Christian debt
A person's faith has a huge influence on their lifestyle. Most faiths provide guidelines and rules by which followers of that faith, model their behavior and actions. Following these set rules regarding money and debt are not always easy or even practical in this day and age. One approach to the question of money and faith is that we all need money – like it or loathe it; it is part and parcel of our daily lives. But money should be our servant for good and not our god.
It is a lot more common today that, globally, responsible questions about money, such as 'how much do I really need' or 'how much is enough for a given purpose', are disappearing from view. We simply strive to get more money. We are forever looking at ways to make more for things that we, very often, do not need. It does not help that we have such easy access to credit. We can buy what we do not need now! We have fallen completely into the materialistic trap. The variety of sayings and warnings about money in the Gospel provides a mirror for the variety of ways in which money can prove a distraction or an insidious trap.
Think about it; we spend less than one hour a week in religious or spiritual time and more than five hours shopping. American children now spend more than 40 hours a week engaged in media, while meaningful conversations with parents total less than 40 minutes.
Driving debt deeper are financial institutions, leading people into borrowing more money than they can afford to repay. Household savings rates drop below zero, and more than 60 percent of people fall into long-term debt on credit cards.
This behavior has a global impact; us funding our lifestyles with debt have become the example for people in many other countries – including developing third world countries. Debt in America has become a global trend, making inequalities worse, undermining the world's environmental resources, and generally making the world a poorer, more polluted place. Do you want to contribute to this ever-increasing spiral of debt and plunder?
The first practical step that we can take to free ourselves from debt and easy money is, not to turn away from it, but to take it more seriously, to ask for help from fellow believers to lift the debt burden. Just as there are support groups and services for vices such as gambling, alcoholism and drugs, there are debt advice and support services and agencies. More to the point, Christians can get help from Christian debt services and agencies.
For more information on Christian Debt click here.
