Christians could cause an economic crises
Here is an exchange James and I had through facebook. And I gleaned an interesting thought from it…
If the economy goes into a recession because of citizens not consuming, then I wonder if Christians gave more of the their money away to those in need and consumed significantly less, would we actually cause a recession?
And then I wonder about how the USA claims to be 80% Christian and I am wondering why on earth the economy is sustained by over consumption.
My friend Don suggested that by giving our money away in order to help those in need sustain their own lifestyles we may balance the economy out by us and them consuming things we actually need, but who knows.
So there is my thought. Based on a world driven by consumerism. If Christians decided to only buy necessities and reduce spending significantly, could they actually cause an economic crises?
Would that be a good thing?
Tags: canada, christians, economy, recession, usa
I was watching retro news from 1983 (or something like that) on Pulse24 once. They were talking about how they were in a recession because people were saving money and not getting into debt. Apparently debt drives our society. So if most people started to be wise and avoided getting into debt we would go into recession. I think it’s crazy.
So it would seem we would first have to be wise with our money and avoid debt, and then give our money to the needy to have a strong effect.
Besides, many in the U.S. claim to be Christian… but I’d say that the vast majority of those “christian” are that in name only.
We were chatting with some other friends about this last night and talking about the struggle we have being generous givers. It would seem to me that if we are going to radically change – as we are called to do: Kingdom first and all that – we are faced with two extraordinary dilemmas in our culture: 1. As noted we are born and raised to be consumers.. yes, over consumers. 2. But not only that, we are also consumers “on credit.” You’ve seen the stats, the average North Americans’ debt load is astonishing. We spend what we do not have. So tell me, how do we give God our “firstfruits” when we never actually see it ourselves! How do we become “joyful givers” when we’re not sure how to get out of the painful cycle of debt? Tough challenges for Joe Average trying to walk out his faith.
I tend to think that if Christians decided to think about their money in Kingdom terms, spending just what they needed and sharing what they didn’t, the economy would be just fine. Oh, there would be a shift in what kinds of things were bought. Instead of billions spent on luxury items, we’d be spending billions on food, clothing and shelter for those who need it (regardless of where the lived).
And yes, I think it would be a good thing
Wilsonian – I tend to agree with you. I think that perhaps the problem is more about distribution of wealth than the amount. When its all in a small number of hands the type of stuff bought is different. perhaps if it was distributed more evenly we would still have a similar consumption but it would be more in food, shelter and clothing.