Pastor-teacher Don Hargrove
Faith Bible Church
Wednesday, Jan 13, 2009
http://fbcweb.org/Audio.html
Salvation (Romans and Galatians ); SL (Romans and Galatians), SM (Romans and
Galatians)
Law, Government, Economics, & Capitalism
(Series: GOD’S COVENANTS – Part 31: Mosaic Law, Natural Law, & Government)
(Messiah & A.C. #277)
A. Understanding the metaphysics of economics.
1. Law, government, property and economics.
2. What economics is not…
3.
What economics is….
4. The truth about all secular economics, cf. Ludwig
Von Mises.
B. The historical failure of secular economics.
1. Aristotle & Roman Catholic Church (323
B.C. – A.D. 1870).
a. Barrenness or
infertility of money.
b. The immorality of
interest-taking.
c. The notion of
equality in exchange.
2. Failure of Empirical Economics (Smith,
Friedman, Popper).
3.
Failure of Rationalistic Economics (Menger, Mises, Austrian school).
C. The Promise of Christian Economics.
1. Uniqueness of Christian economics.
2. Axiom #1: Man chooses.
3. Axiom #2:
Only individuals choose.
4.
Axiom #3: Men act in their own self-interest, Gen
25:32; 1 Sam 12:19-21; Prov 10:2; 11:4; Jer 2:11; Mt 5:29-30; 6:19-21; Mark 8:36; Gal 6:6-9; Rom
9:13; 1 Cor 9:24-27;
13:3; Col 3:23-25; 2 Tim 2:11-13; 4:8; Heb 12:2; 1 Jn 2:28; Rev 2:17; 3:21.
5.
It is the deductions from these axioms which
give us the biblical laws of supply and demand.
D. Assaults on Capitalism.
1. It was
true capitalism, that first emerged from the Protestant biblical ethos, that brought freedom and wealth to individuals and
societies on a scale unheard of in human history - as well as raised the moral
standards of society.
2. The right to own property and dispose of it
as you wish is Biblical right and is essence
of laissez-faire capitalism, Ex 20:15,
17; Mt 20:15; Acts 5:1-5.
3. Assaults on capitalism from social action, doctrineless churches.
4. Assaults on capitalism by Socialism.
5.
Assaults on capitalism by the Roman Catholic Church (cf. Rerum Novarum).
6. Assaults on Capitalism for being “unjust.”
7.
Only in true capitalism is there the recognition of the sacredness of
privacy, individuality, property, freedom, and life under the rule of law.
8.
Only in true capitalism is there a separation between business & state.
9. It is the collectivists with their
forced/politicized charity who always end up first destroying freedom and then
the people who do not walk lockstep with the State.
10. The Constitution, the American way, the rule
of Law, and Biblical rights versus collectivism and welfare.
E. Government, statolatry, and loss freedom.
1. True personal freedom is incompatible with
government security.
2. Statolatry is one
of the most pernicious evils for modern man to overcome.
3. In Statolatry man looks
to government as his god and is willing to give up freedom for temporal
security.
4. The 8 Biblical building blocks for temporal
freedom in any state:
a) #1, Primacy of the individual.
b) #2, Private
property.
c) #3, The
Protestant work ethic.
d) #4, Individual
responsibility.
e) #5, Generosity.
f) #6, Rule
of law.
g) #7, Federalism.
h) #8, Republicanism.
5. When man, believer or unbeliever, fails to
orient to Truth, he will necessarily default to relativism and reversionism,
with his twin “gods” of personal peace and affluence.
6. In personal & national reversionism
there is always a willingness to give up
freedom for personal peace & affluence - as well as excuse evil for
price of expediency.
7. The reversionist
with his twin gods of personal peace and prosperity is always more than happy
to accept any kind of authoritative government for security – just as long as
it means security for his personal peace and prosperity.
8.
The Biblical truths with all their virtues, values, and absolutes demand
absolute commitment, 2 Tim 4:1-18.
9. Lack of absolute commitment always results in rever., 2 Tim 4:10.
a. The Lord, the POG, and BD are relativized, Mt 26:70-75.
b. Priorities are reversed, 2 Tim 4:10.
c.
Life dominated by the OSN accompanied w/degen.
– Eph 4:17-19.
d. Life of reaction and distraction, Mt
6:31-33; 1 Jn 2:15.
e. Life of FSH, 2 Tim 3:4; Ecc
– contra 1 Tim 6:6-7; Philip 4:11.
F. Massive
reversionism in the last days of the Church Age: lawlessness and rejection of Truth, 2 Thess 2:3, 7.
1.
Lawlessness, 2 Thess 2:3, 7.
2.
Religious ascetic reversionism, 1 Tim 4:1-3.
3.
Rejection of the Person and Work of Jesus Christ, 2 Pet 2:1-3
4.
Religious hucksterism, 2 Pet 2:15.
5.
Denial of the return of Jesus Christ, 2 Pet 3:3-4.
6.
Hedonistic, narcissistic, emotional, “religious” Christianity, 2 Tim
3:1-5
7.
Rejection of sound doctrine, 2 Tim 4:3-4.
8.
Self-confident in self-improvements and attainments, Rev 3:15-16.