The big difference is that business allows the transfer of wealth or value to be based on production, while gambling occurs without production. Sustained productivity creates added value. The system that drives the world in any country seeks to protect this productivity through legal or administrative power. If productivity does not improve, society will deteriorate. Interest represents the added value of the financial industry, serving as the price of time for lending money. Therefore, since interest is an abstract concept agreed upon by society, it does not create new values that did not exist through production activities. If interest leads to the transfer of wealth, someone inevitably experiences a sense of loss. There are two instances in which interest is permitted in the Bible: one is when nature’s productive forces yield fruit that did not previously exist, and the other is when the neighbor’s self-sacrifice is acknowledged. Thus, when interest is recognized as a price for supp...
The big difference is that business allows the transfer of wealth or value to be based on production, while gambling occurs without production. Sustained productivity creates added value. The system that drives the world in any country seeks to protect this productivity through legal or administrative power. If productivity does not improve, society will deteriorate. Interest represents the added value of the financial industry, serving as the price of time for lending money. Therefore, since interest is an abstract concept agreed upon by society, it does not create new values that did not exist through production activities. If interest leads to the transfer of wealth, someone inevitably experiences a sense of loss. There are two instances in which interest is permitted in the Bible: one is when nature’s productive forces yield fruit that did not previously exist, and the other is when the neighbor’s self-sacrifice is acknowledged. Thus, when interest is recognized as a price for supporting production activities, the justification of profits arises. To move means to produce, and production means to create new value by making what did not previously exist in the world. The reason for conducting business is that production activities benefit the world we live in, not to gamble. It is commendable to produce or support production, while gambling or theft that reallocates wealth without production is futile or immoral. Humans are beings that create values not previously available by utilizing the material world fashioned by the Creator. God creates, and human beings produce on the foundation of that creation. What did you produce today, too?
- Joseph’s “just my thoughts”
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