I hardly have to surf the web anymore... since I started my new job my readers have been sending me more links than ever! The link to the Opus V from Harry Winston Rare Timepieces comes from John, and the "personal time robot" -- as some commenters are calling it -- certainly looks cool. For $137,000, it had better.
So my question is this: is it morally acceptable for a Christian to own such an extravagant item? Couldn't excess money be used in ways that honor God more? That leads me to wonder if there's a moral limit to how much money Christians should spend supporting theirselves and their families. Are vows of poverty necessary, or can Christians own property and enjoy their wealth to some limited degree? Or is the degree unlimited, so long as the Christian gives 10% to the church? Is it simply a matter of "giving this much is acceptable, but giving more would be better"?
Solomon teaches in Ecclesiastes that we should enjoy the fruits of our labor, and he was fantastically wealthy, but then he was a head of state and most of his wealth belonged to the government, not to him personally (except that's how kings worked back then). Also, Ecclesiastes is largely about the futility of life, not the glory of wealth. Many influential Christians have been wealthy, but Jesus wasn't and neither was Paul, nor any of the apostles as far as I'm aware. As Charles Foster Kane famously remarked, "You know, Mr. Bernstein, if I hadn't been very rich, I might have been a really great man."
There's nothing wrong with wealth, but there are certainly some wrong ways it can be used or wasted.
