New York Times: The Great Seduction - Dr. Paul J. Dean
David Brooks writes: “The people who created this country built a moral structure around money. The Puritan legacy inhibited luxury and self-indulgence. Benjamin Franklin spread a practical gospel that emphasized hard work, temperance and frugality. Millions of parents, preachers, newspaper editors and teachers expounded the message. The result was quite remarkable. The United States has been an affluent nation since its founding. But the country was, by and large, not corrupted by wealth. For centuries, it remained industrious, ambitious and frugal. Over the past 30 years, much of that has been shredded. The social norms and institutions that encouraged frugality and spending what you earn have been undermined. The institutions that encourage debt and living for the moment have been strengthened. The country’s moral guardians are forever looking for decadence out of Hollywood and reality TV. But the most rampant decadence today is financial decadence, the trampling of decent norms about how to use and harness money. Sixty-two scholars have signed on to a report by the Institute for American Values and other think tanks called, “For a New Thrift: Confronting the Debt Culture,” examining the results of all this. This may be damning with faint praise, but it’s one of the most important think-tank reports you’ll read this year.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/10/opinion/10brooks.html?_r
=1&em&ex=1213416000&en=4ec06791b4ad57d5&ei=5087%0A&oref=slogin
Everything must have a moral structure around it. There is no such thing as neutrality no matter what the subject. One’s view of mathematics is grounded in a worldview, realized or not, that is not neutral. The movement toward relativism in math answers in school serves to highlight the erosion of the Christian worldview that math comes from the God of order and natural law. In the same way, ones view of money is not neutral. Either moral structures are built around it, i.e. biblical hedges, or not, and if not, then money will necessarily be misused. The consequences are heavy and widespread.
The values of hard work, saving, frugal moderation, and paying as you go are biblical values. The values of get rich quick, spending with no care, wasteful excess, and living luxuriously on credit are cultural values. According to the Scriptures, the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. When an individual or a group embraces the love of money by casting off a moral structure around it, the coming economic earthquake is not an “if” but a “when.” Implications not only abound for individuals and this culture as a whole, but also for government and related economic policy. Debt, increased taxation, the secret tax of inflation, the printing of more money, mortgaging the future, and the like are certainly not answers.
It is interesting that the think tank calls for practical changes. David Brooks notes that the only real answer and hope is a return to Puritan values concerning money. I could not have said it better for indeed they were shaped by a biblical worldview.
David Brooks writes: “The people who created this country built a moral structure around money. The Puritan legacy inhibited luxury and self-indulgence. Benjamin Franklin spread a practical gospel that emphasized hard work, temperance and frugality. Millions of parents, preachers, newspaper editors and teachers expounded the message. The result was quite remarkable. The United States has been an affluent nation since its founding. But the country was, by and large, not corrupted by wealth. For centuries, it remained industrious, ambitious and frugal. Over the past 30 years, much of that has been shredded. The social norms and institutions that encouraged frugality and spending what you earn have been undermined. The institutions that encourage debt and living for the moment have been strengthened. The country’s moral guardians are forever looking for decadence out of Hollywood and reality TV. But the most rampant decadence today is financial decadence, the trampling of decent norms about how to use and harness money. Sixty-two scholars have signed on to a report by the Institute for American Values and other think tanks called, “For a New Thrift: Confronting the Debt Culture,” examining the results of all this. This may be damning with faint praise, but it’s one of the most important think-tank reports you’ll read this year.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/10/opinion/10brooks.html?_r
=1&em&ex=1213416000&en=4ec06791b4ad57d5&ei=5087%0A&oref=slogin
Everything must have a moral structure around it. There is no such thing as neutrality no matter what the subject. One’s view of mathematics is grounded in a worldview, realized or not, that is not neutral. The movement toward relativism in math answers in school serves to highlight the erosion of the Christian worldview that math comes from the God of order and natural law. In the same way, ones view of money is not neutral. Either moral structures are built around it, i.e. biblical hedges, or not, and if not, then money will necessarily be misused. The consequences are heavy and widespread.
The values of hard work, saving, frugal moderation, and paying as you go are biblical values. The values of get rich quick, spending with no care, wasteful excess, and living luxuriously on credit are cultural values. According to the Scriptures, the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. When an individual or a group embraces the love of money by casting off a moral structure around it, the coming economic earthquake is not an “if” but a “when.” Implications not only abound for individuals and this culture as a whole, but also for government and related economic policy. Debt, increased taxation, the secret tax of inflation, the printing of more money, mortgaging the future, and the like are certainly not answers.
It is interesting that the think tank calls for practical changes. David Brooks notes that the only real answer and hope is a return to Puritan values concerning money. I could not have said it better for indeed they were shaped by a biblical worldview.
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