to choose. What they will contribute, to whom and for what purpose becomes the province of the government, and the “Will of the People” is imposed upon the people by the benefactors chosen for the people.
Herod the Great had a grand scheme of a vast membership in a social welfare scheme called Corban.[11] You joined with a ceremony of ritual baptism after filing an application for membership with the administering “scribe”.[12]. Payment of prescribed fees was required and annual accounting of what you paid or did not pay was made available to the proper authorities.
With annual contributions collected and recorded by the scribes, this system of individual sacrifice to support the needy of society became popular with many people who were jealous and envious of the rich, or just covetous of their neighbor’s goods. With guaranteed entitlements and forced contributions, the apathy and avarice of the people flourished.
Members were given a white stone as a form of national ID[13] and Herod was able to expand his hope of a kingdom of God on earth by this religious system of social security (Corban) which provided for a statutory enforcement and collection from membership in the form of a tax.
Pilate "... used the sacred treasure of the temple, called corban (qorban), to pay for bringing water into Jerusalem by an aqueduct. A crowd came together and clamored against him..."[14] because those funds were for their individual social welfare, and the people complained.
Few understood that what should have been for their welfare had brought them into bondage, though they had been warned centuries before in the sacred text.[15] Paul and others repeated that warning for the first century Church.[16] But Modern Christians are oblivious to the truth of this system because they hire pastors who tickle their ears with Christian fables.
Why do I say this social security system was religious? Because:
“Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit[17] the fatherless and widows in their affliction, [and] to keep himself unspotted from the world.” (James 1:27)
John the Baptist offered a similar plan of social welfare to collect the contributions of his people, but without the use of force. [18] His plan was based on free will offerings like ancient Israel[19] when it was still a Republic.[20] Christ objected to the plan offered by Herod and the Pharisees,[21] not only because it weakened the character of the people, and therefore society as a whole, but it also violated the precepts of God found in the Ten Commandments.
Jesus preached a system of social welfare that operated under the perfect law of liberty[22] by faith, hope and charity.[23] Christians stood fast in the liberty of Christ [24] and cared for each other through their own system of social welfare managed by the Church. [25] The Church in those days actually understood the Gospel of the Kingdom appointed by Christ, and they would never send their people to the men of government that called themselves benefactors but exercised authority one over the other in opposition to His specific instructions.[26]
They were setting up covetous practices, a partially common purse, a central treasury, that could lead to the Corban of the Pharisees and a returning to Egypt and the way Nicolaitans as all socialist states do.
God endowed man with choice and the power to choose.[28]
We call that individual power of choice rights and liberty.
If we give that choice to others or the power to make choices for us, then we mock God. When the people put their wealth in this institution, this reserve fund set up by Aaron they no longer had direct power of choice over that wealth God had given them when they left the bondage of Egypt.
The early Church called people to repentance from that system of Corban, and the people were brought into a new baptism of John. This was not just some meaningless ritual. They would no longer covet their neighbor’s goods through the agency of Herod’s socialist government nor Rome’s free bread and its extensive welfare state. They learned to care for one another in a network of love and service.[29]
Rome and Jerusalem would soon falter and fail under the weight of their own corruption. Christians hearing the fullness of the Gospel of the Kingdom preached by John and Christ formed a new society that would survive and prosper in true faith during that decline and fall of the Roman Empire.
Social Security schemes in every country today are the antitheses of the Corban of which Christ told them it was to make the word of God to none effect. The Corban of the Pharisees was identical to the unrighteous Mammon mentioned by Christ, which will fail.[30] When it fails, what will you do if you have not been seeking the Kingdom of God and His righteousness nor attending to the Weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith which include caring for the needs of our neighbors and the widows and orphans of our society through Pure Religion in matters of health, education, and welfare. We are NOT to provide for the needy of society through the Covetous Practices and the men who call themselves benefactors but who exercise authority one over the other like the socialists do.
The Way of Christ was like neither the way of the world of Rome nor the governments of the gentiles who depend on those fathers of the earth through force, fear and fealty who deliver the people back in bondage again like they were in Egypt. Christ's ministers and true Christians do not depend upon systems of social welfare that force the contributions of the people like the corban of the Pharisees which made the word of God to none effect. Many people have been deceived to go the way of Balaam and the Nicolaitan and out of The Way of Christ and have become workers of iniquity.
The Christian conflict with Rome in the first century Church appointed by Christ was because they would not apply to the fathers of the earth for their free bread but instead relied upon a voluntary network providing a daily ministration to the needy of society through Faith, Hope, and Charity by way of freewill offerings of the people, for the people, and by the people through the perfect law of liberty in Free Assemblies according to the ancient pattern of Tuns or Tens as He commanded.
The modern Christians are in need of repentance.
"Follow me!" —Jesus the Christ.
- One of the most important things to do is to become involved in a network of Charitable Practices. Everyone should want to join a Living Network of Love and Charity.
- If you think you have a calling to be a Minister of God or you might want to dedicate your life to Christ as an Ordained Minister of His Holy Church, contact us to start the process of discipleship and become the benefactors who exercise only love, NOT authority.[31]
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Freewill offerings in support of the welfare of the people's needs has been a charitable theme of the Bible from Abraham to Moses and from John the Baptist and Jesus to Paul and Peter.
Benefactors of the Slothful
Those who just want to complain and point fingers should know that the Slothful shall be under tribute and should be.
A lot of people think the phrase "Taxation without representation" is in the declaration of independence.
Not so.
They were complaining about "taxation without consent".
Consent was not collective, for America was not yet a democracy. Most of the colonies were talking about being a republic. The word republic did not mean an indirect democracy, but it meant a society of freemen owning their own land and untaxed by all the "World". This meant they had to care for one another by free choice and freewill offerings.
How do they get consent?
Could it be by implied, constructive and executed Contracts?
Yes, that contract may be constructive. Plutarch warned us and Polybius wrote about it even before John the Baptist and Peter.[32] and James [33]
You have to apply for benefits or protection from your liege, to your conscripted fathers who are the Fathers of the earth.
It is to him you owe your allegiance. A liege is "concerned with or relating to the relationship between a feudal superior and a vassal."
"And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Matthew 10:28
These covetous applications for benefits and advantage from someone who Exercises authority to be a benefactor to you diminishes your rights or at least the access to them, and it increases the power and authority of your liege. This is because to desire such benefits is to turn a blind eye to the coveting injury and oppression of your neighbor.
This is why Paul, James, Jesus, Moses and the Ten Commandments told you not to make neither prayer/application nor contract with these men who call themselves benefactors, these gods of the world and fathers of the earth but exercise authority one over the other.
Because to desire their benefits is to covet your neighbor's goods.
These systems were called Corban. Corban in history was either dependent on freewill offerings through what we call charity, or it was a forced offering from those who contract with the rulers who call themselves benefactors but only redistribute wealth by taking from the people by law, by the law of contract and consent.
The same principle of not electing rulers who can exercise authority one over the other is expressed by Jesus' command to his called out ministers in Luke 22:25:
"And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so:"
The Early Church would not apply to benefactors who exercised authority. They were even persecuted for not signing up for the benefits offered by those leaders who called themselves benefactors but exercised authority one over the other. They would not receive their badge of servitude nor take the Mark of that beastly system. They knew such civil welfare was a snare. But the modern Christians not only says it is okay, they encourage it.
Most modern Churches today send people to the benefactors of modern society that exercise authority one over the other. Then the people are surprised when those benefactors exercise authority over the people who wanted the benefits offered by that authority, at the expense of their neighbor which is the covetous practices that makes people merchandise and even curse children as surety for debt too. The Black community is having many of its problems today because people like Cloward an Piven used Churches to get as many people as possible signed up with the Benefactors who exercise authority instead of being doers of the word. Today there is no daily ministration operating like Christ commanded, no Pure Religion. This has weakened their community, destroyed their families but secured their votes.
Because the people have chosen to Bite their neighbor, they are devoured. They have become workers of iniquity, loving the wages of unrighteousness, degenerating into perfect savages as Polybius said they would. Because they have chosen to oppress their neighbor by systems of force, fear, and fealty they are oppressed.
It is time to Repent and seek to live by Faith, Hope, and Charity as Christ and the prophets commanded the people became accustomed to .
2 Peter 2:1 tells us:
"...false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction."
The Greek word for "damnable" and "destruction" is the same.
What people often do not realize is that once you sign up with these so called benefactors, they are able to sign for you, because they exercise authority one over the other. Their sin is now your sin, because you have made a contract with them by accepting a benefit at the expense of your neighbor.
Your liberty -- your right to choose -- diminishes as you become willing to take away the liberty of your neighbor or even slothfully permit his rights to diminish. Because you covet your neighbor's goods, you become a surety for debt, literally merchandise ... human resources to be used by others for their purposes, like 1 Samuel warned in chapter 8, and God will not hear you when you cry for help, unless you repent.
You cannot just Withdraw consent if there is debt.
Almost all the problems of the world today are connected to this simple disregard for the instructions of Christ about coveting your neighbor's goods through men who exercise authority as if they were benefactors. As Polybius said you become a nation of savages, a nation of zombies who are biting one another.
It is time to repent and come together in the spirit of Christ, according to His ways like the early Church.
The church lost "the way" when it abandoned the practice of "pure Religion" while claiming to be the Church established by Christ. The people developed an appetite for the "wages of unrighteousness" from "public religion" in the days of Constantine. Those new Christians that often failed to fully repent degenerated the moral character of society with the masses of "instant christians".
That new religion of the emperor introduced a new faith with his apostate church replacing the doctrine of Jesus with the "doctrines of men", the Holy Spirit with emotion, the truth with the speaking of "great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage."[34]
They had a form of godliness but denied the power thereof.
Where is your religion
- Where do you find the Daily ministration of the early Church, the Pure Religion of James and the Corban of Jesus?
- Are you following The Blessed Strategy of Christ like the Early Christians?
- Are you following The Way through Love of one another or the way of the world and the Fathers of the earth?
- Do you seek the benefits of bankrupt nations, or do you forgive and seek the benefits of Christ's appointed Kingdom?
- Do you only gather for the comfort it gives you, or do you gather to benefit others?
- Christ came to serve, not be served. Do you desire to be served, or are you coming in His name and according to His character to serve others?
If we desire His Grace but we only love those who love us, then there is no Grace because it is clear we do not really believe in Him.
If we do not Repent of our Covetous Practices and are not diligently gathering together in Free Assemblies of Love for all to provide for one another in Charity according to the Perfect law of liberty then we have nothing according to Paul. According to Luke 6:32 if we only love those who love us there is no "Grace". Christ also said if you do not Forgive neither will the Father forgive you.[35]
It is not enough to hate the deeds of the workers of iniquity, but we must return to Thy first love and thy first work. To break the yoke, we need to return to the ways of righteousness spoken of in Isaiah 58 which are the ways of Christ and the early Church. And His yoke is light for it is carried by our love of one another.
Abraham, Moses, John the Baptist and Christ all created Networks of charity to care for the true needy of society without force which is how they were able to help set people free. Do you gather with His Church to attend to the Weightier matters as Christ said?
- Are you gathering in a Network of righteousness?
- Do you come to love others or just be loved?
- Are your Congregations' gatherings fruitful enough so that no one has to pray to Benefactors who exercise authority one over the other?
- Does anyone in your Free Assemblies have to apply to the Fathers of the earth, or seek their many benefits?
Early Christians found themselves in conflict with these systems of social welfare because they made the word of God to none effect. Christians had repented of their covetous nature when they received the Baptism of Christ. They heard and became Doers of the word not hearers only.
Remember Proverbs 12:24, "The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the Slothful shall be under Tribute."
We know that liberty under God is not for the covetous who are Biting one another but it is also not for the slothful. If we are not congregating together in free assemblies bound together in a broad network by faith, hope, and charity alone according to the perfect law of liberty then we are not truly seeking the Kingdom of God nor His righteousness.
Links to articles on coveting
The Nicolaitan who God hates?
Because they covet their neighbor's goods
http://www.hisholychurch.org/sermon/nicolaity.php
Doom, Gloom, and Democracy
The real destroyer is our own covetousness
http://www.hisholychurch.org/news/articles/doomdemocracy.php
Appeared first on NewsWithViews 4-30-09
The Covetous Prayers
From the book The Higher Liberty, Sec. 42
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/THL/thecovetous.php
To Heal Our Land
The Hateful Connection, The Unrighteous Corban, The Indictment
http://www.hisholychurch.org/sermon/healland.php
To Enslave a Nation
How do you enslave a whole nation, even the whole world?
http://www.hisholychurch.org/sermon/enslave.php
The Corban of the Pharisees
It made the word of God to none effect.
Is our Corban making the word of God to none effect today?
http://www.hisholychurch.org/sermon/corban.php
Baptism, the Ritual and the Jurisdiction
Are Christians repenting and getting baptized or are they just all wet?
http://www.hisholychurch.org/sermon/baptismjura.php
Bible quotes on Coveting
According the Webster's 1823 Dictionary; Covetous means; Inordinately desirous; excessively eager to obtain and possess; directed to money or goods, avaricious; in a good sense; as covetous of wisdom, virtue or learning.
Proverbs Chapter 23 verses 1-8
¶ 1-3
- 1 When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what [is] before thee:
- 2 And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite.
- 3 Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful meat.
¶ 4-5
- 4 Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom.
- 5 Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.
¶ 6-8
- 6 Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats:
- 7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.
- 8 The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words.
2 Peter 2:3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
2 Peter 2:14 Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:
- Psalms 69:22 Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap.
- Romans 11:9 And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them:
Exodus 18:21 Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness;[36] and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens:
Exodus 20:17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.
Deuteronomy 5:21 Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour’s wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour’s house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbour’s.
Joshua 7:21 When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.
Psalms 10:3 For the wicked boasteth of his heart’s desire, and blesseth the covetous,[37] whom the LORD abhorreth.
Psalms 119:36 Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.
Proverbs 21:26 He coveteth greedily all the day long: but the righteous giveth and spareth not.
Proverbs 28:16 The prince that wanteth understanding is also a great oppressor: but he that hateth covetousness shall prolong his days.
Isaiah 57:17 For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him: I hid me, and was wroth, and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart.
Jeremiah 6:13 For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.
Jeremiah 8:10 Therefore will I give their wives unto others, and their fields to them that shall inherit them: for every one from the least even unto the greatest is given to covetousness, from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.
Jeremiah 22:17 But thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it.
Jeremiah 51:13 O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness.
Ezekiel 33:31 And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness.
Micah 2:2 And they covet fields, and take them by violence; and houses, and take them away: so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.
Habakkuk 2:9 Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil!
Mark 7:22 Thefts, covetousness,[38] wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:
Luke 12:15 And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.
Luke 16:14 And the Pharisees also, who were covetous,[39] heard all these things: and they derided him.
Acts 20:33 I have coveted no man’s silver, or gold, or apparel.
Romans 1:29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
Romans 7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
Romans 13:9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
1 Corinthians 5:10 Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous,[40] or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world.
1 Corinthians 5:11 But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.
1 Corinthians 6:10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
2 Corinthians 9:5 Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren, that they would go before unto you, and make up beforehand your bounty, whereof ye had notice before, that the same might be ready, as a matter of bounty, and not as of covetousness.
Ephesians 5:3 But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;
Ephesians 5:5 For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
Colossians 3:5 "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:"
1 Thessalonians 2:5 For neither at any time used we flattering words, as ye know, nor a cloke of covetousness; God is witness:
1 Timothy 3:3 Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;[41]
1 Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
2 Timothy 3:2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
Hebrews 13:5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
Related ideas
Seeking the kingdom of God and His righteousness is the antitheses of covetous practices.
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Footnotes
- ↑ Matthew 11:12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.
- ↑ Luke 16:16 The law and the prophets [were] until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.
- ↑ 971 ~βιάζω~ biazo \@bee-ad’-zo\@ from 970; v AV-suffer violence 1, press 1; 2 1) to use force, to apply force 2) to force, inflict violence on
- ↑ Yudhishthira said: "Thou hast said, O grandsire, that the foundation of all evils is covetousness."
- ↑ Exodus 20:17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that [is] thy neighbour’s.
- ↑ "When a man's deeds, O monks, are performed through covetousness, arise from covetousness, are occasioned by covetousness, originate in covetousness, wherever his personality may be, there those deeds ripen, and wherever they ripen, there he experiences the fruition of those deeds..."
- ↑ Mark 7:20 And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man... 21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22 Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: 23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.
- Luke 12:15 And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.
- Luke 16:14 And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him.
- Romans 7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
- Romans 13:9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
- 1 Corinthians 5:10 Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. 11 But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.
- 1 Corinthians 6:10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
- Ephesians 5:3 But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints... 5 For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
- Colossians 3:5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
- 1 Timothy 3:2 A bishop then must be blameless... 3 Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;
- 2 Timothy 3:2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, ... from such turn away.
- Hebrews 13:5 [Let your] conversation [be] without covetousness; [and be] content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
- 2 Peter 2:3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
- 2 Peter 2:14 Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an he[[art they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:
- ↑ “Covetest thou not anyone's riches,” “covet not the goods of anyone at all,” “wealth,” “set not your heart on another's possession,” Hinduism: The Dharma of India By Panikkar, Raimon
- ↑ Guru Arjan Dev refers to lobh (covetousness) thus, "0 lobh, thou has swayed even the best of men by thy wayes."
In Guriabadratmikar, Bhai Kahan Singh renders lobh as the "desire to possess what belongs to others."
Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, the source of five evils: lust, covetousness, wrath, pride and attachment.
Haumai is putting yourself before others. The opposite of Haumai is humility, which is considered a virtue. - ↑ “The real destroyers of the liberties of the people is he who spreads among them bounties, donations and benefits.” Plutarch, 2000 years ago.
- ↑ Mark 7:13 “Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.”
- ↑ Scribe is from the Greek grammateus meaning “a clerk, scribe, esp. a public servant, secretary, recorder, whose office and influence differed in different states”
- ↑ “The missionaries… with their... white stones, would come back with the same wallets full of money, in foreign currency. Once put into Jewish currency by the money-changers [porters of the temple], it would be stored in vaults ...Herod’s scheme of initiation into a new form of Judaism was immensely successful....” Jesus and the Riddle of the Dead Sea Scrolls by Barbara Thiering, Harper Collins: 1992
- ↑ 20The Aqueduct- Josephus, War 2.175-177, Antiq 18.60-62.
- ↑ 22“And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them:” Romans 11:9. Exodus 20:17, Exodus 23:32, Exodus 34:12...; Proverbs 1:10, 23:1...; Romans 13:9, Mark 7:22, Matthew 5:34, James 5:12, 2 Peter 2:3
- ↑ Episkeptomai “ to look upon or after ... have care for, provide for:”
- ↑ Matthew 11:12 “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence [biazo=to use force, to apply force, violence], and the violent [biastes] take it by force [harpazo = to seize, carry off by force].” Luke 16:16 “ The law and the prophets [were] until John: since that time the Kingdom of God is preached, and every man [all] presseth [biazo] into it.”
- ↑ Matthew 11:12 “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence [biazo=to use force, to apply force, violence], and the violent [biastes] take it by force [harpazo = to seize, carry off by force].” Luke 16:16 “ The law and the prophets [were] until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man [all] presseth [biazo] into it.”
- ↑ Exodus 35:29, 36:3, Lev. 7:16, 22:18-23, 23:38, Nu. 15:3, 29:39, Deut. 12:6, 12:17, 16:10, 23:23, 2 Chron. 31:14, 35:8, Ezra 1:4, 3:5, 7:13-16, 8:28, Psalms 54:6, 68:9, 110:3, 119:108, Ezek. 46:12, Hosea 14:4, Amos 4:5.
- ↑ Luke 3:11 “He answereth and saith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise.”
- ↑ The Corban of the Pharisees, http://www.hisholychurch.org/sermon/corban.php
- ↑ James 1:25 “But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth [therein], he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.”
- ↑ 1 Corinthians 13:13 “And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these [is] charity.”
- ↑ Galatians 5:1 “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”
- ↑ “And they who are well to do, and willing, give what each thinks fit; and what is collected is deposited with the president, who succours the orphans and widows and those who, through sickness or any other cause, are in want, and those who are in bonds and the strangers sojourning among us, and in a word takes care of all who are in need.” The Church government in 150 AD are described in Justin’s First Apology:
- ↑ Luke 22:25 “And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But it shall not be so among you:” Matthew 20:25, Mark 10:42.
- ↑ Covetousness is idolatry
- Colossians 3:5 "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: 6 For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:"
- Ephesians 5:5 "For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God."
- 1 Corinthians 5:10 "Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. 11 But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat."
- For it is written that the tables of dainties provided by rulers of the world are a snare because they cause the masses to bite one another through government systems of legal charity which are covetous practices which are a form of fornication or adultery where the people are devoured as merchandise, curse children and are "entangled again in the yoke of bondage" with the aid of the false religion of the whore who rides the beast.
- ↑ "Freedom is the Right to Choose, the Right to create for oneself the alternatives of Choice. Without the possibility of Choice, and the exercise of Choice, a man is not a man but a member, an instrument, a thing.” Archibald MacLeish
- ↑ Join the Living Network.
- ↑ Luke 16:9 And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.
- ↑ Matthew 20:25-26 But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;
Mark 10:42-43 But Jesus called them to him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister:
Luke 22:25-26 And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. - ↑ 2 Peter 2:18 For when they speak great swelling [words] of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, [through much] wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. 19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. 20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. 21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. 22 But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.
- ↑ Jude 1:16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling [words], having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage. 17 But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; 18 How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. 19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit. 20 But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,
- ↑ 5622 ὠφέλεια opheleia [o-fel’-i-ah] from a derivative of the base of 5624 profitable; n f; AV-profit 1, advantage 1; 2
- 1) usefulness, advantage, profit
- ↑ Matthew 6:15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Mark 11:26 But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses. - ↑ 01215 ^עצב^ betsa‘ \@beh’- tsah\@ from 01214; n m; AV-covetousness 10, gain 9, profit 3, lucre 1; 23 1) profit, unjust gain, gain (profit) acquired by violence
- ↑ 01214 ^עצב^ batsa‘ \@baw-tsah’\@ a primitive root; v; AV-cut me off 2, gained 2, given 2, greedy 2, coveteth 1, covetous 1, cut 1, finish 1, fulfilled 1, get 1, performed 1, wounded 1; 16 1) to cut off, break off, gain by unrighteous violence, get, finish, be covetous, be greedy 1a) (Qal) 1a1) to cut off 1a2) to stop 1a3) to gain wrongfully or by violence 1b) (Piel) 1b1) to cut off, sever 1b2) to finish, complete, accomplish 1b3) to violently make gain of
- ↑ 4124 ~πλεονεξία~ pleonexia \@pleh-on-ex-ee’-ah\@ from 4123; n f AV-covetousness 8, greediness 1, covetous practice 1; 10 1) greedy desire to have more, covetousness, avarice
- ↑ 5366 ~φιλάργυρος~ philarguros \@fil-ar’-goo-ros\@ from 5384 and 696; ; adj AV-covetous 2; 2 1) loving money, avarice
- ↑ 4123 ~πλεονέκτης~ pleonektes \@pleh-on-ek’-tace\@ from 4119 and 2192; n m AV-covetous 4; 4 1) one eager to have more, esp. what belongs to others 2) greedy of gain, covetous
- ↑ 866 ~ἀφιλάργυρος~ aphilarguros \@af-il-ar’-goo-ros\@ from 1 (as a negative particle) and 5366; ; adj AV-not covetous 1, without covetousness 1; 2 1) not loving money, not avaricious
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