Paradise?

[Free in Christ]

Economics is always a challenging and fun discussion topic, both on a macro and micro level.

I would like to “kick around” what a true biblical economy looks like.

Here are some questions to get it started, please add more and expand:


What role does Government have?
What is the role of Government programs/entitlements?
What does debt look like on a personal, national, and world level?
How would wants/needs be determined?
What role does the Church have?

[Old 33]

Very interesting topic...thanks for suggesting it, Free in Christ!

I'll have to get back to you on this...

[KnightErrant]

Economics is always a challenging and fun discussion topic, both on a macro and micro level.

I would like to “kick around” what a true biblical economy looks like.

Here are some questions to get it started, please add more and expand:


What role does Government have?
What is the role of Government programs/entitlements?
What does debt look like on a personal, national, and world level?
How would wants/needs be determined?
What role does the Church have?



The first quote that comes to mind is about the Millenium;

"Every man shall sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree,
They shall not plant and another harvest, they shall not build and another occupy."

I will look up the exact text and give the reference when I can.

So Private Property shall be respected, and not subject to government seisure because someone thinks they have a more noble use for it than you do.

Sounds to me like we will actually have a Free Enterprise system for the first time! No welfare state, no corporate socialism, no socialism of any kind.

[Logicon]

The governments only role is supposed to be providing an army to protect its citizens. Other than that the government was not supposed to intrude into our lives in minute detail, and telling us every move to make.

[Widowsmyte]

Actually it sounds to be as close to a kibbutzim as anything else, eh?

And, given the scriptural rules... there is ONE addage from the current time that shall not pass away.... LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION!!! Pray you get the bottom 40 because you're gonna have to work it for a Kilo-year.

Humbly yours --- Widowsmyte

[Old 33]

Other than that the government was not supposed to intrude into our lives in minute detail, and telling us every move to make.
What is your scriptural basis for that?

[Logicon]

What is your scriptural basis for that?
It isn't from scriptures, it is from our forefathers who founded this country.

[Old 33]

It isn't from scriptures, it is from our forefathers who founded this country.Well that's not correct. As the Framers set up the Constitution, the federal government did a number of things other than provide for an army. Among them:

Regulate Commerce with foreign nations, between the states, and with Indian tribes
establish uniform immigration laws
print money
establish post offices
build roads
protect copyrights, patents, trademarks
establish courts


And all of that was done in the context that the role of the federal government is to "form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity."

[Free in Christ]

Acts Chapter 2 describes the early church. This is one of the foundations we use in our church for our small group ministry. Are the ideas given in this chapter applicable to a perfect economy or is this still flawed because of sin? I am particularly thinking about the idea of giving to each other as they have need.

So have we, as the church, allowed government to replace our role in helping the poor and needy?

And do you think we would still have giving opportunities in a perfect economy?

[Logicon]

I think this site covers governments duties pretty well.

http://www.shadowgov.com/Constitution/ConstitutionApologetic.html
Two Just Functions: Biblical Apologetic [Constitution Political Defense]
The Constitution of America authorizes the government to perform only two functions. Why?
• God established three institutions: family, church, and government, each with specific functions.
• In an example of separate duties, God requires the family to raise children, not government or the church.
• The family disciplines children for childish disobedience; the government and the church do not.
• The church, which is the Body of Christ, offers salvation from sin; the family and the government do not.
• The government convicts and punishes criminals; the family and church do not.
• The government, not family or church, manages shared infrastructure such as airwaves and waterways.
• The Bible shows that God gives government authority over criminal justice and infrastructure.
• Other than crime fighting and infrastructure, God gives government no other authority. See Genesis to Rev. [C P]
Criminal Justice: Biblical Apologetic [Constitution Political]
The primary just function of government is defense of God-given rights.
• “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed…” Gen. 9:6
• God instituted the death penalty thereby creating governmental authority, and that over even life itself.
• Authority is needed to rightly issue commands. Mark 1 Titus 3 Mat. 8 Num. 27
• Authority is needed to rightly impose punishment. John 5 Luke 20 Acts 9; 16; 26 Rom. 13 Rev. 9
• From Genesis to Revelation, including several New Testament passages, God supports the death penalty.
• Execution is at the heart of the Gospel, for Jesus Christ was crucified.
• Of the two others being crucified with Jesus, the Bible records that they were being executed justly.
• Government must prioritize, and the greatest crime is murder, and the most fitting punishment for it is death.
• The death penalty is at the heart of criminal justice, and therefore, at the heart of good government. Rom. 13
• A properly used military always supports criminal justice, so principles of criminal justice apply to the military.
• With the death penalty, God launched the dispensation of human government. Gen. 9 [C P]
Infrastructure: Biblical Apologetic [Constitution Political]
The secondary function of government is to provide infrastructure.
• “You shall prepare roads for yourself…” Deut. 19:3
• God gives to the government, and not to any other entity, the responsibility of building roads.
• God commands the government to build roads partly to facilitate criminal justice.
• God gave His command to build roads in a chapter of Deuteronomy regarding criminal justice.
• Criminals favor a disorderly society, for the disarray provides cover for them to commit crimes and to escape.
• An orderly (and thus easily traveled) society favors the government and those who abide by the law.
• Justice is government’s primary function; its secondary role of providing roads facilitates its primary function.
• Extrapolating from Deut. 19, the government has authority to provide not just roads but infrastructure.
• Infrastructure facilitates land, water, air, and space transportation with roads, bridges, canals, air lanes, etc.
• Infrastructure facilitates distribution of water and coordinates use of public radio waves, parks and wilderness.
• A principle discerned in Deut. 19 is that the government has authority that private entities lack.
• Private entities lack the authority to acquire the right-of-way to build a highway system.
• The Bible says little about infrastructure but little needs to be said: government provides infrastructure.
• Private entities also lack authority to decree the use of radio frequencies, rivers, public lands, earth orbits, etc.
• The Deut. 19 infrastructure principle applies directly to rivers, harbors, air space, radio airwaves, etc.