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How Much Would You Sell Your Soul For?

July 24, 2018

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I'm embarrassed to say 
I sold my soul for $20. And no,
it's not just the price I received 
that is embarrassing. 
It is the act itself. 


For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, 
and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
Mathew 16:26

"All nations will be swallowed up in the pursuit of gain, and in the race for it, will not take note of their common foe."   Protocols of Zion 44

see new first comment from connie below 



by Henry Makow Ph.D

It was a classic moral dilemma for the inventor of Scruples.  I was browsing through the seafood counter at the supermarket when I came upon a large package of fresh scallops selling for only $5. There were at least $25 worth of scallops. But they had mis-priced them as "fish heads and trimmings." The supermarket is staffed by new immigrants who might make such a careless mistake, I thought. 

I pondered whether to buy the scallops or inform the store. I like scallops. But my shopping habits were ingrained as a grad student living on a stipend. I wouldn't normally spend $25 for these scallops although I can easily afford to.  But $5? That's hard to resist.

What would Jesus do? 

I poked a hole in the plastic and smelled the scallops. They were still fresh. Should I take advantage of this mistake? 

I am ashamed to admit that I did. No sooner had I cleared the cashier, I was wracked with guilt. 

Not exactly. I had misgivings. I don't expect the store to cheat me and I should not have cheated the store. 

I tried to rationalize.

"If you're good all the time, you get taken for granted."

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"Do I have to be %100 moral? How about 80%?" 

"Evil is the spice of life." 

No one saw you. It's a secret. But in the eyes of God, I have diminished myself. 

I told my wife. She chided me but ate the delicious meal I prepared. The only serious fight we have had in 18 years of marriage is when I parked in a family-and-baby parking spot.  

Later, lying on the couch, I contemplated my iniquity. How stupid of me to sell my soul for $20.

It's worth at least $100. (Just kidding!)  

Can you be a little evil? Can you be 75% good?  It's all or nothing. You have to be as pure as possible. I resolved never to repeat my scallops mistake.

A WEEK PASSED

and I found myself at the same fish counter. Low and behold I came across some salmon marked "fish heads and trimmings." $25 worth of salmon, going for 5$. 

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A wave of temptation swept over me. But damn it, I remembered my resolution and decided to show the salmon to an attendant. 

"You're mis-pricing your seafood," I said. 

No, she replied. This is just a way of marking down fish close to the due date.

OMG. I was relieved.  I was not a sinner.

But I was.  Even though I wasn't cheating, I thought I was.

Recently, a poll on this site that showed that 50% of my readers spent 50% or more of their time thinking about sex and/or money. This is how I define satanic possession: seeking happiness outside of yourself. By getting instead of giving.

Wealth is a state of mind. The rich person never thinks about sex or money, no matter how much they have. But we are socialized into seeking our satisfaction from the world. 


In 2013, Business Insider estimated that the market value of a soul is between $.5m and $8 million. As I have shown by my example, the price is much less. 

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Our whole society is based on a massive swindle. We have allowed Satanists to control the money supply. Our society has literally sold its soul to the devil.  Our leaders are Satanists and perverts. We are complicit in all their atrocities committed in Palestine, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, and Syria where they created ISIS. 

The CIA's Philip Graham estimated that the price of a journalist was less than a whore. You could say the same of politicians.  
As individuals, we constantly face temptation:  Would you buy a video gaming stock guaranteed to double although you disapprove of what video-games do to children? Would you sell your hot pharma stock when you learn they sell oxycontin? Do you repay your student loan even when they lost track of it? Do you phone your elderly parent regularly even though s/he berates you? Would you eat the scallops if your spouse confessed they were mispriced?

Are we allowed to be imperfect? Is it Ok to be a little evil? How much would you sell your soul for? 


Related 

Would You Sell Your Soul to Satan? People who Did.

First Comment from Connie

We must go all in; if a person rationalizes just one sin, it becomes a slippery slope.
Matthew 5:48 says, "Be perfect, therefore, as your Heavenly Father is perfect."

Also, there's no such thing as a minor infraction. James 2:10 says "If you obey all the laws but one, you are guilty as the one who has broken them all." 

Sure, the penalty is less for a $20 swindle, but the petty thief is no less a sinner than the abortionist.






Scruples - the game of moral dillemas

Comments for "How Much Would You Sell Your Soul For? "

Imran said (July 25, 2018):

Morality differs for each individual. I think tv shows and movies generally describe it as benefiting others...but being selfish can help one survive also.


Only Christians are judged by God for following righteous/unrighteous conduct:


https://theswordbearer.org/spD008_dogs.html


I used to be stupid enough to believe (like other Christians who still buy into that) that Jews who died in the Holocaust would end up in the Lake of Fire. I am glad I grew up out of that.


Isn't someone like the following benefiting by defrauding others? I doubt he sold his soul HM. He just simply is. Like it or not selfish actions that hurt others can benefit others also. That is the way the world works. I don't like it...but that is real life:


http://ellieadvice.com/a-charmer-a-cheater-and-a-user-a-trifecta-of-undesirable-characteristics/


Pedro said (July 25, 2018):

esus would have upturned all the tables of seafood and told people about Fukushima radiation and the Synagogue of Satan that blew those NPP's up to kill the pacific.

As for Salmon, don't worry, they are well on their way to extinction, coming home after 5 years in such a sea of troubles but at best 1/3 of their parents' numbers.

Proof here. https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/sf/FishCounts/

No-one is perfect, it is the striving to be so and the moral sensibilities of conscience that make the man.


GDG said (July 24, 2018):

Interesting subject matter today. It breaks my heart that so many people don't know that reading the New Testament will address and answer many of the sources of angst in their lives.

For example, John 3:18 says, "He that believeth in him (Jesus) is not condemned: but he that believeth NOT is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name (authority) of the only begotten Son of God."

1John 5: 13, says, "These things have I written unto you that believe in the name of the Son of God; that ye may KNOW that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God."

My appeal to people now (as a Born-Again Christian) is for them to read the Gospel of John and decide for themselves who Jesus is. No arm twisting, no arguing; a simple suggestion.....and then I begin to pray for them.

Paul said "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling", meaning the stakes are high. It's not easy, but it can change your eternal destiny.

Thanks Henry, you have a real knack for placing a stone in my shoe, and for that I am grateful. We have been trained to consume; not ponder, evaluate, and act. I appreciate when your writing (or others thoughtful comments) rattle my cage.


Brett said (July 24, 2018):

Ecc 7:16

Be not righteous over much; neither make thyself over wise: why shouldest thou destroy thyself? 7:17Be not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish: why shouldest thou die before thy time? 7:18It is good that thou shouldest take hold of this; yea, also from this withdraw not thine hand: for he that feareth God shall come forth of them all


RL said (July 24, 2018):

Selling your soul takes a bit more effort than stealing.
According to the real Law, the penalty for stealing is to pay back double or to work it off. The Natural Law applies to how you act towards private Law abiding neighbors and other individuals.

Now, if you steal from a corporation, government or any other artificial entity, I don't consider it stealing(not sure how God sees it). The reason for this is because groups are not subject or obey the real Law. Groups create and impose their own laws (which is slavery and perversion) and unnatural, inhuman lifestyles on private persons. Groups steal freedom and souls. Communism and Islam are perfect end results of hive mentality. Jesus came to destroy all carnal groups.


Anon said (July 24, 2018):

I understand how one can be deceived into thinking one sells "his or her soul" - but Satan - is the great deceiver - and the Father of all lies.


G said (July 24, 2018):

Who hasn't been in your underpricing dilemma? I bet 90% would take the bargain and not bat an eye; some might even justify it as a gift from God. Could it be the inventor of Scruples has become overly scrupulous?

Is not the soul eminently larger than any consequence of poor judgment or mini mistake?

It would seem to me that the selling of the soul would have to be the equivalent of that which cannot be forgiven. That which has eternal repercussions. A separating from God, so to speak, something that some may actually deem impossible.

And perhaps, EVERYTHING is, in fact, forgivable, and no matter what, THE SOUL CANNOT BE SOLD. In the shaving off of the corners of integrity, the shaver does not sell his soul, he sells himself out to himself.


Dan A said (July 24, 2018):

I've not sold my soul yet. I spend little time thinking about sex or money. Instead I think about such things as time displacement.

A guy named Emerson lives with me now here in Lincoln. Emerson was my neighbor when I lived in Omaha, and he is a veteran like me. Emerson smokes meth all the time, and he is a 63 year old black guy. I spend my days and nights keeping an eye out for this friend. He will never stop smoking meth, so I always encourage him to do such things as sleep. It's difficult to sleep if you smoke meth all the time.

This is how I live my life. I care for others in some way. And this I believe is a good way to live.


Jeannie said (July 24, 2018):

Thank for the work you do on your site. It's serendipitous that I went to your site today and read the article about selling your soul for $20. I have a choice myself. I use Airbnb to make my bread and butter at age 70. It has come to my attention that Airbnb makes profits on the settlement bookings in occupied Palestine. It's very convenient and the income, steady for me. I rationalize that supporting BDS by withdrawing my business from Airbnb is an insignificant leak in their bucket. But your article puts the responsibility for supporting a lie in my soul. I think I know the answer. There is no rationalizing evil, even though Airbnb does for profit. I guess I do too. What do you think?

--

Jeannie

I don't boycott companies where the boycott harms me more than company unless those companies are slaughtering children.

stick with Airbnb

h


Essel said (July 24, 2018):

EXCELLENT ARTICLE, but incomplete ...

ALL men are sinners. If Jesus reopened the gates of Heaven with his Incarnation and his Cross, He did not for all that remove the consequences of original sin, including suffering, the need and hardship of work, even death, and, there is our subject, the fact that we are constantly subjected to the temptation wrought by the devil within limits that make these temptations not invincible.

Alas, our tendency to concupiscence, which is still there too (it's part of the punishment !), We often give in to temptation when we could have resisted. We then fall into sin, which, if it is grave ("mortal"), closes again the doors of Heaven ... unless we ask forgiveness from the Lord. This is the purpose of the sacrament of confession (or "of penance"). Only those who have never been to it can say that "it's too easy"…

It is often difficult, but a real joy fills the heart after one has received the absolution.

The existence of this sacrament is a logical necessity of the economy of salvation. Like what the Church is perfectly coherent and wants only the good of the men.

One last remark. Vatican II operated, especially through praxis, the complete reversal of the doctrine and especially instilled in the faithful implicit "dogma" of the universal salvation, so the uselessness of the confession of sins, which do not exist more (except do not vote socialist or communist!).

Those who saw the deception but followed (it is easier to get off than to go up), also gave in to temptation. They sold themselves to the devil so as not to be ostracized, preferring men (ie the false Hierarchy occupying the Church) to God.


JG said (July 24, 2018):

So many people of the "free world" today are so laden with sin that a lot of them can no longer distinguish between what is moral and what is immoral.
Today, Hollywood and the MSM have turned the once Christian culture upside down. It wasn't perfect but at least people knew right from wrong.

Under our new Marxist culture, nothing is sacred but "political correctness" with money being the cure for all happiness and problems. Marxism is paganism and idolatry.

Money, sex, and drugs feed the flesh but it doesn't feed the soul. You can't buy salvation or peace with God.


Mary H said (July 24, 2018):

Read your article about ‘selling your soul for $20’ and wanted to tell you that I had a similar dilemma at toys r us. I was buying some toys for my boys and the cashier failed to include a $35 toy in the total. I wanted to be honest so I mentioned her mistake so she could correct it. She pretended she didn’t hear me and did not include the $35 toy in the total price. I think it could have been because she feared other coworkers would hear about her mistake and have her fired.

Sometimes, employees don’t want customers to call them out on mistakes because they could lose their jobs. So, be honest and see if that changes the outcome.

My $0.02.


Henry Makow received his Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Toronto in 1982. He welcomes your comments at