From the Preface to my book called God's Economy.
I grew up on a farm, so I left school early to work in
farming. After a couple of years, I realised that I did not have the strength
and stamina that farming needs, so I decided to go to university. While
working with sheep and driving the tractor, I had plenty of time to think about
the poverty and suffering that were rampant throughout the world. The problems
seemed to be economic and political, so I enrolled to study economics and politics.
After four years of study, I realised that I was digging a dry
well. The assumptions that economists have to make to ensure their models
work are so unrealistic that their theories are irrelevant to the real world. It
seemed that during the first three years of economics, they told you all the
solutions, but in the fourth year, they explained why they would not work. (I
noted that my fellow students who went into politics, often only did the
three-year course, so they went out boldly assuming they had effective policies).
While growing up, our family had gone to church every Sunday, but
for me, it was just a habit. When I reached university and encountered modern
philosophy, I gave up my religious habit. However, just when I became
disillusioned with economics, I heard the gospel of Jesus clearly for the first
time. I surrendered to him and committed to living by his word and Spirit.
A few months later, I had an exam for a post-graduate course on
comparative economics. The lecturer was a staunch Marxist. Full of my new-found
faith, I wrote in my paper that Marx has no solution to human problems and that
Jesus is the answer. I gave a similar response in a paper on macroeconomics.
Surprisingly, I passed the course with first class honours.
However, at the beginning of the following year, one of my professors asked to
meet with me. He disclosed that he was an atheist, but acknowledged that my
faith seemed to be genuine. He told me that it was not enough to say that
Jesus is the answer. I needed to explain how he could be a solution to the
problems that concerned me. He concluded with a telling question: “What would
the economy and society look like if everyone was a Christian”.
I could not answer his question, but I knew that I had to find
the answer to it. I did not know enough about God, or his solutions to
economic problems, but I made it my goal to find out.
I went to seminary for three years and studied theology and New
Testament Greek. Later I studied Hebrew for two years to get a better
understanding of the Old Testament. While employed as an economist, I read
every book and article that I could find that is relevant to economics and the
gospel.
About ten years ago, I felt that I was ready to answer the
question that my atheist teacher had asked, but one more obstacle lay in the
way. I still had faith in political power. I believed that God’s people could
use political power to establish his Kingdom on earth. I needed to grasp the
failures and futility of politics.
Modern economics is mostly politics. The solutions dreamt up by
economists can only be implemented by a government with coercive power, so economics
becomes a servant of politics.
- Fiscal policy explains why politicians should take money from
some people and use it to benefit others.
- Monetary policy explains how governments can control the creation
of money and who should benefit.
- Labour economics guides politicians who want to control
employment practices and pay.
Modern economics and politics are hard to separate. Economic
principles get caught up in political power.
Jesus refused to use political power to advance the Kingdom of
God (Luke 22:25-26; John 18:36). Political spirits and government spirits have
used political authority to leverage their power on earth. Evil cannot be used
to accomplish good.
When I studied this issue seriously, I discovered that God had
already given a system of government to Moses that does not rely on force and
coercion. I described his system of local judges applying his law and voluntary
military leaders protecting their community in a book called Government of God
(2017). It explains how Kingdom Communities can function without political
power. They can voluntarily provide all the services that human governments
promise, but fail to deliver.
Once I understood the problems of political power, my
understanding of the nature of economics changed dramatically. The policies of
modern economists cannot enter the Kingdom of God because they need to be
imposed from the top by human governments with the power to make people do the
right thing. I began seeking a politics-free economics.
I discovered the Instructions for Economic Life that God gave to
Moses (see chapter 2). I also found that Jesus had validated these
instructions in his teaching about economics (see chapter 3). God’s
instructions allow a community of people to develop an economy that can
function effectively without the need for political power and coercion.
The advance of the gospel by the power of the Spirit should
produce a radically different economy. The most significant change is that
there will be no human government to enforce economic policies. Economic change
will come as more and more people choose to follow Jesus and are prompted by
the Holy Spirit to obey his commands.
God’s economy is not modern capitalism. Modern capitalism is a
system in which all activities are commercialised. Big businesses collude with
political power to gain wealth at the expense of ordinary people. Materialism
and consumerism are advanced at the expense of relationships. The strong are
rewarded, the weak suffer. God’s economy is radically different from modern
capitalism.
This book describes the changes to economic activity that will
occur as the Government of God comes to fullness. It seeks to answer the
following question: “What would an economy look like if most people chose to
follow Jesus and the Holy Spirit was able to establish the Government of
God?”. This is the question my economics teacher asked me back in 1975.
As the gospel advances, followers of Jesus will form Kingdom
Communities that implement his system of justice, protection and welfare (as
described in Government of God). God’s economy will emerge as these
communities apply Jesus’ interpretation of the Instructions for Economic Life.
The practical outworking of God’s economic wisdom will vary
according to local cultural and living arrangements. People will have to work
out the details by following the leading of the Holy Spirit and adapting the
principles to their local situation.