LETTER TO EDITOR: Has abundance burdened us?

“Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things he possesseth” (Luke 12:15). The United States has been blessed with possessions of which throngs of people in the world could never dream. Our Lord talks of a spiritual life more abundant than any material blessing. The present economic crisis overshadows every concern, and spiritual solutions seem distant. After the 1929 crash, a work ethic driven by a need to serve God with our nation’s gifts saved the day.

Among those gifts in the decades following was charity, and it radiated from close-knit families and neighborhoods determined to persevere with what they had. Credit was something the corner store gave you till payday, interest-free. How is it that the descendants of those who saved the world take so much for granted? The key may be turning away from the struggle to say no or accept consequences. It is only necessary to look at political campaigns to see - whoever promises the most will get the vote. Good ethical forces are not always on the side of easy street, and it can be harder to say no.

To say no and suffer the consequences can be a growing experience. Truth and love are timeless because they come from the eternal God, but they are severed when selfish choice in favor of convenience enters in. Convenient truth demonstrates that the state now takes the place of God to determine when life is viable and how it should be lived. Citizens can say with a kind of secular conscience that the state will determine truth.

Can a generation of people who say it isn’t their fault ever say “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life…”? All truth is altered by saying, “It’s not my fault - it’s the law.” Hard times are upon us, when a candidate for president has promised the first thing he will do if he wins is sign a “Freedom of Choice Act.” “Life consisteth not in the abundance of the things” - this would make official the thought that “some humans are possessions.” Is this what Brother Abraham and Martin Luther King died for?

THE REV. FREDERICK J. BENTLEY

Order of Holy Innocence

National director

Anglican Priests for Life

Walterboro, S.C.