WSC 74- We are required to procure wealth???

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It might be important to clarify the divines' understanding of "wealth." It doesn't mean that we are all to try to become rich, just that we are to earn a living, as others have said. The word "wealth" today is associated with large amounts of money.

Excellent point. Even if we were to bow the knee to the god of socialism, inequalities would soon appear. While the state can take away outward forms of wealth in terms of homes, land, money, capital, and distribute it to those who don't work, it can't redistribute values, work-ethics, mentalities toward the future, etc. In other words, even granting redistribution, inequities in society would soon reappear (which they are not supposed to do, given the statist dogma). :lol:
 
Jacob,

I'm not saying that I completely disagree with you but a thread about a narrow slice of the 6th Commandment cannot be turned into a discussion about all the things that compete against it. The thread could take any number of directions.

Remember, the Q&A in this particular discussion focuses on a narrow slice of the 6th Commandment with reference to the believer and some of the positive duties required of the individual before God. We could say more about the 6th commandment with respect to it's negative commands, and even the Government not doing things that undermine man's pursuit of the positive duty, but we really need to keep this discussion focused to the point at hand.
 
Jacob,

I'm not saying that I completely disagree with you but a thread about a narrow slice of the 6th Commandment cannot be turned into a discussion about all the things that compete against it. The thread could take any number of directions.

Remember, the Q&A in this particular discussion focuses on a narrow slice of the 6th Commandment with reference to the believer and some of the positive duties required of the individual before God. We could say more about the 6th commandment with respect to it's negative commands, and even the Government not doing things that undermine man's pursuit of the positive duty, but we really need to keep this discussion focused to the point at hand.

Aside from my brief rant against wealth redistribution, I did attempt to show, with literary and biblical examples, how investing capital is a biblical and sound concept, which answers Patrick's question.
 
Jacob,

I'm not saying that I completely disagree with you but a thread about a narrow slice of the 6th Commandment cannot be turned into a discussion about all the things that compete against it. The thread could take any number of directions.

Remember, the Q&A in this particular discussion focuses on a narrow slice of the 6th Commandment with reference to the believer and some of the positive duties required of the individual before God. We could say more about the 6th commandment with respect to it's negative commands, and even the Government not doing things that undermine man's pursuit of the positive duty, but we really need to keep this discussion focused to the point at hand.

Aside from my brief rant against wealth redistribution, I did attempt to show, with literary and biblical examples, how investing capital is a biblical and sound concept, which answers Patrick's question.

I agree with that part, it was good, but then you vaunted off into the whole "government in our pockets" thing. It's a good discussion but it's got to be saved for a different discussion and not this thread.
 
Jacob,

I'm not saying that I completely disagree with you but a thread about a narrow slice of the 6th Commandment cannot be turned into a discussion about all the things that compete against it. The thread could take any number of directions.

Remember, the Q&A in this particular discussion focuses on a narrow slice of the 6th Commandment with reference to the believer and some of the positive duties required of the individual before God. We could say more about the 6th commandment with respect to it's negative commands, and even the Government not doing things that undermine man's pursuit of the positive duty, but we really need to keep this discussion focused to the point at hand.

Aside from my brief rant against wealth redistribution, I did attempt to show, with literary and biblical examples, how investing capital is a biblical and sound concept, which answers Patrick's question.

I agree with that part, it was good, but then you vaunted off into the whole "government in our pockets" thing. It's a good discussion but it's got to be saved for a different discussion and not this thread.

If the catechism is correct in saying that the bible teaches that we should procure wealth then it should be at least somewhat relevant if the government keeps us from doing that as well as we could. :2cents:
 
Aside from my brief rant against wealth redistribution, I did attempt to show, with literary and biblical examples, how investing capital is a biblical and sound concept, which answers Patrick's question.

I agree with that part, it was good, but then you vaunted off into the whole "government in our pockets" thing. It's a good discussion but it's got to be saved for a different discussion and not this thread.

If the catechism is correct in saying that the bible teaches that we should procure wealth then it should be at least somewhat relevant if the government keeps us from doing that as well as we could. :2cents:

That does have a certain plausibility but consider that at various times back then (I'm thinking the Roman period in particular) taxation was far more onerous and certainly more arbitrarily and unjustly administered than what we have today.
 
So I take it you all agree that "procuring and furthering" wealth doesn't necessarily mean amassing or hording wealth. It means using legitimate means to better care for our families and our neighbors. Does that seem to be the consensus?

It's what I think at least. I haven't read the commentaries but the Scriptures used are consistent with that idea. I often think that, today, vocation is under-valued in a way that the Reformation had re-captured. Doing honest, hard work is a Biblical virtue as is leaving something to bless your kids.

Especially back in the egrarian economy of the ANE, you were practically guaranteeing generations of slavery for your kids if you squandered your estate. Families didn't really spread out much but sort of built on to the existing property of their ancestors so that a man's possessions were generationally inherited. I think the physical inheritance really connected the people to the faith of their fathers and the desire to pursue such things in a way that our disconnected society does not.

I think when you understand how a household might take generations to build into a large estate large enough to even hire others (and thereby bless the poor with employment) you even get a sense for how wicked the Prodigal Son is for demanding his share of an estate and for centuries of work to be squandered in a short time on loose living. The story would have been incredibly shocking to the ears of Jesus' hearers and made the Prodigal Son a true object of contempt and unworthiness to ever show his face around his father again. That the father runs to him would have been the most shocking story twist imaginable. Even all the things that the father then lavished on the son - a tunic, a ring, and a calf - are extravagant. The unmerited blessing we receive from Sovereign grace adopting wretched sinners is pictured in the estate of the father being given to the returning scoundrel.

This is an excellent point. We don't think like this anymore. That puts a whole new dimension not only to the prodigal son parable but to the book of Proverbs too. That whole prohibition against moving landmarks makes much more sense. You would not just be stealing from one person's land, but a whole multi-generational estate that they had been working to maintain and pass on to future generations. It also adds some weight to why the geneologies were so important in Israelite history. We certainly need to recover this organic view to our ancestors and progeny. What we do today, affects our line for many generations to come, with both spiritual and physical consequences. Easy to see how American individualism can become so detrimental to this biblical mindset, and perhaps lead us to violate this commandment.
:detective:
 
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