Usury is as the Seduction of a Man by Harlot to lead him to Hell, and the Enticement of a Drug Addict by a Drug Dealer
Hath given forth upon usury, and hath taken increase: shall he then live? he shall not live: he hath done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him (Ezekiel 18:13)
Usury is not recognised by many people, including many of the modern western Church to be immoral. Despite what the Bible says about usury numerous times, time and time again, many in the modern western Church think that there is nothing wrong with it. They vehemently deny that it is evil, denying what the Word of God says about usury. Rather, they, like the world, think that it is an outdated issue, relevant to only Old Testament Israel, and perhaps the Medieval Era of Christendom. That makes it all the more disturbing - for genuine Christians to think that usury is not even an issue, when the true Christian really should be the most vehement fighter of usury.
Why so many do not understand Usury
The word
usury comes from the Latin word ‘usus’ which means ‘a use’. The term originally
meant any charge on a loan, not just ‘excessive’ charge on a loan. The term was
used to mean an excessive charge on a loan to justify charging interest on a
loan.[1]
Ancient societies, from ancient Sumerians to the ancient Romans, as well as the
Medieval Europe were terrified of usury.[2] Clearly, even the unsaved throughout history have recognised the evil of usury, and even some of the unsaved today.
Modern society generally, on the other hand, not only thinks usury is normal and necessary for an
economy to function effectively, but that usury is not even an issue. It is all
too easy for the modern person to think that ancient societies were terrified
of usury because they were ‘backwards’, ‘uneducated’, ‘uncivilised', 'oppressive' and ‘unenlightened’.
The Terror of Usury vs. the Enticement
of Usury
Ancient
societies recognised the bondage that it would cause to people, owing to the
inability to repay debts to the creditor. The Bible indeed tells us that "The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender" (Proverbs 22:7). Some of you might to argue that this verse is only a description of the ancient world, and not a commandment to repay, out of your perversity, probably because you are in debt yourself. You might ask, what if the debtor decides not to repay, isn't he then not servant to the lender? That is absolutely foolish rubbish. What Proverbs 22:7 says is a description of the spiritual truth about the relationship between a creditor and debtor. The relationship between creditor and debtor is not merely an economic one, but ultimately a spiritual one. God will judge the actions of debtor and creditors in terms of how they fulfill their obligations to repay in full, and to not charge any usury.
Modern
society believes that the two fundamental things upon which society should be
organised are rights and liberties, not obligations. Many Christians in the west have also been deceived into adopting such thinking into their mindset. Just think about how they love to complain about how "offended" they are about non-profane labels and word.
While there may be
obligations recognised by modern society, those obligations arise only in
relation to rights and liberties. There is no such thing as an obligation
independent of a right or liberty in the eyes of modern society. Many western Christians have unknowingly adopted this thinking into their mindset, as manifested by their belief in the so-called human "rights" of people to do what they need to do, rather than moral obligations on part of all persons to do what they needs.
Since borrowing money is regarded to be a right on part of the debtor, by the modern world, rather
than that lending money to be an obligation on part of the creditor, it follows
that usury is simply a charge that one pays for exercising one’s “liberty” to
borrow money from another who provides that “service” of lending money. Therein
lies the problem of this standard view of borrowing in modern economics and law, and also more generally in the modern world.
Borrowing money is the exercise of one’s
liberty according to this standard modern view. However, the Bible makes it clear that the borrower is servant to the lender (Proverbs 22:7). Since God designed lending money as a means of helping people, any means that perverts His Will leads to all kinds of evil. The global financial crisis is precisely the ultimate manifestation of the world acting in utter perversion to God's Will for how people should use money, and in particular, the manner of spirit in which people should lend and borrow money.
Usury is a moral crime against God
Many people, including many in the modern western Church are puzzled and even shocked when people even raise usury as a moral and ethical issur. Usury legitimises debt slavery, and is
a means of making profit out of it. Debt slavery is slavery to mammon, and thus, such a person is unable to serve God. As Jesus said: "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love
the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye
cannot serve God and mammon" (Matthew 6:24).
Although a person who chooses to get into
debt ultimately chooses to do so, often in spite of interest repayments, it
remains a wrong on part of the usurer to charge such usury, because it is to
profit of the debt slavery of another. That a person chooses to get into debt, whether for necessities or non-necessities, is not an excuse for a creditor to charge usury.
Usury is
precisely that which seeks to hold a person in bondage to another. It cares not
for the person as a human being. Usury is as a making profit out of the drug addiction of another, enslaving that person to evil destructive desires. It is as a harlot seduces a man to lead him to Hell, by tempting his destructive desires (Proverbs 7:21,26-27) Usury makes a profit out of the destructive desires of another person. It is callous, cruel, abominable and perverse, making a profit
out of the debt slavery of another. It is diametrically opposed to all manner of love which does not envy, nor is self-seeking (1 Corinthians 13:4-5). Usury is of envy, self-seeking and unforgiving at its essence.
The Church must rise up to fight usury for usury is a moral and spiritual issue with no one else on earth can truly fight. Usury is a vile, abominable sin.
[1]
The Scholastic Analysis of Usury, J Noonan, 1957.
[2]
Speech by Tomas Sedlacek, Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs,
‘Economics of Good and Evil: The Quest for Economic Meaning from Gilgamesh to
Wall Street’, delivered on October 5, 2011, at <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VteEjsYBZKA>.
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