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.Haystack wrote: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?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.
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.