Buddhism, Islam and Christianity on Money

Our leader in Malaysia (and a current student of our Leading Steward’s Course) just had an incredible opportunity to speak publicly on what God has to say about money.

This was done at a forum that was answering the question “What does religion have to say about money?” Malaysia is mostly Muslim, but has ties with Hinduism and Buddhism as well. Check out Erik’s recounting of the event below:

The Buddhist speaker was the first to speak and he quoted the Buddhist texts in Sanskrit which nobody could understand and talked about the concept of Karma: Cause and Effect. greed and good works. At the end, the speaker is of the opinion that the solution is within oneself. The answer is within you. If you look inside you, you will find the solution.

The Islamic scholar defined what is spirituality from the Koran and talked about the 4 levels of spirituality = iman, dakwah, obedience and piety. While acknowledging that God is the creator, mankind is the trustee. Islam is against greed. However, the issue of ownership was not resolved , who is the beneficiary and owner of our money and wealth?

I presented that first of all, God is the Creator and He creates humankind in His image. As Creator He is therefore the ultimate Owner of the material things, wealth and money. Everything belongs to God, we are only stewards or trustees.

If we are stewards, we must manage our resources to the best of our ability because one day God will hold us accountable. If all our money belongs to God, then every spending is a also spiritual decision. Money is not evil but the love of money is the root of all evil. I shared the biblical perspective of greed, contentment and lifestyle . The cause of many of the economic and financial problems is greed and living beyond our means. I quoted Matt 6:33 that we are to seek first God’s kingdom and all the other things will be given to us. I advocate that we must learn Godly contentment. I concluded with some practical suggestions on checking and changing our lifestyle. We must have an eternal perspective – where we go after our our life on earth is over. Live a simpler life – live simply but not simply live! As God’s people, we must be kind and generous and willing to help the poor and needy. Set a maximum limit in acquiring material things in order to be contented. The most practical spiritual solution is to get out of debt and stay debt free. Use our credit card and money wisely.

I closed my presentation with [a story on contentment].

The public’s response to the Christian presentation was more enthusiastic compared to the other 2. It was the only only presentation that the public applauded.

The floor actually proposed to form a joint religious panel to come out with a combined teaching curriculum for the public on handling money from a spiritual perspective. I hope Jamaah Islah (the leader of the forum) will follow-up on this proposal. I proposed to the forum organizer to start the financial education in our schools to teach our young people about handling money in the right way.

I felt very honoured and blessed to share my Christian view point at the forum and a bit of the Gospel to our “unreachable” friends in Malaysia.

God bless,
Erik

Way to go, Erik! I pray you are able to continue turning consumers into contributors in your nation!