Saturday, May 07, 2005

Capitalism

Last night, I had dinner (or supper) with an old friend who many of you know, Darel Canup : )

We met at O'Charley's in Salisbury and as usual, had some very insightful topics. If you've ever seen the ESPN show, PTI, sometimes that's what it is like. The topics can range from, usually sports and his sorry teams : Tar Holes and the Dolphins. What a LOSER!!! to religion, politics, etc.

Last night, we got discussing the current state of gas prices. I was complaining, of course, that the oil companies are in cohoots to keep prices high and to continue to have record breaking profits, as they are having right now. Oil prices have dropped under $50.00 a barrel, but the cost at the pump has only come down, like 4 cents. He, of course, was taking the side and begin to espouse the "gospel of capitalism".

Now, dont get me wrong, I'm not saying that capitalism is not a good system, but I find it funny how some people think that Capitalism was given to Moses on Mt. Sinai. Rush Limbaugh, Most Republicans, and Darel Canup :) sometimes act as if Capitalism is from God and I was thinking about what does the Bible say about economic systems.

I know in the Old Testament, there was the year of Jubilee where all debt was canceled and slaves were free. It was a time to "start over" and was a demonstration of God's forgiveness to us. I know that our "Capitalist" system would definitely not be in favor of this. Banks would oppose it, and we just pass a law to make it more difficult for people to declare bankruptcy.

The early church was seen as a group who share all they had. You find that in Acts as the church is starting out. It seemed that there was not a "make as much money as I can" philosophy, but to do what was good for everyone.

Jesus taught a few parables that taught us to be good stewards of what the Lord has given us and to help the poor, widows, orphans, etc.

I dont think that the Bible really teaches either capitalism, communism, socialism, etc. but it clearly teaches us to be people who are forgiving of others (debts, sins, etc.), so share and help with our Christian brothers and sisters, and to be good stewards.

What do you think???
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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jesus taught a few parables that taught us to be good stewards of what the Lord has given us and to help the poor, widows, orphans, etc

Right, it is OUR job to do these things, NOT the government. It is each individuals responiblity to see that this is done.

Also, there are many examples of rich Godly men in the Bible. Job was one of the richest men in his time, and Solomen was the richest man in the world. David had extreme wealth and many many others did as well. It is not wrong to work for what you have. Socializm, or the redistribution of funds, encourages people to depend on the government and do less for themselves.

4:07 AM
Anonymous said...

I have to agree with anonymous. While the Bible doesn't command a certain economic plan for the world, it does give some very certain guidlines.

The early believers "had all things in common" for the benefit of the church, not the entire community. And the Lord struck down the couple who lied to Paul about how much of their money they had given to the church.

The "Year of Jubilee" is a great guidline for two reasons. #1) If you never buy anything you can can't pay for in seven years, you will be set in just 21 years. Think about it, buy a small house and pay for it in seven years. Sell it and buy a bigger one or rent it and buy another your can pay for in seven years. Buy and even bigger house or rent the second and buy another small house to live and the rent money from the first two will pay for your current house, pad your bank account and fund you retirement.

#2 Buy forgiving all debrs every seven years, no one person was able to rise above everyone else financially. Yes they were rich and had lots of stuff, but not at the expence of other's poverty. Basically there were no slum lords or people of that nature.

11:41 PM
Scott said...

I agree with most of your post. I do think the year of jubilee was actually every 50 years, not every seven years. People would spend way to much if it was that close together. Of course, if you did not live near the time of the "Jubilee", you were also out of luck :(

You make a good point on the "having all things in common" was a church idea, more than the Roman economic system. Good insight!!!

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