Christian Economics: Student Edition
[Updated: 7/16/18]
Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye (Matthew 7:3--5).
There is an innate desire in covenant-breaking people to avoid additional responsibility. Adam blamed Eve. Eve blamed the serpent. It's not my fault. It's someone else's fault. Yet at the same time, people want the blessings that always accompany responsibility. They want these blessings at zero cost or at least a steep discount.
I am a great believer in taking on additional responsibility. Taking on additional responsibility is an inescapable aspect of exercising dominion. I also take this attitude: as long as you are willing to take on additional responsibility, you might as well welcome the accompanying blessings. Use a share of these blessings as consumption items. But be sure to tithe, be sure to exercise charity, and be sure to save. I agree with John Wesley in Sermon 50 (1760): The Use of Money. He said this: gain all you can, save all you can, and give all you can. But notice carefully: it takes additional responsibility to accomplish each of these goals.
We are not judicially responsible to God or man in those areas of life in which we have neither influence nor power. This is why everyone needs to take a careful inventory of those areas of life in which he has influence and power.
You are under the terms of four covenants: individual, family, church, and state. Only in rare cases are individuals outside of a family covenant: unmarried orphans. I assume that this is not you. I begin this section of this book with a discussion of the individual covenant. This is where you have the greatest responsibility. You know more about you than any other human being does. Where there is greater knowledge, there is greater responsibility (Luke 12:47--48).
You see yourself as a Christian. If you are a Christian, you have been baptized: an oath-sign. You have confirmed your judicial position covenantally, or else your parents did this on your behalf. You are therefore under the laws of the individual covenant. You are also under these laws' sanctions. Furthermore, you take the Lord's Supper: an oath-sign. Each Lord's Supper renews your covenant. There is no escape. You are trapped. But you were also trapped under Adam's covenant. We cannot escape from a personal covenant: either Adam's or Christ's. Christ's is better.
Point one of the biblical covenant is God's transcendence, but also His presence. It asks: "Who's in charge here?" How does this apply to your economic affairs?
Every covenant has a sovereign. God is sovereign. There is no other. And God spoke all these words, saying, 'I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me' (Exodus 20:1--3). God requires everyone to make this confession in history. Most people refuse. You have already confessed this publicly and judicially: baptism and communion. You must now think through every aspect of your life in terms of this confession. This includes economics.
God is sovereign over all economics. He is in control. This means that everyone must search the Bible to find out what God requires. Few people ever do this. I have. It took from 1960 until 2017. I wrote 35 volumes of books as a preliminary exercise: homework.
Because God is sovereign, we can safely trust His revealed word for information. We must never trust our interpretations unconditionally, but we can safely trust the Bible. The Bible represents God: point two of the biblical covenant. The Bible therefore possesses supreme authority in history: point two.
Point two of the biblical covenant is hierarchical authority. It asks: “To whom do I report?” How does this apply to your economic affairs?
You represent God in everything you do. Therefore, God’s public reputation is at stake. Covenant-breakers are ready to show contempt for God by way of showing contempt for you. Do not give them any opportunity by providing good cause for their scorn. Jesus provided the model in his representation of God the Father (John 14:8–9).
The strategy of dominion is service. This makes it more difficult for critics to criticize God by criticizing you. If you care for the weak and give to the poor, you will gain support, sometimes grudging. Grudging support is still support.
Power and influence flow to those who exercise responsibility. Most people prefer to limit their exposure to uncertainty. They prefer avoiding the limelight whenever public failure is a possibility. They want to avoid failure, but especially public failure. They fear the public’s imputation: “Loser!” They ignore God’s imputation: “Courageous!” God’s imputation is not yet public. So, they do not take responsibility when it is available. Yet there can be no organization or society that is not exposed to the uncertainties of life. So, there will always be opportunities to bear responsibility. Who will take charge? Covenant-keepers or covenant-breakers?
It is best to begin taking low-level responsibility is one organization you belong to. Start small. Be there at every meeting. Get there early to set up chairs. Stay late to help clean up. Do not show signs of wanting power. Just be a dutiful servant. There are not many of them. Word will get out. Then, if a new level of responsibility appears, and it is offered to you, accept it. Do a good job. Be predictable. This is a long-term strategy. Be content to do without praise. Most people will never adopt this strategy in any area of life outside of their families.
As you exercise greater responsibility, you will find that you are placed in charge of more capital. This is basic to covenantal cause and effect. The tools that you need to fulfill your tasks will be provided, possibly in unusual ways. When you see this pattern, make further use of it. Keep a diary of these occurrences. One of the best examples in history was the Christian orphanage run by George Müller in Great Britain in the second half of the 19th century. The money always came. A similar ministry was run by Hudson Taylor: China Inland Mission. He was a contemporary of Müller’s.
Continue your upward path to positions of influence, and perhaps even power. Do not grab the robes of authority prematurely. That was Adam’s sin. Here is the model.
Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted (Luke 14:7–11).
Point three of the biblical covenant is ethics. It asks: "What are the rules?" How does this apply to your economic affairs?
The Bible teaches this: You shall not steal (Exodus 20:15). It does not say this: "You shall not steal except by majority vote."
The modern welfare state rests on the second version of the commandment. There are always special-interest groups that seek subsidies from the state. They often justify these subsidies in the name of social justice. These payments are political pay-offs: money for having enough votes to grab it. These handouts are funded by taxation, by government debt, and by central bank monetary inflation. There is no third source.
You must stop asking the government for handouts. Do not vote for them. Do not support political candidates who promise them. Most important, you must stop deceiving yourself. You must stop trying to justify these handouts. You must stop saying to yourself: These are not political handouts. They are owed to me. They are moral obligations on the part of the government. Handouts are what all those other special-interest groups want. I am not like them. I am morally superior. My cause is morally superior to theirs. I deserve the money. So does my cause. No, you aren't morally superior. No, you don't deserve the money. No, your cause doesn't, either.
Stop voting for government handouts of any kind.
If the government plans to pay for a project, evaluate who will pay, and how much. Find out who is behind the group that is promoting the project. Find out how much money specific organizations will receive. Most of all, determine whether the project will help the general public without discrimination. Then determine why the private sector has not already built the project. There has to be a reason. What is it?
Never vote for a bond issue that is not solving a true emergency. If some predictable project is worth doing, the government should have the money saved up to pay for it. Bond issues subsidize governments that refuse to set money aside. Governments ask for loans when they need extra money. They do not plan ahead. This is also what alcoholics do. It is what bums do.
There are private forms of theft. People borrow, but they do not repay. Here is what the psalmist said: The wicked borrows but does not pay back (Psalm 37:21a). This is a widespread sin in Christian circles. If you agree to do something, do it. If you sign a contract, fulfill it.
Point four of the biblical covenant is sanctions. It asks: "What do I get if I obey? Disobey?" How does this apply to your economic affairs?
Abraham paid a tithe to the high priest Melchizedek (Genesis 14:18--20). The Epistle to the Hebrews identifies Jesus Christ as the New Covenant's high priest after the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 7). If you have any doubts about the obligation of the tithe, read Hebrews 7. See how great this man was to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the spoils (v. 4). God therefore requires you to turn over 10% of your net income to your local church. If you are allowed by the civil government to deduct this donation from your gross income, do this. If the government does not allow this, the government is a thief. It steals from God. In this case, you owe the tithe on your after-tax income. Think of this income as the grain left over after the locusts have eaten their fill. You don't owe a tithe on the grain that came up before the locusts arrived.
By paying your tithe to your local congregation, you do the following. First, you acknowledge that God is the source of your money. Second, you acknowledge that God has a legal claim on 10% as a covenantal obligation. Third, you acknowledge that the local congregation represents God covenantally. You are not lawfully in control over where this money goes. God is. He has designated the church: the common storehouse. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need (Malachi 3:11). There is only one designated storehouse. You choose which church to join. That is the limit of your authority to choose where your tithe money goes.
God lets you keep 90% of your earnings. The state will collect a percentage, but the rest is up to you. You are like a salesman who gets a 90% commission. But no salesman ever gets this high a commission. God is generous. He supplied your capital, including your life. Never forget this: grace precedes law.
There are covenant sanctions associated with the tithe. They are positive and negative. This is why we know they are covenantal.
For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, 'How shall we return?' Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, 'How have we robbed you?' In your tithes and contributions. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts. Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts (Malachi 3:6--10).
Pay a tithe. Start today if you have not done so before. Don't pray to God for blessings unless you are ready for added responsibility. You acknowledge this added responsibility when you pay the tithe.
Point five of the biblical covenant is inheritance. It asks: "Does this outfit have a future?" How does this apply to your economic affairs?
You have a moral obligation to leave an inheritance to your covenant-keeping children. There should be no debate over this. A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, but the sinner's wealth is laid up for the righteous (Proverbs 13:22).
To leave an inheritance means that you must save more money than you spend. You must also invest wisely, so as not to lose this money. Every generation owes this to at least two generations down the covenant line: children's children. The best example of obeying this grandfather's law of inheritance in American history is the Tyler family. John Tyler was born in 1790, the first full year of George Washington's presidency. He was elected Vice President in 1840. President Harrison died a month later, so Tyler became the first Vice President to become President. He brought the Republic of Texas into the Union in March 1845. He joined the Confederacy in 1861, the year of his death. His two grandsons were still alive in 2017. I know the older brother, Lyon, who is a member of my daughter's church. Harrison Tyler, the younger brother, lives on the Tyler estate in Virginia. In 2004, he donated $5 million to William and Mary College, where his father had been president from 1888 to 1919. He did so in the memory of his father. These three generations lived in the era in which the entire world was completely changed by economic growth. John Tyler was 13 years old when the first locomotive was invented. He was 17 when the first steamboat was launched.
Even more important than money as a legacy is a Christian education. Parents should be sure that their children know the difference between secular humanism and Christianity. This is especially true in the debate over creationism vs. Darwinian evolution. Children should understand that the two worldviews are not compatible. The tax-funded public schools teach evolutionism. In the United States, teaching any view other than evolutionism is prohibited by law.
Each individual is responsible before God to bring his thoughts and deeds into conformity to biblical law. This includes economics.
Each individual is also required to think through the presuppositions and implications of whatever he has been taught about how the world works. If he has been taught by evolutionists, he has a lot of re-thinking to do.
This book is my attempt to think through economics from a creationist, providentialist, anti-evolution mindset. Evolutionists have discovered accurate facts about how the world works. They have offered theories of how the world works that are compatible with what Christianity teaches. "You shall not steal means" much the same for a free market humanist as it does--or should--to a Christian. But when it comes to explaining why we should not steal, and what we risk if we do steal, the humanist economist and the Christian economist do not agree. When Adam Smith wrote about the invisible hand, he did not have in mind this invisible hand: "Stretch out your hand from on high; rescue me and deliver me from the many waters, from the hand of foreigners, whose mouths speak lies and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood" (Psalm 144:7-8).
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