Fundamental problem is that most American Christians think in hermetically sealed compartments. There is God’s pigeonhole and the world’s pigeonhole, and never the twain shall meet. In their minds they have nothing to do with each other and never touch.
The missing bridge between Christianity and the world—including investing—is ethics, the application of God’s law to our behavior. This requires the ability to think, because God gives not a multitude of detailed rules, but only ten general ones, yet these embody all his holiness and righteousness, and to transgress them or not to conform ourselves to them, is to sin. Therefore I cannot invest or do anything else without asking, “What does God’s law require of me in this situation, both to avoid transgressing and to conform me to the image of Jesus Christ? How do I obey God in this?” I personally believe the angels watch our mental and moral struggle here, and rejoice and praise God to see the Holy Ghost leading us to the righteous decision, which fills out the sufferings of Christ in this world and extends his victory.
This reaches far deeper than what people call “ethical” or “socially responsible” investing, which is usually no more than self-righteous posturing about not buying shares of companies who cheat coffee-growing natives in Swaziland or of companies that sell tobacco products or fail to put a female director on their board. They observe outward, pettifogging, sterile rules without inward, productive ethics.
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Thanks for this article. I wish you would expound a bit more. The truth is that a Sunday Christian must be a weekday Christian in all aspects of life, including business.
Thanks again,
Jim Dahl
Yes, unless we remember that we live our Iives in His face 24/7 we are only deceiving ourselves. God cannot be mocked. There is no sum of money, nor moment of fame or business deal that is worth missing the mark.
One of the reasons there is this divide between what some would label “the things of God” and “the things of the world” is that virtually no clergy teach their congregants The Book Of Proverbs, the only book most specifically addressed to the subject of wisdom. This really hasn’t been done since the end of the First Century. That’s why both the church- rife with denominational divisions- and society are in the mess they’re in.That’s why good, honest Christians still don’t know how to think the way God would have them think (see Philippians 4:6-9. God had Solomon write in Proverbs: “Get wisdom, get understanding; with all your getting, get it. Can He get it any plainer than that?
Excellent points, thank you. Here is one of the best series on the book of Proverbs that I have come across: http://www.cmfnow.com/thebookofproverbsinaflash.aspx