Posted on 02/17/2015 4:11:41 PM PST by SoFloFreeper
The Bible speaks at length about our uniqueness. We are created in God’s image and are matchless, just like a snowflake. We are also commanded to use our unique combination of skills and abilities to glorify God and serve others. Our unique skills allow us to make a special contribution to the world we live in, not just in the church or on the mission field, but through our work. Because we are uniquely created, we are endowed by Christ with a specific set of gifts. We can further the Kingdom of Christ by knowing our gifts and pursuing them with excellence. Economists refer to this as comparative advantage. People are served best when they focus on the production of things that they can produce most efficiently (at the lowest opportunity cost) and avoid engaging in the production of goods or services for which they are costly producers.
Comparative advantage is the reason that I am an economist and not a professional singer. I love to sing but am not naturally gifted, so the time and energy I would have to put into becoming good enough to serve others through that is wasted. This diversity of gifts allows us to serve others through market exchange. I can open a dry-cleaning business or run a restaurant if those are my gifts. By pursuing that with excellence I am not only awarded an income, but it allows me to serve others. Because gifts are different and value in the market place is subjective, incomes will be different. They are different because we are created differently. Income inequality is then inseparable from a fallen world in which scarcity abounds. The market is only capable of rewarding through profit and it punishes with losses. These are in terms of dollars. Because the goods and services we bring to the market are valued subjectively by the purchaser, income inequality is a fact of economic life and economics pervades all of our life choices.
That said, we as Christians are called to seek justice and to care for the poor. We must be at the forefront of this discussion on income inequality – understanding where it is natural, and challenging the status quo where it is unjust. Corruption and injustice that cause poverty must be eradicated. Christians must also be leaders in cultivating and protecting an economic environment that creates opportunity for those in poverty to enjoy upward mobility through the dignity of work.
This paper looks at some of the economic and Biblical reasons why income inequality exists. The following are the primary findings of this research:
Diversity is a Biblical premise of Creation. We are born with different gifts. By focusing on our gifts we can unleash our comparative advantage and bring value to the marketplace by serving others. In a free society, absent cronyism, disparity of wages is not a sign of injustice. If we care about a society that reduces poverty and assists the poor, we should be concerned not about income inequality but the relative prosperity of those at the bottom and their income mobility. An opportunity society is the best way to unleash the creativity and dignity with which we are created and serve others with our gifts. We assert that income inequality is a natural part of the human condition. We are created uniquely and that means that there is no universal Biblical standard for income equality. The question that must be addressed Biblically and through public policy is the relative prosperity of the poorest among us and their ability to gain income through the pursuit of their gifts. To that end, we need an opportunity society which embraces our uniqueness, unleashes our creativity and potential and serves the common good. Markets have empirically demonstrated that they are better than any other system at lifting the poor out of destitution.
God bless.
Because there are people who take 12th. Century Tibetan Poetry and run up a 100K college bill. With no job.
income inequality is the result of inequality
mental, physical inequality result in economic inequality
In a modern, free, division of labor society, economic inequality naturally emerges as the result of different individuals enacting different degrees of economic causality and results from the process of individuals freely engaging in production and trade. Economic causality connects an individual's efforts to his income.
It is the economic inequality that results from the government coercion and interference of mixed economy, where the government grants privileges and imposes arbitrary burdens and restrictions, and of socialism, that is destructive to the standard of living of the average worker.
Income equality has lots of reasons, including the ones you listed. There’s also inequality based on how willing a person is to bend or break the rules.
Everyone has a personal struggle to make himself a better person. For some, it is overcoming the urge to murder or steal. For some it is the challenge of dealing with wealth honestly. For some it is the challenge of dealing with poverty honestly.
We do not have enough income inequality. We have far too many “transfer payments” that encourage people to not work. Even Social Security is a problem in that regard. Retirement is supposed to be for people who are old and SICK. Why should society pay an able-bodied 65-year-old to play golf? We need to slash Social Security taxes and make eligibility need-based only.
Don’t get me started on food stamps. Can’t feed your kids? Then you should not have had them. They’re yours now, so figure it out.
In a truly God-centered society, the truly deserving needy people (those unable to work) get help. Others work or they rightfully are allowed to starve.
God gave us free will, and not all have the same talent, or ambitions.
It isn’t only an individual’s “gifts”.
There are many, many successful people who are not exceptionally gifted but are motivated, work hard and persevere.
At the same time the homeless camps and government projects are stuffed with gifted people who are just plain lazy, lack motivation, or prefer to get drunk or stoned rather than work for a living.
In times past these types of people still had to do something to get by - go hunting, scrounging, work menial jobs or beg.
Now they just wait for the government to fill their EBT cards with funds extorted from people who actually work.
Proverbs 29:3 Whoever loves wisdom brings joy to his father; but a companion of prostitutes squanders his wealth.
Ecclesiastes 5:19 Furthermore, as for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, He has also empowered him to eat from them and to receive his reward and rejoice in his labor; this is the gift of God.
Proverbs 13:22 A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, And the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous.
Ecclesiastes 6:2 God gives some people wealth, possessions and honor, so that they lack nothing their hearts desire, but God does not grant them the ability to enjoy them, and strangers enjoy them instead. This is meaningless, a grievous evil.
Matthew 7:24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Proverbs 2:For if you cry for discernment, [a]Lift your voice for understanding; 4 If you seek her as silver And search for her as for hidden treasures; 5 Then you will discern the fear of the Lord And discover the knowledge of God. 6 For the Lord gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding. 7 He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk in integrity, 8 Guarding the paths of justice, And He preserves the way of His godly ones. 9 Then you will discern righteousness and justice And equity and every good course. 10 For wisdom will enter your heart And knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; 11 Discretion will guard you, Understanding will watch over you, 12 To deliver you from the way of evil, From the man who speaks perverse things; 13 From those who leave the paths of uprightness To walk in the ways of darkness; 14 Who delight in doing evil And rejoice in the perversity of evil; 15 Whose paths are crooked, And who are devious in their ways; 16 To deliver you from the strange woman, From the [b]adulteress who flatters with her words; 17 That leaves the companion of her youth And forgets the covenant of her God; 18 For her house [c]sinks down to death And her tracks lead to the [d]dead; 19 None who go to her return again, Nor do they reach the paths of life. 20 So you will walk in the way of good men And keep to the paths of the righteous. 21 For the upright will [e]live in the land And the blameless will remain in it; 22 But the wicked will be cut off from the land And the treacherous will be uprooted from it.
Proverbs 3:9 Honor the Lord from your wealth And from the first of all your produce; 10 So your barns will be filled with plenty And your vats will overflow with new wine.
Proverbs 8:12 “I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, And I find knowledge and discretion. 13 “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverted mouth, I hate. 14 “Counsel is mine and sound wisdom; I am understanding, power is mine. 15 “By me kings reign, And rulers decree justice. 16 “By me princes rule, and nobles, All who judge rightly. 17 “I love those who love me; And those who diligently seek me will find me. 18 “Riches and honor are with me, Enduring wealth and righteousness. 19 “My fruit is better than gold, even pure gold, And my yield better than choicest silver. 20 “I walk in the way of righteousness, In the midst of the paths of justice, 21 To endow those who love me with wealth, That I may fill their treasuries
Proverbs 11:29 He who troubles his own house will inherit wind, And the foolish will be servant to the wisehearted.
Proverbs 14:1 The wise woman builds her house, But the foolish tears it down with her own hands.
Proverbs 14:11 The house of the wicked will be destroyed, But the tent of the upright will flourish.
Proverbs 14:15 The [h]naive believes everything, But the sensible man considers his steps. 16 A wise man [i]is cautious and turns away from evil, But a fool is arrogant and careless. 17 A quick-tempered man acts foolishly, And a man of evil devices is hated. 18 The naive inherit foolishness, But the sensible are crowned with knowledge
Proverbs 14:24 The crown of the wise is their riches, But the folly of fools is foolishness.
I would consider that a gift.
Hope you read the piece.
“Capitalism is God’s way of determining who is rich, and who is stupid.” ~ Ron Swanson
WOW!!
5.56mm
Social security is a SCAM and needs to go away.
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