Greed: an Existence Without Life Essay
The oldest book known to man contains many laws and suggestions as to what is morally correct within society.
In this book, specifically Proverbs 6:16-19 (New King James Version), we are given a list of sins that God hates but seven that are, in His eyes, an abomination. The verse states, “These six things the LORD hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him; A proud look, A lying tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood, A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that are swift in running to evil, A false witness who speaks lies, And one who sows discord among brethren. Over time society amended and summarized these sins into what are known as “The Seven Deadly Sins:” Gluttony, Pride, Lust, Wrath, Greed, Envy, and Sloth. In J.
R. R. Tolkien’s novel The Fellowship of the Ring, a world exists that is called Middle Earth. In the Middle Earth there are many interesting characters, such as dwarves, elves, wizards, and hobbits. The main character, Frodo Baggins, an honest young hobbit, is given a quest to destroy the all ruling ring created by the evil dark lord Sauron, by throwing it back into the fire of Mount Doom where it was created.This ring, one of nine, also the most powerful, brings overwhelming greed to each of the beholders.
Tolkien shows many times throughout that greed can even make honest men with the best intentions into evil beings or murderers. Greed can also cause a prudent man to lose everything he was so diligently gathering. In Luke 12:16-21(New Living Translation) Jesus was telling a parable, which is a simple story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson.In this parable Jesus talks about a farmer who reaps plentiful crops and has so much excess that he plans to tear down his barns and build bigger ones to be able to hold the excess amount. The farmer thinks to himself, with this great crop I will have enough to last for years to come, take it easy, eat, drink and be merry! But God takes his life because of his foolish thoughts of only that of earthly wealth and not his relationship with Him.
Because of his greed, the man lost his life and ultimately lost everything he was greedy about; he lost himself because of greed.In a children’s short story there lived a lazy fox in the woods and would always wait for hunters to kill an animal and would run off with their kill before they could get to it. In the story a hunter chased a wild boar and wounds it with many arrows. In response to the hunter’s attacks, the boar attacked the hunter and killed the hunter. The fox became happy because the luck he experienced of two kills that would supply his appetite for a substantial amount of time. The fox loved boar but noticed that next to the hunter was his bow.The bow’s string looked like dried skin to the fox. The fox, interested in the bow string, decided to eat the bow string then later the boar.
He didn’t necessarily like the taste of the string but didn’t want to let it go to waste. He continued to chew on the string and then it snapped which released the tension of the bow. The bow then impaled the heart of the fox and killed it. The moral of the story is that greed and the desire of something above and beyond what is needed can cost something more valuable than a person is willing to give.Greed is a “Deadly Sin” as it affects a person in the worst way and also the people around them. In ‘The Fellowship of the Ring,’ the ring would pervert the best intentions into something evil. In the parable of Luke 12:16-21, greed causes the man to lose what he was focused on more than anything and also his life.
In the children’s short story about the fox, greed was also deadly. In the end, greed ultimately consumes one’s life to the degree he can no longer be content with himself. Living in greed is just existing, not living.
