What Is It All About?

Is it really all about the benjamins as popular culture would suggest? It would seem that way when you consider that almost every decision we make has some connection with money. The answer to this question lies in the origin of money, and it’s function. And that is connected with the subject of property.

Property is that which one owns, possesses, or most importantly, that which one is able to exercise their will over. That may sound simple enough, but that brings up the question: What authority does one have to exercise their will over something unless they are responsible for creating it?

The desire for property is a primal instinct that everyone has. The Bible refers to it as dominion. “And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” Gen. 1:26. While the earth, according to the Bible, is the property of God (since he created it), he has allowed humanity to exercise their will over it as if they had created it.

It goes on to demonstrate humanity yielding that authority to another who is adversarial to the law of the creator. Because this being took a position against the law of the creator, he lost out on the dominion he possessed prior to the creation of the earth (which is how he became the adversary). And since misery loves company, he enticed humanity to enter into the same state of disconnection when they agreed him.

Because of this, humanity, and the adversary have been attempting to reinstate themselves into the position of dominion ever since. And, it is these attempts to reassert dominion that are responsible for all the wars, crime, abuse, oppression, genocide, etc. that plague this world. Fortunately, God has not left humanity to languish in this state of unfulfilment, but allowed his son to receive the penalty of the transgression so that dominion may be restored to whom it properly belongs.

“But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not life up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it. And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.” Micah 4:1-4,8 (emphasis supplied).

My desire is to see Steemit play a part in bringing people to the top of the mountain (which is one reason I’m not involved in all the voting/flagging drama), but that is not the point of this posting. My point is that money was invented later to serve as a means of representing property. If there was no such thing as property, money would be both meaningless, and useless.

The first mention of something comparable to money in the Bible is Gen. 13:2. “And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.” This is a few generations after the tower of Babel, where the human race was dispersed to occupy the different areas of the planet after the flood of Noah. With this dispersion came the formation of countries, which is another attempt by man to exercise dominion.

The descendants of Abram would later live as captives in the country of Egypt, then be liberated in order to be established in the former Egyptian province of Canaan. The nation of Israel was not to operate like the surrounding countries, but as a nation that would magnify the truth. The fact that they didn’t, and the consequences of that is another subject altogether.

Apart from that, it is worth noting that before they entered the promised land, they were told, “But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.” Deu. 8:18. It is worth noting that God did not condemn the practice of using money, but intended for believers to use it as a means of bringing people to a knowledge of the truth.

But how can people use money (like the dollar) in such a noble measure if they don’t own the means of producing it, nor have a say in how much of it exists at any given time (which affects its value)? The answer to this question is the reason my ears perked the first time I heard the word Bitcoin...Because Bitcoin, and Steem for that matter, are not owned by anyone other than the individuals who holds the addresses associated with each of those digital tokens.