What Money Will Make Us Do

I'm sure many heard of the snafu at the Super Bowl this year as regards the seating of certain fans. Evidently there was a section of seats that were constructed at the last minute in order to hold what they knew would be a record setting attendance due to the popularity of the two competitors; namely Pittsburgh and Green Bay. One slight oversight, however; the seats were not assembled in enough time to allow them to be properly inspected and deemed worthy. Therefore, those that were to be seated in those areas were treated to viewing the game on a big screen outside the stadium. Needless to say, this was a less than adequate compromise in the eyes of those fans.

So when the dust settled and Green Bay took the Lombardi trophy back to its new home in Green Bay, some of those displaced fans made a bee line to their local attorney to file suit. Now, one would expect them to somehow be compensated for this obvious oversight on the part of the stadium crew. And herein lies the blatant greed (my opinion). They were given tickets for next year's game, they were reimbursed for their transportation costs to this year's ill fated game, they were compensated for their hotel expenses for this year, and they were paid, in some cases, three times the face value of their tickets. Some of those tickets were valued at $900. So, what will money, or the quest for it, make us do? When someone is out nothing for travel, nothing for a hotel stay, is given a free ticket to the most coveted NFL game of the year, AND in some cases handed $2700, the quest for greenbacks will cause us to say "no" to generosity in favor of greed. Unbelievable.

But unfortunately, that's not the only thing we'll do. We'll also redefine marriage.

Yesterday's news carried the report that our present presidential administration will no longer take the side of traditional marriage being between a man and a woman. And what is one of the flash points for this decision? I quote the Wall Street Journal from Thursday, February 24, 2011:

"One of the cases that prompted the shift was filed by Edith Windsor, who sued after the federal government refused to recognize her 2007 marriage to her partner Thea Spyer. After Ms. Spyer's death, Ms. Windsor faced a $350,000 estate tax on her inheritance from her partner, a tax she wouldn't have incurred had her marriage been recognized by the federal government."

So, on account of money, we're willing to take what is clearly lined out in God's Word and decide that it's no longer applicable, as long as money's involved! In spite of the government arguing for the defense of marriage just weeks earlier, a major shift takes place largely due to money. And realistically, there is a connection here between the two cases; the Super Bowl greed and the Defense of Marriage "re-define." Greed says "God can't do enough, I've got to help him out." The re-defining of God's Word says "God doesn't understand this culture, I've got to help him out." Either way, it smacks of an arrogance that is really at the root of all sin.