Drunkenness and Too Many Homes

 

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Those who buy up lots of houses, are as bad as drunks, according to the Bible:

"8 Woe to those who join house to house,
who add field to field,
until there is no more room,
and you are made to dwell alone
in the midst of the land.
9 The Lord of hosts has sworn in my hearing:
“Surely many houses shall be desolate,
large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant.
10 For ten acres of vineyard shall yield but one bath,
and a homer of seed shall yield but an ephah.”

11 Woe to those who rise early in the morning,
that they may run after strong drink,
who tarry late into the evening
as wine inflames them!
12 They have lyre and harp,
tambourine and flute and wine at their feasts,
but they do not regard the deeds of the Lord,
or see the work of his hands." (Isaiah 5:8-12). 

Excess of all kinds kills people and kills nations.

I remember about 12 years ago making a similar point about this in a Bible study when going through this passage, and someone was so offended he refused to ever come back, because he felt I had insulted family of his who owned multiple homes. I had no idea this applied to his extended family, I barely knew the guy. I was simply commenting on this passage. But over the last 12 years, I have seen more and more people start to get what the problem is when people hoard homes.

I often wonder what that person would say today? Maybe he still feels the same way. Maybe not. But it is obvious that more and more people are seeing the evil that this brings on society. 

The fact that God puts owning too many homes in a list of other dangerous evils is pretty phenomenal, isn't it?

Sadly, it has had to get to a point where it is effecting the vast majority of people in our nation, especially young people, before people woke up to how dangerous this was. But the flip side of this is that more and more people in the culture, young and old, are seeing how bad society can get when this happens. And this could have a positive effect on our nation. They say that politics is downstream of culture. I don’t believe this is always true, sometimes it goes the other way. It is probably better to say that culture is downstream of constant messaging. But the fact that so many people are seeing how bad this is means there is a possibility we could see political change in our lifetime.

Australia has had a pretty good run. But our nation is not really known on the world stage for anything really remarkable. We popped up after most of the modern reforms that made the western nations great had already been entrenched. We benefitted rather than added to these developments. But maybe this is an area where we could build a culture that can set an example to the rest of the world? Maybe this is an area where Australia could forge reforms that could benefit other nations that learn from them?

Imagine the impact it would have on the greatness of this nation if it were to solve a housing crisis like the one we face, and make housing affordable for families again? As the famous Darryl Kerrigan once said, “Tell him he’s dreaming.” But why not dream? Just over ten years ago I remember most people looking at me blankly when I spoke about these issues. Now, people all over this nation are talking about them because they are being adversely affected. Cultural change can happen. Why would we not do what we can to work for a better society for our children?

It is something to ponder at least. 

I do not want to live in a nation where my kids and grandkids are forced to live on some pseudo-aristocrat’s land where they do not have the freedom that so many of us have taken for granted over the years. Every time our houses go up in value, we all actually get poorer because our money is rendered more and more worthless. This is not wealth. This is an illusion of wealth. It is time that our nation stopped getting drunk on housing prices and sobered up.