Some thoughts on debt
One of the greatest challenges that I think we face as believers is figuring out to glorify God through the manner in which we govern our finances. In order to glorify God, we must understand that we must obey Him. God has actually had quite a lot to say about the subject of money, but unfortunately, we are more prone to govern our life by our understanding of the Wall Street Journal than through our knowledge of the Scriptures.
There are a lot of tough passages to weigh out as we consider our approach to money. They are perhaps not so tough to understand, but difficult indeed to properly apply.
“The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.”
We know that we humans are impressed with the things that glitters and shine. We also know that is really hard to be content with just food and clothing, unless of course we find ourselves starving and naked. We should understand that money is not intrinsically evil, but rather the love of acquiring it and storing it. We are actually commanded to labor with our hands so that we will have something with which we give. John Piper commented somewhere that an increase in wages had better adjust our style of giving rather than our style of living.
It’s difficult to keep the scales balanced - if we listen specifically to the word of Christ, not weighing them in the context of his message, we might end up as the Thessalonians, not working and not worrying about what we are to wear and what we are to eat. Isn’t Jesus coming back tomorrow?
On the other hand, we could observe Joseph stockpiling the grain for the years of drought and we might consider the ant, as we are commanded, who labors wearily through the heat of summer to provide for their winter’s sustenance and find that we are working 17 hours a day and have stored up great wealth only to discover when we are old and gray that we have wasted our lives accumulating that which moth and rust corrupts.
I am convinced that our country has become enslaved to the gods of Capitalism and Industrialization. We have forgotten how to live frugally and the mountain of debt has grown so large that it is blocking out all but a slight amount of the glory of the sun. I believe the cold nights of winter are quickly approaching. Our gods are about to demand their due - and I fear we will soon learn exactly what it means to be the servants to our lenders.
I have recently read reports that the Bush administration has in the last four years borrowed more from foreign investors than all the preceding presidents combined. Credit card debts are weighing down the average family with a burden over $8500. People are flocking to take advantage of the “sure” investment called inflation and are borrowing money in which they need not pay any of principle. For 85 years or so our government has been creating money out of thin air through fractional reserve banking and it is nice to know that our federal reserve notes have no more intrinsic value than the paper they are printed on. (The new watermarks are pretty cool, though!) It’s to bad we forgot about the old US Coin Act that legislated the amount gold backing the currency and even threatened those who tampered to be guilty of treason and put to death!
In the Old Testament, Israel was forbidden to loan money out at interest to their country men. They were permitted to lend at interest to their enemies, and this was in fact part of their covenantal blessing conditioned upon their obedience. So long as they kept the Word of the Lord, they would be lenders and not borrowers.
David asked the question as to whom would be able to enter into the temple and ascend unto the holy hill and one of the several answers given stated that it was the man who did not put his money out at usury.
Nehemiah was appalled when he came back to Jerusalem to find that some of the wealthier Jews had loan money at usury and he condemned them for it and demanded that it cease and that everything be returned. The interest rate was a meager 1%. 1% or 100%, it didn’t matter, for they were sinning against God.
What principles apply to us today? Surely, the discontinuity between the Old and New Covenants permits us to allow our money to go to work for us! Besides, how would we have ever managed an industrial revolution without the rise of the banking elite? How could we have fared in a capitalistic global economy if we were committed to having as a country an economy that was established upon honest weights and just measures? How could we fair if we actually saw to promote the good of our countrymen rather than to beat them down by loaning our money out to them for gain? Oh, we have gained our nuggets that makes us forget about our taskmaster, but if the banks were to fail tomorrow, what would be the result for most of us?
Historically, the ancient church was strongly opposed to debt and usury. In fact, you can hardly find any admirable thoughts about usury until the end of the middle age and economies were beginning to take root. Luther and Calvin, while opposing lending with interest on some levels, began to embrace that maybe, just maybe, it would be ok for business loans. Christians now had a bit of a foundation. Yes, borrowing and lending seems to be good and necessary for our economies to grow.
Modern day commentators have all bought into the wonderful lie that claims that a debt-based economy is good and necessary. The Old Testament principles are rendered as superfluous, necessary only for those old saints under the Mosaic administration. The golden rule, doing to others what we would have them to do unto us, is now a slippery slope that is difficult to scale and define. I want interest on my money and I’m putting it in the bank! What do I care about the neighbor who borrows it and finds he cannot pay it back and loses all that he has? Tough luck! Or as Judas was told, “What has that to do with us? You see to it!”
What about Romans, the passage that says “owe no man anything, except to love one another?” Again, modern day commentators say that it means nothing about our debt-based economics. We just have to pay our debts - and to love, especially. We can love while ignoring the tremendous bondage that we and our countrymen are shouldering. Older commentators were more grouchy, though, and say that we shouldn’t be in debt at all. But what did they know? They plowed with horses, worked with their hands, learned to enjoy the bounty of the land through their work, got to work with their children, and endured all kinds of other icky, primeval things.
Charles Spurgeon was especially grouchy: "Without debt, without care; out of debt, out of danger; but owing and borrowing are bramble bushes full of thorns. Scripture says, `Owe no man anything,' which does not mean pay your debts, but never have any to pay. My opinion is, that those who break this law ought to be turned out of the Christian church."
(This is from his “John Ploughman’s Talk” which is really a delightful read.)
I am unfortunately in debt, but have recently begun to seriously think about these things. It is not my intent to operate on a slavish fear of what may come to pass for it is not my part to be anxious and desperate, but I do wish to honor God in all that I do, even in how I receive and use money. When our giant industrialized nation crumbles, I doubt seriously that I’ll be able to do much about it, but I do wish to be able to know while I go out to look for a grub to eat that I attempted to glorify God by all that I did - and that I took the time consider His precepts and to live accordingly. I have more questions than answers, but I am glad for the conversations I’ve had with other saints that have at least allowed a breeze to blow off some of the status quo fog that had surround me.
There are a lot of tough passages to weigh out as we consider our approach to money. They are perhaps not so tough to understand, but difficult indeed to properly apply.
“The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.”
We know that we humans are impressed with the things that glitters and shine. We also know that is really hard to be content with just food and clothing, unless of course we find ourselves starving and naked. We should understand that money is not intrinsically evil, but rather the love of acquiring it and storing it. We are actually commanded to labor with our hands so that we will have something with which we give. John Piper commented somewhere that an increase in wages had better adjust our style of giving rather than our style of living.
It’s difficult to keep the scales balanced - if we listen specifically to the word of Christ, not weighing them in the context of his message, we might end up as the Thessalonians, not working and not worrying about what we are to wear and what we are to eat. Isn’t Jesus coming back tomorrow?
On the other hand, we could observe Joseph stockpiling the grain for the years of drought and we might consider the ant, as we are commanded, who labors wearily through the heat of summer to provide for their winter’s sustenance and find that we are working 17 hours a day and have stored up great wealth only to discover when we are old and gray that we have wasted our lives accumulating that which moth and rust corrupts.
I am convinced that our country has become enslaved to the gods of Capitalism and Industrialization. We have forgotten how to live frugally and the mountain of debt has grown so large that it is blocking out all but a slight amount of the glory of the sun. I believe the cold nights of winter are quickly approaching. Our gods are about to demand their due - and I fear we will soon learn exactly what it means to be the servants to our lenders.
I have recently read reports that the Bush administration has in the last four years borrowed more from foreign investors than all the preceding presidents combined. Credit card debts are weighing down the average family with a burden over $8500. People are flocking to take advantage of the “sure” investment called inflation and are borrowing money in which they need not pay any of principle. For 85 years or so our government has been creating money out of thin air through fractional reserve banking and it is nice to know that our federal reserve notes have no more intrinsic value than the paper they are printed on. (The new watermarks are pretty cool, though!) It’s to bad we forgot about the old US Coin Act that legislated the amount gold backing the currency and even threatened those who tampered to be guilty of treason and put to death!
In the Old Testament, Israel was forbidden to loan money out at interest to their country men. They were permitted to lend at interest to their enemies, and this was in fact part of their covenantal blessing conditioned upon their obedience. So long as they kept the Word of the Lord, they would be lenders and not borrowers.
David asked the question as to whom would be able to enter into the temple and ascend unto the holy hill and one of the several answers given stated that it was the man who did not put his money out at usury.
Nehemiah was appalled when he came back to Jerusalem to find that some of the wealthier Jews had loan money at usury and he condemned them for it and demanded that it cease and that everything be returned. The interest rate was a meager 1%. 1% or 100%, it didn’t matter, for they were sinning against God.
What principles apply to us today? Surely, the discontinuity between the Old and New Covenants permits us to allow our money to go to work for us! Besides, how would we have ever managed an industrial revolution without the rise of the banking elite? How could we have fared in a capitalistic global economy if we were committed to having as a country an economy that was established upon honest weights and just measures? How could we fair if we actually saw to promote the good of our countrymen rather than to beat them down by loaning our money out to them for gain? Oh, we have gained our nuggets that makes us forget about our taskmaster, but if the banks were to fail tomorrow, what would be the result for most of us?
Historically, the ancient church was strongly opposed to debt and usury. In fact, you can hardly find any admirable thoughts about usury until the end of the middle age and economies were beginning to take root. Luther and Calvin, while opposing lending with interest on some levels, began to embrace that maybe, just maybe, it would be ok for business loans. Christians now had a bit of a foundation. Yes, borrowing and lending seems to be good and necessary for our economies to grow.
Modern day commentators have all bought into the wonderful lie that claims that a debt-based economy is good and necessary. The Old Testament principles are rendered as superfluous, necessary only for those old saints under the Mosaic administration. The golden rule, doing to others what we would have them to do unto us, is now a slippery slope that is difficult to scale and define. I want interest on my money and I’m putting it in the bank! What do I care about the neighbor who borrows it and finds he cannot pay it back and loses all that he has? Tough luck! Or as Judas was told, “What has that to do with us? You see to it!”
What about Romans, the passage that says “owe no man anything, except to love one another?” Again, modern day commentators say that it means nothing about our debt-based economics. We just have to pay our debts - and to love, especially. We can love while ignoring the tremendous bondage that we and our countrymen are shouldering. Older commentators were more grouchy, though, and say that we shouldn’t be in debt at all. But what did they know? They plowed with horses, worked with their hands, learned to enjoy the bounty of the land through their work, got to work with their children, and endured all kinds of other icky, primeval things.
Charles Spurgeon was especially grouchy: "Without debt, without care; out of debt, out of danger; but owing and borrowing are bramble bushes full of thorns. Scripture says, `Owe no man anything,' which does not mean pay your debts, but never have any to pay. My opinion is, that those who break this law ought to be turned out of the Christian church."
(This is from his “John Ploughman’s Talk” which is really a delightful read.)
I am unfortunately in debt, but have recently begun to seriously think about these things. It is not my intent to operate on a slavish fear of what may come to pass for it is not my part to be anxious and desperate, but I do wish to honor God in all that I do, even in how I receive and use money. When our giant industrialized nation crumbles, I doubt seriously that I’ll be able to do much about it, but I do wish to be able to know while I go out to look for a grub to eat that I attempted to glorify God by all that I did - and that I took the time consider His precepts and to live accordingly. I have more questions than answers, but I am glad for the conversations I’ve had with other saints that have at least allowed a breeze to blow off some of the status quo fog that had surround me.
posted by bob | 5:14 PM
1 Comments:
Amen Bob. It's very good for us to not live on debt. May God teach us his ways.
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