Teaching Economics From The Bible

I thought this was interesting and ought to share it. The following is paraphrased from an audio file titled "Teaching Economics From The Bible", which can be found here: http://www.trinitylectures.org/MP3_downloads.php

It includes some common erros that parents make when teaching their children about money and such things.


1. Pay a child for work done. Do not give an allowance for nothing.

2. Do not give a child money to put in the collection plate. He’s learning to give away other people’s money. Teach the child to give a portion of his own money. Then he is learning to be generous.

3. Do not force a child to share their toys. It’s little lessons in larceny. They are learning to demand the property of others, and to accept the demand of their own property by others. This is a blueprint for totalitarianism. Children should be taught to respect the property of others, to cooperate, and to trade. If you let me play with your…, I’ll let you play with my…
These are peaceful means.

Practical guidance:

If you drop something, pick it up. Self control.

If you start something, finish it. Perseverance

If you break something, fix it or replace it. Individual responsibility.

If you want something, work for it, or offer to work for it. Hard work and cooperation.

There should be assigned chores in the home, and work in the family business, or be encouraged to start their own businesses.

They should be taught to value honest labor, no matter how menial, for it pleases God.

They should be taught to save, invest, and give only to those in genuine need.

When they get older, they should be introduced to logic. With a rudimentary foundation in logic and necessary implication, and the axioms found in scripture, they can begin the study of the Science of Economics. But it begins with the Bible.

Instill these habits in younger children, and principles in older children. By the time they get to college, they’ll know more about Economics than most of their professors.

Teaching Economics from the Bible.

John W Robbins.

 

That was my reaction too, till I thought about it a while. The not-sharing one really flipped me around.