Question: Did Jesus come to make usury not sinful?
History: Hundreds of years ago, when modern
finance arose in Europe, moneylenders moderated their behaviour in response to
debates among the clergy about how to apply the Bible’s teachings to an
increasingly complex economy. Lending money has long been regarded as a moral
matter. So just when and how did most bankers stop seeing their work in moral
terms? Hint: Debt became essential to fighting wars, which both monarchs
and the Pope needed to fund.
Another hint: The public criticises bankers for their ethical
failings, but the bankers too have been failed by our ethical authorities.
Ethical authorities?
Who they? How
did usury stop being a sin and become respectable finance? | Aeon Essays
More history: Debt
Cancellation: Biblical Norm, Not Exception - By Tim Atwater - A good
case can be made that the Bible actually considers Jubilee non-negotiable if
people do not obey, the demands of Jubilee justice remain outstanding until
fulfilled, regardless of chronological time…..
In the Biblical view, debt is always the responsibility of
creditors as well as debtors. In the ancient Near East, even pagan kings
periodically cancelled debts to allow the poor a measure of respite from harsh
conditions. The Biblical mandate goes much further, reordering the whole
economy around the need for periodic cancellation of debt and restoration of
community…..
Jesus begins his public
ministry in Luke's gospel by quoting a Jubilee text from the prophet Isaiah
(61:1-2), salted with sermon
illustrations on God's
mission to all the nations. He says the scripture about good news for the poor,
release for captives, and freedom for the oppressed is now fulfilled in folks'
hearing (Luke 4:16-30). By proclaiming the kingdom of God as a form of Jubilee,
in the present tense, for all the nations, Jesus opens the Jubilee up to layers
of additional meaning and interpretation…..
And where is Western Civilization NOW? The
Government Debt Crisis That We Have Been Warned About For Decades Is Happening
Right Now By Michael Snyder
Another
right NOW: Why The West Can’t Win is a brief history of the
corruption of Western Civilization, especially of the Anglo-American variety by
a cohort of living demons Lama aptly calls “the Money Powers.” I’ll start where Lama ends, with his final
cautionary words on page 357:
|
The chickens have come home to roost. The oppression inflicted by
the Money Powers against humanity will now be directed internally. Until
people in the Western Realm revolt against this miniscule parasitic financial
“elite” that oppresses them, and recover their civilizations and sovereignty, the best depiction of their future would be George Orwell’s
statement in 1984: |
What would Jesus do? Would
not Jesus, the one who said the nations will be judged by what they do and do
not do for the least of these my brethren, (Mt 25:31-46) stick with his
original line, forgive us our debts? Would he not say further that debts
incurred by the rich in the Global South and North together, debts which are
now paid by orphans and widows, the poor and oppressed--are not only forgiven
but fundamentally illegitimate?
What do we say?
One more
question: When did you last hear this from your pulpit?