Biblical Economics

From John MacArthur Jr.:
"I want to talk to you a little bit, kind of like a family talk. This is not really a sermon, I wouldn't call it a sermon because I'm not even sure what I'm going to say myself. So I have a lot more things to say than I will have time to say and I don't want to drag it out, but I want to try to help you have a bit of a biblical perspective on the situation as we face it in our world and in our country today. I want to talk about biblical economics. Everybody is highly aware of the mega-shift in economics, mega-shift in finance. We're all very much aware of rising unemployment, people losing their jobs. Very much aware of the fact that taxes keep going up, that the government is passing more and more bills, more and more legislation that is essentially going to reallocate wealth from people who have it ostensibly to the people who don't have it, shifting economic situations are well, well known to all of us.

My intention is not to talk about the politics of any of that. My intention is simply to talk about how we respond biblically to what is going on. A few things to say at the very beginning. Whatever happens economically in the United States has no direct effect on the church...it has no direct effect on the church. The church exists as a completely independent organism. The Kingdom of Christ has no connection to the kingdoms of this world. It doesn't matter whether you're in a capitalistic culture or an absolutely communistic culture. It doesn't matter whether you're in a monarchy or whether you're in anarchy. What happens in the world, what happens politically, what happens economically in the world neither retards or expedites the development of the church. The Kingdom of God works by power that is transcendent to the world. It operates under the divine purpose and the divine hand and is not subject to the whimsies and the shifting changes in human cultures from nation to nation which exists, that form of government, that form of economics, that social structure has no direct impact on the church".

"Stimulus"?

Christian Views of the Economic Crisis

Justin Taylor @ http://theologica.blogspot.com provides excellent summaries of the observations on the current economic crisis. He notes an excellent commentary here by Al Mohler--who gives us an Economics 101 lesson along the way.

Conclusion:

Today's crisis in the financial system should not be a threat to the long-term health and vitality of our economic system. There is cause for concern, but no justification for panic. Rather than hit the panic button, spend that energy thinking about how Christians should glorify God in our economic lives. We should watch the developments and debates in Washington and New York with interest, but we should investigate our own hearts with even greater urgency.

Read the whole thing.

See also this article in World Magazine by Timothy Lamer who gives an Anatomy of a Crisis: How Washington and Wall Street Got into Trouble. After explaining the six steps that led to this situation, Lamer writes:

The fundamental dynamic is this: Washington and Wall Street helped people buy houses they could not afford on such a massive scale that simply letting the lenders and debtors take their lumps would arguably do grave harm to the economy. They will take some lumps (Wall Street isn't exactly a hot job market right now), but most of the losses will be "socialized," or spread out among everyone who pays taxes. This includes those who exercised restraint during the bubble. That's how it is.

What The Bible Says About the Economic Crisis

Chuch Colson from "BreakPoint" notes that much of the financial crisis we are facing stems from moral failure—moral failure on the part of greedy Wall Street speculators, and moral failure on the part of ordinary Americans who bit off more mortgage than they could chew. And all of that is true.

But there is another cause of this crisis that we cannot ignore: the near-incestuous relationship between politicians and big-time government-supported financial institutions.

The campaign financing changes introduced in Canada by the Conservative government, after the past incestuous finance programs, like the Liberal Sponsorship Scandal, HRDC kickbacks etc, have averted much of this cross border failure.

Lest we become too comfortable with ourselves in Canada, iMonk @ http://www.internetmonk.com has an interesting perspective on the current economic crisis. What does the Bible say about our current financial crisis? Evangelicals who want to know how to pray for our economy and its leaders deserve to hear the Bible’s message for these financial times.

Revelation 18

18:1 After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was made bright with his glory. 2 And he called out with a mighty voice,

“Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!
She has become a dwelling place for demons,
a haunt for every unclean spirit,
a haunt for every unclean bird,
a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast.
3 For all nations have drunk [1]
the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality,
and the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her,
and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living.”

4 Then I heard another voice from heaven saying,

“Come out of her, my people,
lest you take part in her sins,
lest you share in her plagues;
5 for her sins are heaped high as heaven,
and God has remembered her iniquities.
6 Pay her back as she herself has paid back others,
and repay her double for her deeds;
mix a double portion for her in the cup she mixed.
7 As she glorified herself and lived in luxury,
so give her a like measure of torment and mourning,
since in her heart she says,
‘I sit as a queen,
I am no widow,
and mourning I shall never see.’
8 For this reason her plagues will come in a single day,
death and mourning and famine,
and she will be burned up with fire;
for mighty is the Lord God who has judged her.”

9 And the kings of the earth, who committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her, will weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning. 10 They will stand far off, in fear of her torment, and say,

“Alas! Alas! You great city,
you mighty city, Babylon!
For in a single hour your judgment has come.”

11 And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her, since no one buys their cargo anymore, 12 cargo of gold, silver, jewels, pearls, fine linen, purple cloth, silk, scarlet cloth, all kinds of scented wood, all kinds of articles of ivory, all kinds of articles of costly wood, bronze, iron and marble, 13 cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and slaves, that is, human souls. [2]

14 “The fruit for which your soul longed
has gone from you,
and all your delicacies and your splendors
are lost to you,
never to be found again!”

15 The merchants of these wares, who gained wealth from her, will stand far off, in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning aloud,

16 “Alas, alas, for the great city
that was clothed in fine linen,
in purple and scarlet,
adorned with gold,
with jewels, and with pearls!
17 For in a single hour all this wealth has been laid waste.”

And all shipmasters and seafaring men, sailors and all whose trade is on the sea, stood far off 18 and cried out as they saw the smoke of her burning,

“What city was like the great city?”

19 And they threw dust on their heads as they wept and mourned, crying out,

“Alas, alas, for the great city
where all who had ships at sea
grew rich by her wealth!
For in a single hour she has been laid waste.
20 Rejoice over her, O heaven,
and you saints and apostles and prophets,
for God has given judgment for you against her!”

21 Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying,

“So will Babylon the great city be thrown down with violence,
and will be found no more;
22 and the sound of harpists and musicians, of flute players and trumpeters,
will be heard in you no more,
and a craftsman of any craft
will be found in you no more,
and the sound of the mill
will be heard in you no more,
23 and the light of a lamp
will shine in you no more,
and the voice of bridegroom and bride
will be heard in you no more,
for your merchants were the great ones of the earth,
and all nations were deceived by your sorcery.
24 And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints,
and of all who have been slain on earth.”

Economics Recap

Earlier we saw Gene Veith, who points to a good lesson in economics:

Tortilla prices have doubled in Mexico, causing Mexico's legions of poor people, who depend on tortillas as a major staple of their diet, to riot, destablize the government, and, one suspects, motivating more of them to illegally immigrate to the United States. Why are tortilla prices soaring? Because of the push in the U.S. to replace gasoline with ethanol. The demand for ethanol, subsidized by the government at the rate of some 50 cents per gallon, has sent corn prices to the moon. This pleases the farm belt, of course, but the high corn prices are not only impacting tortillas, they will soon show up in higher meat prices. The tangled web of unintended consequences. . . .

Henry Hazlitt said it best in Economics In One Lesson:

"The bad economist sees only what immediately strikes the eye; the good economist also looks beyond. The bad economist sees only the direct consequences of a proposed course; the good economist looks also at the longer and indirect consequences. The bad economist sees only what the effect of a given policy has been or will be on one particular group; the good economist inquires also what the effect of the policy will be on all groups."

"The whole of economics can be reduced to a single lesson, and that lesson can be reduced to a single sentence. The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or public policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups."

Another application of Hazlitt's principle is the enthusiasm for an increase in the minimum wage (recently passed), despite the fact that it increases unemployment. Sound economic principles are often counterintuitive and unpopular because they require taking into account long-term consequences.