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Haystack wrote:

Ernie wrote:I would encourage the majority of Christians (who have some savings and want to get some return on it) to invest it in someone or some business that is going to use it for a good cause instead of using it to enlarge or start a business that they don't need.

Ernie, can you clarify the statement in bold, mostly the part about business that they don't need? Are you saying that instead of someone starting a business they should help a brother with their business financially before or instead of starting their own?

JoshB was saying that he couldn't encourage charging interest on a loan to someone. I was suspecting that JoshB would be ok though with that same person owning a business and getting more return on investment than what he would take out of the business as a normal wage.
In my mind, this mentality would encourage people to enlarge their business or start additional businesses so that they could make investment income that is "scriptural".
This feels rather legalistic to me.

I would be fine with someone saving up money to buy a house, or have some money to live on when he can no longer work, and receiving interest on that money, and instead of starting a business or enlarging a business and having ones extra time and mental energy consumed with that, they could use that time and energy to minister in some way.
I agree with JoshR that it is not good for people in ministry to not be in touch with what life is like for the average person. However a person could work a good portion of the week and still have $3-6000 interest income a year that helps cover his living expenses and I don't know that this would hinder his ministry.

Perhaps I'm not seeing everything correctly though.

Ernie wrote:

Haystack wrote:

Ernie wrote:I would encourage the majority of Christians (who have some savings and want to get some return on it) to invest it in someone or some business that is going to use it for a good cause instead of using it to enlarge or start a business that they don't need.

Ernie, can you clarify the statement in bold, mostly the part about business that they don't need? Are you saying that instead of someone starting a business they should help a brother with their business financially before or instead of starting their own?

JoshB was saying that he couldn't encourage charging interest on a loan to someone. I was suspecting that JoshB would be ok though with that same person owning a business and getting more return on investment than what he would take out of the business as a normal wage.
In my mind, this mentality would encourage people to enlarge their business or start additional businesses so that they could make investment income that is "scriptural".
This feels rather legalistic to me.

I would be fine with someone saving up money to buy a house, or have some money to live on when he can no longer work, and receiving interest on that money, and instead of starting a business or enlarging a business and having ones extra time and mental energy consumed with that, they could use that time and energy to minister in some way.
I agree with JoshR that it is not good for people in ministry to not be in touch with what life is like for the average person. However a person could work a good portion of the week and still have $3-6000 interest income a year that helps cover his living expenses and I don't know that this would hinder his ministry.

Perhaps I'm not seeing everything correctly though.

I think I was misreading it. That makes more sense to me now, thank you Ernie.

Not sure what Amish you know, but the ones I know definitely use cheques - a lot of them - and definitely use banks. I use an Anabaptist credit union and sometimes when I'm there a horse and buggy drives right by the credit union's drive-up window.

Josh wrote:Not sure what Amish you know, but the ones I know definitely use cheques - a lot of them - and definitely use banks. I use an Anabaptist credit union and sometimes when I'm there a horse and buggy drives right by the credit union's drive-up window.

Now that is an interesting picture.

I think I answered my own question:

http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Usury

"It was formerly standard practice among the Old Order Amish to make loans for necessary purposes without interest and without notes or mortgages. In recent times this practice has not been fully maintained everywhere."

Also, the Amish community we know has two days every week dedicated that all should work for a community project.

On one community day when I was up there, they were all building a house for a newly wed couple. They had dug out the dirt for the basement with a team of mules, and were laying concrete block with dozens of men involved. They were hauling bags of mortar in the back of their buggies.

I understand that they also provide the stove and other expensive items for the home from a community pot.

So there is no need for a young couple to require a loan or usury to build a house inside the Amish community.

Just so beautiful. That is, what I would call, the ecclesia.

JohnHurt wrote:I think I answered my own question:

http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Usury

"It was formerly standard practice among the Old Order Amish to make loans for necessary purposes without interest and without notes or mortgages. In recent times this practice has not been fully maintained everywhere."

Amish have been using banks for a long time - where I live since they first settled here in the 1910s.

JohnHurt wrote:Also, the Amish community we know has two days every week dedicated that all should work for a community project.

On one community day when I was up there, they were all building a house for a newly wed couple. They had dug out the dirt for the basement with a team of mules, and were laying concrete block with dozens of men involved. They were hauling bags of mortar in the back of their buggies.

I understand that they also provide the stove and other expensive items for the home from a community pot.

So there is no need for a young couple to require a loan or usury to build a house inside the Amish community.

Just so beautiful. That is, what I would call, the ecclesia.

Which Amish group are you talking about?

Last time I stayed with an Amish family in Lobelville, the man of the house was explaining to me how he quickly paid off his farm by working extra hard at a nearby truss factory.