I want to preface this post by saying something about these questions I’m throwing out while we’re in the Christmas busyness.
As with the question about educational items and gift giving, there is no way for me to address all of the finer points of these topics as I throw the question out. Sometimes I wonder if throwing these kinds of questions out makes me look dumb because I put them out there for discussion rather than writing a post and offering five points why I think “this” is the answer.
The truth is I really like to discuss ideas and hear how other people think about various issues and topics. So if I seem vague or uninformed, that isn’t always the case. It also isn’t the case that I don’t have strong convictions about a particular topic. I might have a strong opinion about something but keep it to myself for the sake of discussion. And other times I am just ruminating on some topic as I get a few spare minutes to think but I haven’t thought it all out.
So here is what I’ve been thinking about lately.
Has being debt-free and frugal become an idol in certain segments of the church? Or has it become a mark of holiness or status symbol by which Christians are measured? Does the Western church place an unhealthy emphasis on being debt-free and financially secure? How should Christians respond to brothers and sisters in Christ who struggle financially?
If the economy continues as it has been, there are going to be many, many Christians who suffer financially. Many will suffer through no fault of their own. How should the church respond? How should we respond personally if we end up in dire financial straits because we are living in this country at this time?
I would be interested to hear how people are thinking biblically about finances, debt and faith these days.
Educational Needs Versus Wants and Gift Giving?
In a short sentence? Yes. Being “debt free” has certainly become an idol.
I could wax poetic about how much more free we feel now that Aaron’s car is paid off. I like the extra cash each month that I can now SAVE if I choose to.
Does having about 80K in student loans bug me? Yep. It does. But we invested in OUR futures…I can’t be a housewife forever! Someday, the babies will grow up, and then what?
Do I hate my credit card debt? Yeah. I do. But I dislike it so much because some of it represents my ‘careless” times from college (okay, I was unemployed and too proud to ask Mom and Dad for help cuz I wanted to prove I could ‘do it myself!’), and I dislike the other part because it represents how certain family members let us down on one of the most important times of our life, which was our wedding day. We’re still, two years later, paying it off.
But do I recognize that debt is a part of life? Yeah. I do. It is gonna happen. It is ludicrous, in my opinion, to expect to ALWAYS be debt free. Sure, it is great to have an emergency fund and savings. I wholeheartedly agree with that principle. That can help stave off other debt. But to expect to get through, say, law school without debt in some parts of the country is sheer insanity. I know my cousin, who went to University of MN has over a quarter of a million in law school debt. He’ll make enough to pay it off though, and he’s doing what he was called to do. That was the only way he could accomplish his dreams.
Do we do our best to not buy what we don’t need? Sure do! But occasionally, date night needs to happen, a baby sitter needs to be hired, and a new book or movie needs to be bought. I think that a lot of people in the church, especially people my age, get caught in the ever popular, legalist frugality mindset. You aren’t a bad Christian if you have a $200 a month grocery budget, or don’t want to spend the extra cash on organic (seriously, $7 for a gallon of milk? INSANITY!). You have to do what works for you and your family, within the commands of Christ and the Church. No more, no less.
I think the stockpiling idea can have its merits – I’ve been going absolutely nuts this year with stockpiling. I want enough for my family (including my parents and brother on the other side of town) and I want to be able to get enough to give. I’ve been able to donate double what I did last year thanks to couponing, sale shopping, and such. We may not always have a lot of cash, but I can always donate things people need like rice, shampoo, toothpaste, etc. You just have to be aware of not being gluttonous.
This is another great topic! I have thoroughly enjoyed reading all the comments, from so many households.
Personally, I’ve not seen this ‘idol’ in our church. But, our city (Nashville) certainly has a broad spectrum of different families in each church. While living here we’ve been in 4 churches. Each of these churches had families from the top of the financial pinnacle (either country western stars or famous Christian artist families) down to the poorest of families. Our personal experience was that all families were accepted. Now, I know some of yall are saying I just didn’t things. You could be right. Yet we never observed anyone condemning someone for being in debt, loosing a home, being out of work, etc. What we did see was a lot of giving to those in need. Maybe we were in unique churches. I know that the culture here in Nashville is very Christian oriented, so maybe that accounts for some of it. My husband also reminded me that we have been in some very unusual Sunday School classes. In one class instance, a member’s parent died and they couldn’t afford a funeral. Everyone in that class dug deep and gave something to help the member bury their parent. All of our SS Classes have had BIG givers, servants and lovers of Christ.
Whether this particular issue of frugality has become an ‘idol’ at large in our country’s chuches remains to be seen. I know that there are ministries that promote ‘debt free living’. One does come to mind. However, to be honest I’ve never heard them say it’s a ‘sin’ to be in debt. They just talk about the freedom (and in no way do they say living ‘debt free’ means you don’t work to live) that being debt free brings to you. We have a number of friends who have chosen to be debt free. Granted, this means smaller homes, one car, no vacations every year. BUT, they are debt free. These families have children, the father works, etc. It can be done.
I did not intend to offend anyone here. I just wanted to share my experience, and to testify that there are people out there who are debt free without being rich, or do not work for a living.
Ruth said:
Ruth, we struggled with some similar experiences. Not so much because people were in our face about it, but because we felt that longterm we would never fit in. We were at two different churches where life revolved around the public schools. These are two of the best districts in our area and we felt that we would never fit into the church because of the heavy emphasis on community involvement. (We planned to homeschool and did not aspire to a McMansion.) We went to Bible studies in fabulous homes and we never offered to host the study at the apartment we were in at the time because we just did not feel comfortable doing so. Our level of uncomfortableness was more about us than anyone else. But again, longterm we knew we would just never feel a part of the church when we were so different. The church we are in now is a much better fit for us. There is a good mix of professional and blue collar families from a variety of economic strata. We fit in somewhere in the mix and find it comfortable. 🙂
Cathy said:
I would agree that the Christian blogland is especially heavy in this, especially women’s blogs that focus on homemaking and Titus 2 teachings.