God's Bailout Plan to Solve Permanently Our Economic Problems
A commentary by Larry J. Walker
Pastor, United Church of God, Bend, Medford and Roseburg, Oregon
We have been shocked, sobered and scared by recent economic developments
in the United States. The complexities of this crisis were simply
overwhelming to the average citizen. But almost everyone was able
to grasp very quickly the enormous magnitude of the initially proposed
$700 billion dollar "bailout" plan.
Higher taxes, greater federal debt, a larger spending deficit,
rising fuel costs, inflation and further devaluation of the dollar
will be the likely consequences as investors divert money from the
volatile stock market into commodities including crude oil. The
alternative, we are told, is economic disaster for the nation on
a scale comparable to or in some ways perhaps even worse than the
Great Depression in the 1930s.
I am not an economist. But one thing I remember from my economics
class in college was the instructor's play-on-words representation
of one basic view of economics: God helps those who help themselves,
so take plenty.
Actually, this humorous one-liner strikes at the heart of our current
economic crisis. The fundamental cause is not economic but spiritual—human
nature.
The Bible warns that, "The love of money is a root of all
kinds of evil for which some have strayed from the faith in their
greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows" (1
Timothy 6:10). From Main Street to Wall Street, greed and deceit
(including self-deceit) have led us to where we are today. For years,
businesses and financial institutions seeking greater revenues have
dangled their wares in front of gullible consumers, enticing them
with easy credit.
For those people who spent money they didn't have on things
they couldn't afford, the so-called American Dream was simply
a fantasy that has turned into a nightmare—for them, for the
entire nation and for the rest of the world. Another one-liner asserts: "Unless
your income exceeds your outgo, your upkeep will be your downfall."
On The Oprah Winfrey Show economic advisor Suze Orman put it this
way, "A lot of you have built your personal financial foundation
on deceit and lies. You bought a home that you couldn't afford … You
spent money like it was going out of style and it wasn't your money
to spend … When you borrow money, you leverage yourself.
The United States of America leveraged itself so high that when
it started to come down, the whole thing now has fallen down" (oprah.com).
So government officials and their economic advisors began scrambling
to take immediate action on an unprecedented scale in hopes of stabilizing
the economy by rescuing major investment firms on the verge of bankruptcy.
Will their plan really halt the nation's economic decline
or even be of any help? Experts are not sure. For certain it will
not solve all of our economic problems but possibly it may delay
the inevitable consequences of our living beyond our means, which
constitutes self deception.
The government's plan has been aptly described as a "bailout." This
is very much like an overprotective parent bailing a delinquent
child out of jail instead of allowing him or her to suffer the consequences
of his or her actions. In psychological terms, it is called being
an enabler. We must all learn from the law of cause and effect.
Always protecting someone from the consequences of bad decisions
allows that person to continue wrong courses of action, leading
to greater problems in the future.
A fundamental truth of the Bible is that eventually sin will lead
to disaster and righteousness will be rewarded, but those same scriptures
also acknowledge that for a time the opposite often may be true
in "this present evil age" (Galatians 1:4). Nevertheless,
key passages in the book of Psalms address this inequity and point
us to the fact that ultimately God will right these wrongs (Psalm
73:3-22, Psalm 37:1-40).
Man has yet to learn the fundamental lesson that there are some
problems we cannot solve apart from God. The Bible reveals that
God has the ultimate bailout plan to save mankind from self-annihilation—which
would happen if our foolish choices were not curtailed (Matthew
24:21-22). God's plan is the only one that will work, because
only He can change human nature—which He promises to do (Ezekiel
11:19; 36:26).
When the final elements of that plan are put into place then and
only then will all of our economic woes and other problems be solved.
In the meantime we need to make sure that our own house is in order
economically—and especially spiritually.
  For helpful advice
simply request or download our free booklet, Managing
Your Finances, along with a free subscription to our bi-monthly
magazine, The Good News.
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