Psalm 15:4-5
“…who do not lend money at interest, and do not take a bribe against the innocent. Those who do these things shall never be moved.” vs. 5
The practice of lending money at interest developed many thousands of years ago and was addressed several times by the writers of our scripture. Like the psalmist these thinkers believed that those who lived blamelessly and in accordance with God’s standards would not think of lending money at interest. Initially this prohibition was designed to keep poor people from being unduly burdened as they struggled to pay their debts. Later on in Christian practice it was interpreted as a prohibition against the charging of interest in any circumstance. Obviously times have changed and now any loan is more than likely to require the payment of interest. With those changes we once again face an environment in which interest payments to predatory lenders can become an enormous burden for the poor. The bottom line problem is of course the love of money! Given the opportunity, sinful humans will use every scheme possible to extract riches from the vulnerable. This insatiable desire for profit at any cost means that more and more people are struggling with enormous debts. Any person sincerely interested in doing justice simply cannot ignore this massive societal issue. Rapidly escalating medical, educational, and housing debts…all ultimately driven by greed…have created a debtor class that cries to God for relief.
Thought for the Day: What can I do about economic injustice?
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