Debt Ceiling Woes

The arguing and posturing are in full prominence in Washington as our legal representatives from both parties plot for advantage over the debt ceiling vote. The public wants the red ink to slow down. This would be the same public that will riot in the streets if they sniff out the slightest reduction coming in their favorite programs or entitlements. Oh – and, nobody I have met wants their taxes raised to solve the problem. And, even if congress did raise taxes it would only slow down economic activity with the result that tax revenues would likely move downward even further.

 If they do not raise the debt ceiling the nation will be forced to either default on public debt payments or vastly slow other spending. This makes for an interesting quandary. Everyone agrees it would be a financial cataclysm for the United States to default on our national debt payments. We cannot even calculate the potential damage to national and world economies. On the other hand, if we slash spending on programs and entitlements, our practiced way of living and organizing ourselves over the past few decades will be cast into utter turmoil. Half of the people in the country would no longer be able to mooch stuff off of the other half (an incalculable social disaster).  How should a good Christian think about all of this?

 As usual, our answers come directly from the ‘Book’ , that handy handbook filled with commands, promises, and examples placed there for our benefit (1 Corinthians 10:11 ‘Now all these things happened unto them for examples…’). In the case of national troubles we have a history of around two thousand years demonstrating how God worked among national Israel, His chosen people and nation, that we can use to glean understanding as to how God deals with nations. This was all written down for our benefit. Hence, as a nation we are not left to figure it out on our own. We have revelation straight from God as to how to behave nationally. This is great because it means we do not have to be dreaming up all kinds of silly notions for what to do. It gives us a distinct advantage over our enemies who have nothing but foolish dreams and hypothetical wee wee to puddle out there as they vainly attempt to manage affairs too large for their philosophies.

 Here is what God promised national Israel if they obeyed His law:

‘The Lord will open for you His good storehouse, the heavens, to give rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hand; and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. And the Lord shall make you the head and not the tail, and you shall only be above, and you shall not be underneath, if you will listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I charge you today, to observe them carefully’. Deuteronomy 28:12-13

So, we find that when God blesses a nation it will be a nation that lends but does not borrow. By this measure we may determine we are not receiving the blessing God desires for us when we are deeply in debt as a nation. We are living in resistance to God’s will when we borrow from everyone to achieve our goals. Of course, we are set against God in multiple egregious ways all of which may bring His curses. However, when it comes to borrowing money, today’s conversation, we have taken the path of cursing not blessing. Therefore the needed course is clear. We have to stop borrowing, reduce spending to a level where we can repay all our creditors, and trust God to work out the progression through national problems without further borrowing. If we want the blessings this is what is required. All other choices will lead to further curses.

 For Christian Culture,

 Don Schanzenbach  6-24-11