Stewardship extends far beyond knowing how to spend your money wisely and how one can best care for the earth. Being a Christian steward, and thus having stewardship, allows Christians and those alike to make life choices that advance His kingdom and live into what He has entrusted His followers to. Economics is one of the first things people start to study in order to fix this fiscally and environmentally broken world. George Monsma asserts that stewardship is the foundation of economic life, and it is because of this, people need to use their resources not only for the benefit of themselves, but those in need.
Stewardship plays a critical role in allowing ourself to let go of one’s own financial worries and strive for economic justice. There are many times where I find myself seeking more and more money all for the pursuit of comfort. It
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However, Monsma discusses in his article that if people are fully devoted to being a steward of economic judgement, we must strive to “provide all with access to the basic necessities for life in that society, and must provide all with opportunities for producing for their own needs in a context which gives them control over their own labor and a portion of the other resources of society.” No one in this world deserves to be left in the dust and fend for themselves if that seems to be their only option. As stewards we should strive to have “no poor among you (for the Lord will bless you in the land which the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance to possess), if only you will obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all this commandment which I command you this day” (Deut. 15:4-5). People that have been blessed with access to many resources need to trust God that by using them for the greater good, it will lead the world closer to economic
Peter Singer a philosopher and professor at Princeton University who wrote the essay titled “Famine, Affluence, and Morality”, where he argues that wealthy people have a moral obligation to help provide to developing nation’s resources that would increase their standard of living and decrease death due to starvation, exposure, and preventable sicknesses. John Arthur’s essay argues that Singer says that all affluent people have a moral obligation to give their money to poor people to the extent that the wealthy person would be on the same level as the poor person, poor people have no positive right to our assistance, and wealthy people have a negative right to their property, which weighs against their obligation.
...with the person that refused to use his labor. The appearance of money played an important role in the mankind's evolution. Money, in some ways, inspired men to work harder and harder to claim and enlarge his wealth then one's labor would incite others contribution to the nonstop progression and development of human beings. That one's wealth is estimated upon the combination of their mind and labor, diligence and creativeness, bravery and desires .... has become the formula for our success in this competitive world. Definitely, the inequalities of wealth are natural and inevitable.
"God helps those who help themselves, it is said, with fingers pointing at a self-made man who has attained wealth and position, forgetting that thousands of others labor and starve, day in and day out, without ever improving their material lot (57)."
Richard’s purpose is to remind Christians about the importance of loving neighbor and to teach how Christians can help the poor with their hearts and minds. He relates an important commandment in the Bible, “Love your neighbor,” with the economics by using the concept of “consequence of action.” He promotes the Christians to live a life which God is expecting for them to live by learning about the economics. He wants the Christians to stop justifying ourselves that we love each other when we are not, and he wants us to truly understand God’s intention of putting “love your neighbor” as one of the important commandments. As we study economics, it is important to understand that we should not focus on worldly issues and that we should not forget about God’s commandments. Moreover, this article teaches the Christians that we don’t need to be afraid to study economics because we can use the economics to obey God’s
Furthermore, Pope Francis believes that the insatiable lust for money is the root cause of the gap between the the rich and poor. He believes that the greed of the affluent has caused many of the global crises we face today. It undeniable that we as a people have begun to worship false gods;money. Francis calls this“the idolatry of money”. He stated that the “thirst for power and possessions” corrupts people from treating others fairly. Unless equal opportunities are provided to the poor, conflict will eventually breakout because inequality provokes violence.
Henry Hazlitt states, “The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups” (Hazlitt, 1979, p. 17). Leviticus 19:35-37 compels, “You shall do no wrong in judgment, in measurement of weight, or capacity. You shall have just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt. You shall thus observe all My statutes, and all My ordinances, and do them: I am the Lord.” According to Proverbs 22:7, people will always be slaves to the lender as demonstrated by the Federal Reserve System violating Biblical values in economic
The story from the Bible is not intended to persuade people to stay poor but to uphold the loyalty to God. (The Straight Dope) However, it can be reflected in a different perspective that the reluctance to give up the great possessions exist from the early history of human and all wealth except for labor-made possession is kind of theft because it more or less deprive manual workers of labor and free time which can be used to produce wealth. Moreover, the distribution of wealth is unfair from the emergency of surplus property. Therefore, there is an assumption that property is a kind of theft. (Proudhon, 1840)
Robert Heilbroner (1996, 11-13), in Teachings, drew upon the insights of Thomas Aquinas who had attempted to provide room for capital accumulation and economic activity beyond the “stringent” moral requirements of Aristotle. In what was known as “the commercial revolution,” an economic ideology known as “mercantilism” dominated the minds of the foremost economic thinkers. According to Heilbroner (1996, 17-18) the system of serfdom and feudalism had eroded behooving society to come up with a new way to structure its economic activity around a labor force that now had more opportunity than in the past. This new market, and with it a newly kindled desire for accumulation, ran in opposition to the Christian values of the time, something that Aquinas (Heilbroner, 1996, 12-13) attempted to address in the Summa Theoligica [1485]. This began a long and rich tradition of economic thinkers attempting to “make peace” with the seemingly amoral activities of an emerging merchant class and the inequities that occur as a result of an evolving market based system; furthermore, this debate continues into the 21st century, and could be seen as the most integral question that faces
The stronger will do anything in their power to make a profit, leaving the weak with nothing. Kuyper says, “…the more powerful exploited the weaker by means of a weapon against which there was no defense” (Kuyper, Abraham, and James W. Skillen 26). Additionally, he states that “…the idolization of money killed the nobility in the human heart” (Kuyper, Abraham, and James W. Skillen 31). Kuyper talks about how Jesus felt bad for the rich and sided with the poor (Kuyper, Abraham, and James W. Skillen 32). Matthew 6:19-21 says, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Earthly materials mean nothing because the real treasure awaits in
Christians consequently share a close relationship by means of the whole of aspects of creation, since in relation to the environment, its unbroken humanity, not unbroken nature, that's seen to be the problem. Stewardship in simple terms means managing someone else’s property. Christians proclaim that everything belongs to God, so as Christians, we need to have the attitude that our belongings are his belongings. As stewards, we have the responsibility of being in charge of the earth. We have been placed in charge and are responsible for whatever happens to it, even though it does not belong to us, as we all know it belongs to God.
As the old saying goes, money is power. As the statistics show, some people have an insane amount of money, yet their fellow countrymen have close to nothing. In a struggling economy, unfair distribution of wealth can create real problems and unimaginable hardships for some people. For example, millions of people pay $2 for a bottle of designer water, while millions more live on less than $2 a day. If this is to one day change, wealthy people must adopt a much more magnanimous conviction towards their money.
In today’s society, Christianity is plagued with many disagreements about how to deal with current issues in society. These problems arise from the fact that Christians have the same fundamental beliefs, but they often disagree on the details. This is the reason why there is a panoply of denominations in the Christian faith. The way that many of the factions in Christianity interpret the word of God can be categorized into different styles of gospel, such as evangelicalism and fundamentalism. One such category that is beginning to gain popularity in today’s society, often taught in megachurches, is Prosperity Gospel. Prosperity Gospel, also called the “Health and Wealth Gospel” by Scot McKnight’s internet article “The Problem for the Prosperity Gospel,” is the belief that if humans adhere to God’s will, then He will in turn bless them with prosperous lives (McKnight). This prosperity often comes in the form of health and wealth according to many megachurches that preach this gospel. In times of economic strife, the prosperity gospel offers comfort in the hopes of having a prosperous future. It is also suspected that Prosperity Gospel has also become an outlet for the people who have a considerable amount of money as a means to justify their wealth. Whatever the reason for believing this gospel, it is important to remember that Prosperity Gospel is just one of the many ways that we can interpret the teachings of the Bible.
The resources I am referring to here are those that are needed for a person to escape poverty and earn a higher income. This includes merit and public goods that individuals with higher incomes can afford and indulge themselves in while people with lower incomes or suffering from poverty depend on some endowment from the state, such as healthcare, education, and access to employment opportunities and professional networks. It is important to a society that we take care of these market failures to not only help decrease income inequality...
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8 NIV) At the time of Amos the poor were being oppressed by the wealthy, and God used Amos to scold Israel for their lack of justice, towards the poor. “Therefore because you trample on the poor and take from them levies of grain, you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not live in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine. “ (Amos 5:11) According to Hindson and Yates “at a social level Israel’s accumulation of wealth led to a wide disparity between the upper and lower class, and a climate of injustice prevailed as the power of the rich began to take advantage of the poor.” (p.370) Justice was something of utmost importance to God; he created all people to be treated fairly. To exploit the poor and to treat them unjustly was something God was not going to allow the wealthy and powerful to
Have you ever wonder what can you do about the bottles and cans you find around you? People that doesn?t care about the world being clean is littering the place. It makes things very difficult to put up for. Recycling cans and bottles can help save the earth form waste and trash buildup and can make new things. I think that recycling should be mandatory and there should be recycling cans in various locations at school and everywhere else.