Holy Money Laundering

In Central Mexico, Bishop Ramon Godinez has landed himself in some political hot water. The leader of the Catholic Church in Aguascalientes admitted to accepting alms from drug traffickers. No only did the church accept the offerings, the local Bishop declared that the money had been "purified" when it reached the church's coffers. "You don't have to burn the money just because it's bad. It's better to transform it" according to the Bishop.

Of course all of this has the Mexican Government up in arms. Over 1,000 people have been gunned down this year in drug violence in Mexico as rival gangs clash over the lucrative drug trade. According to Government Spokesperson Ruben Aguilar, "no one can allow organized crime to act with impunity." Aguilar further criticized the church for what he called "money laundering."

All this reminded me of a conversation I had with a Christian college fund raiser a number of years ago. I asked him about the issue of accepting money from sources that were less that reputable. He stated that just because money had been acquired in an immoral fashion did not mean that it could not still be put to good use in God's kingdom. "So," I asked, "are you telling me that you would accept a million dollar donation from an active drug trafficker?" He replied, "Yes. It's time we start using the Devil's money toward good purposes."

What scares me about this line of thinking is, where exactly do you draw the line. If a person robs a bank and then gets out of going to jail on a technicality, a Christian institution might still accept the money. This is an easy example to point out but I began to think of other more difficult issues. What about receiving lottery money and using it toward Christian education? What about a gambler who donates thousands to a local church? There are a million other situations that could be discussed.

Invariably, the problem with the whole discussion is that it focuses on the money and not the heart. Jesus said that you cannot serve God and "Mammon." By saying Mammon, he meant to portray money as not just an inanimate resource, but an alternative god. Like God, money can provide a level of security, happiness and fulfillment. But in the end it is a false god. How better to repudiate a false god than to take that which is his dominion and give it away. By giving away Mammon, we are basically saying "You think you have control over me? Well here's what I think of your power!" Jesus clearly makes this point by pointing out the woman in the temple with the 2 coins. "She is the one whom God is pleased with" Jesus says. Why? Even though she didn't give more by the world's standards, she was the one who truly repudiated the god of money.

What's especially frightening about this whole story is that we can get trapped in the cycle of Mammon worship while at the same time thinking that we are honoring God. In essence, we end up worshiping money under the pretense of worshiping God.It's frightening to think that this is the very thing that many Christian institutions, churches and homes seem to be doing. We have some hard questions to ask ourselves. Are we truly worshiping God or just allowing Him to launder our money?