Wednesday, December 6, 2023

Christianity vs Churchianity – A Study in Contrast - on Usury

 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: 
If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever.

Why the West Can't Win [REVIEW] - RECKONIN

 

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?