Why didn’t you just make them available for free?
Why are You asking me this?
Because it’s what many people want to know. Did the publishers offer you a lot of money?
Well, yes.
Why did you agree to take it? “If you were a man of God, you would agree to share this
information with the world at no charge. You wouldn’t run around signing multi-book
contracts.” Isn’t that what some people are saying?
Exactly. They are saying that. They’re saying I’m in it for the money.
Well?
I’m not in it for the money, but that’s no reason not to take it.
A man of God would not do it.
He wouldn’t? Don’t priests take salaries? Don’t rabbis eat?
Yes, but not very much. Teachers of God live in poverty, they don’t demand a fortune for
sharing simple truth.
I didn’t demand a fortune. I didn’t demand anything. I was offered it.
You should have turned it down.
Why? Who says that money is bad? If I have a chance to earn a great deal of money by
sharing eternal truth, why shouldn’t I?
Besides, what if I had dreams of doing extraordinary things with some of it? What if I had
dreams of setting up and funding a non-profit foundation that would carry Your message
around the world? What if I had dreams of making the lives of others better?
That might help a bit. That might make Me not so mad.
And what if I simply gave a great deal of it away? What if I helped others in need?
That would also help. We could understand. We could begin to accept. But you, yourself,
should live very modestly. You should not spend it on yourself.
I shouldn’t? I shouldn’t celebrate who I am? I shouldn’t live in magnificence? Have a beautiful
home? Drive a new car?
No. Neither should you have fancy clothes nor eat in expensive restaurants nor buy luxurious
things. You should give all the money to the poor, live as if it doesn’t matter.
But that’s how I do live! I live as if money doesn’t matter. I spend it freely and give it away
easily and share it generously and act, actually, just that way—as if it doesn’t matter.