“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

–Edmund Burke

How many sit silent on the sidelines, complaining about how bad it is yet take no action?

How many people complain about the direction of this country yet don’t vote?

Ho many complain about the trouble of their job or company, yet keep working there?

You get my point.  We sit silent waiting for some miracle to happen yet we do nothing to make it happen.  It’s the same when we invest.  Are your values being reflected with your investment dollars?

You may be investing in companies that violate your morals and values. Make a conscious effort to find out where your investments are going and what you are involved in. Look at your mutual funds and stocks and analyze your various accounts. The first step is to commit to becoming aware and consider the alternatives that you may not have known you had.

First, let’s look at the definition of blood money:

Blood money

blood money (blud mune) n.

1. money paid to a hired killer

2. money paid as compensation to the next of kin of a murdered

person; wergeld

3. money gotten ruthlessly at the expense of others’ lives

or suffering

Source: http://www.yourdictionary.com/blood-money

You have values and beliefs that are important to you. When you compromise your values to enhance your finances, profits can resemble blood money. Both your personal internal value system and our country’s external legal system define immoralities and crimes, thus both illegal and legal profits can have negative results. Even if good outcomes ultimately result from immoral or illegal activities, the underlying source of profit is an activity that either is breaking the law or compromises your value system. This can resemble blood money as defined by definition number three below:

3. money gotten ruthlessly at the expense of others’ lives or

suffering

Examples of blood money include, but are not limited to, profits from a prostitution ring given to a church, illegal drug money being used to help the poor, even legitimate profits from an investment in a company that explicitly violates your values. Your investment dollars may be funding immoral activities.

• If your value system rates protection of the institution of marriage and the family as an extremely important issue, would you want to invest money in companies that are producing entertainment that seeks to destroy appropriate attitudes and promote alternative lifestyles?

• If preventing human cruelty is important to you, would you want to invest in companies that carry out substandard labor practices?

• If abortion is a key issue for you, would you want to invest in companies manufacturing abortion drugs or performing elective abortions?

Doing nothing takes no action. It’s easy. Taking a stand is difficult yet can be rewarding. Better yet, taking a stand based on your faith and values can bring you a step closer to God. Does your heart break watching our world get further away from God? Do something about!