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Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – The Treasures of the Heart

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Ravi Z

Several years ago, I visited the Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. For those who aren’t familiar with Carnegie-Mellon University or any of the Carnegie libraries scattered throughout the United States, it is an awesome experience to wander through towering shelves filled with books, music, and reference materials; vast resources—more than I could ever utilize—amply aided me in the writing of my research paper.

At the time, I was too preoccupied with my research to take advantage of all the resources available to me in this great library. I didn’t wonder about the history behind the library, or think about what great act of generosity made it possible and brought it into existence. Carnegie, a Scottish immigrant to the United States, represents the classic tale of rags to riches that is the quintessential reflection of the American dream. Ingenious, shrewd, and visionary without any formal education beyond grade school, Carnegie became the richest man in America during the “The Gilded Age” of the late nineteenth century.(1) Riding the wave of rapid development from the Industrial Revolution, Carnegie became the king of industry, first of railroads and then of steel.

But Carnegie’s was a mixed legacy. While he amassed fortunes, his workers languished for pennies in what is described as one of the “darkest chapters in American labor history.”(2) He may have been less ruthless than some of his other industry contemporaries by today’s ethical standards for laborers, but Carnegie was brutal in his demands for long hours of labor with very little pay.

I began to pay attention to Carnegie’s life and legacy because he is an oft-cited inspiration for two of the richest men in the world today who started a philanthropic movement to systematically give their money away. These two men are Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. Gates and Buffett cite an oft-quoted refrain from Carnegie: “The man who dies rich dies disgraced… And besides, it provides a refuge from self-questioning.”(3) Perhaps some of Carnegie’s own self-questioning came from the way in which he made his money, seeking efficiency and profit at the expense of worker well-being. Whatever the case, the richest man in the world believed that money made from society should be given back to society. From Carnegie’s example, Buffett and Gates go and encourage other wealthy individuals to do likewise with their own fortunes.

Capitalism, at its heart, is about multiplying and advancing capital. But what is to be done with immense profits? Despite his mixed legacy, the example of Andrew Carnegie offers an intriguing option. Wealth production should include social capital—namely, that great gains financially can be accompanied by great gains for society and for the public good. Wealth can accumulate profit not just for individuals, but for communities, cities, and indeed, regions all around the world. Just as the biblical patriarch Abraham was blessed to be a blessing, we who are wealthy in all sorts of ways can allow caritas, or charity, to guide us in bringing blessing for others. Whatever the wealth—time, treasure, and talent—can be used for the sort of profit that is more than just individual, capital gain.

Those who seek to follow Jesus have a powerful motivation to view wealth in the same manner, and his instruction on the matter is yet another illustration of his concern for the whole and not merely an isolated group. Jesus instructed his followers to “go and sell your possessions and give to charity; make yourselves purses which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure where no thief comes near nor moth destroys.”(4) This means, as one commentator on Luke’s gospel points out, that “possessions in themselves are neither good or bad; it is the choices that one makes concerning them that determines their significance…[T]he proper use of material goods that are non-essential to the disciple is to be manifested in the positive act of helping those in need.”(5)

In other words, wealth does create profit; but the kind of profit wealth creates is up to us to decide. It has been said: where your treasure is there will your heart be also.

Margaret Manning is a member of the speaking and writing team at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Seattle, Washington.

(1) From American Experience: “Andrew Carnegie: The Richest Man in the World,” http://www.pbs.org.

(2) Ibid.

(3) Andrew Carnegie, “Wealth” North American Review, June 1889, Volume 148, Issue 391, 653-665.

(4) Cf. Luke 12:33.

(5) John Sheila Galligan, “The Tension between Poverty and Possessions in the Gospel of Luke,” Spirituality Today, Spring 1985, Volume 37, 12.

 

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – In a Word

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Ravi Z

Some anniversaries slip past us without recognition, and yet one such recipient is still smiling nonetheless. The very first emoticon, perhaps better known in the realm of online discourse as the smiley face, has been smiling for more than 25 years. Its creator, Carnegie Mellon University professor Scott Fahlman, suggested the symbol in 1982 in an online discussion about the limits of online humor. “I propose the following character sequence for joke markers:  ,” he wrote. “Read it sideways.”(1)

The rest is history. Fahlman’s smileys spread from his classroom to other classrooms, from universities to the corporate world, and eventually around the world. The emoticon aided what online communicators were all too aware was ailing. In the world of instantaneous communication, miscommunicating is sometimes more likely than communicating. Humor, sarcasm, and general human warmth can easily be sacrificed in this subculture of speed and technology. Words merely given in brief can be misperceived as terse or loaded. Comments meant to be taken lightly can be missed altogether. Many would argue that the invention of the emoticon has helped, though it certainly has not eradicated every obstacle.

Nonetheless, the quick embrace and subsequent evolution of emoticons suggests at least a subtle awareness that in the breakdown of language something human is in fact lost. High school and college professors readily lament the frequency with which “chat” language is creeping further into term papers. Their greatest concern is that many students don’t even realize there is a difference. While it can be argued that email encourages a certain sloppiness in communicating, text messaging has forged the creation of an entirely new language—a language created with regard first for the technology as opposed to the speakers or the conversation itself.

In a recent publication, Ken Myers of Mars Hill Audio made the observation that words and language both shape and affect our humanity. He then added, “The corollary of this claim is the observation that cultural institutions and habits that corrupt or weaken our use of language are profoundly dehumanizing.”(2) When words are ransacked of meaning and replaced with concepts less distinct, we ourselves become something less distinct. Though technology is far from the only culprit, wherever the offense is committed, consequences are costly. In fact, it is said that one of the first steps to slavery is a loss of language.

In his Narnian conclusion The Last Battle C. S. Lewis illustrates the enslaving force of corrupted words. The ape explains, “[The god] Tash and Aslan [the Lion] are only two names for you know Who. That’s why there can never be any quarrel between them. Get that into your heads you stupid brutes. Tash is Aslan. Aslan is Tash.”(3) Later the ape altogether changes the name to “Tashlan,” and the impressionable crowd abides. In their hearts they still want to believe in the Aslan they thought they knew, but the loss of language is enough to set them to serve the deceptive ape. “When you have killed a word,” writes Lewis in another work, “you have also blotted from the human mind the thing that word originally stood for. Men do not long continue to think what they have forgotten how to say.”(4) Those who allow their language to be corrupted, find their minds following suit. In the loss of words, something human is lost.

In this, there is much to be said about the kind of God who values words, whose most persistent instruction to a faltering people is “remember,” and who gives us both permission and the responsibility to say what we mean. “Good teacher,” asked the young man of Jesus. “Can you tell me the way to eternal life?” But Jesus asked in reply, “Why do you call me good?” In other words, are you saying what you really mean? Are you ready to walk with the burden your own word requires? “For no one is good—except God alone,” he replies.(5) Indeed, are you willing to hear his answer fully knowing who he is?

There is a connectedness between our words and our humanity, between the Word at the beginning and what is real today. Those who stand alert in the world of words, who fight the corruption of language, and who learn to let their “yes” be “yes” and their “no” be “no” shall see something more through the glass darkly. They may in fact see the God who first spoke a word and brought the world into existence.

Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

(1) Daniel Lovering, “Happy Anniversary, emoticon,” LA Daily News, September 22, 2007.

(2) Mars Hill Audio Journal, Issue 75.

(3) C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle (New York: Macmillan, 1970), 32.

(4) “The Death of Words,” On Stories, Walter Hooper ed. (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1982), 107.

(5) Mark 10:18).