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Economics and Christian Ethics

Economics and Christian Ethics. Day 1: How do we consider our Christian faith when making financial decisions?. Economics and Christian Ethics. What are the financial concerns you/we face today?

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Economics and Christian Ethics

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  1. Economics and Christian Ethics Day 1: How do we consider our Christian faith when making financial decisions?

  2. Economics and Christian Ethics • What are the financial concerns you/we face today? • Beyond our Christian beliefs, what factors do we consider when deciding where, how, and with whom to spend our financial resources?

  3. Economics and Christian Ethics • How do we consider our faith when making decisions on what to do with our financial resources? • We are called each year to “prayerfully consider” our pledge to St. Anne for the coming year. Do we do the same when deciding: • How much to donate, and to which charities? • Which house to buy, and when to replace the car? • How much to spend vs. save? • Where we shop and spend those resources? • How does your faith play into such decisions? • What would it mean to put our faith first in making these kinds of financial decisions?

  4. Economics and Christian Ethics • What are we called to do, as Christians, with our financial resources? • The Parable of the Talents • What lessons should we take from this?

  5. The Parable of the Talents 14 “For it is like a man going on a journey, who summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them. 15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16 The one who had received five talents went off right away and put his money to workand gained five more. 17 In the same way, the one who had two gained two more. 18 But the one who had received one talent went out and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money in it. 19 After a long time, the master of those slaves came and settled his accounts with them. 20 The one who had received the five talents came and brought five more, saying, ‘Sir, you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’ 21 His master answered, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave! You have been faithful in a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 22 The one with the two talents also came and said, ‘Sir, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have gained two more.’ 23 His master answered, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave! You have been faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 24 Then the one who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Sir, I knew that you were a hard man, harvesting where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master answered, ‘Evil and lazy slave! So you knew that I harvest where I didn’t sow and gather where I didn’t scatter? 27 Then you should have deposited my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received my money back with interest! 28 Therefore take the talent from him and give it to the one who has ten. 29 For the one who has will be given more, and he will have more than enough. But the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. 30 And throw that worthless slave into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth’” (Matthew 25:13-30).

  6. The Donuts • Why did we give donuts to a few individuals but not most of you? What does this represent? • How did it feel to be given the donuts? What did people who were given the donuts do with them? Why? • How did it feel to not be given the donuts? What did you expect the people who were given the donuts to do with them? Why?

  7. The Donuts • What if, instead of it being a bag of donuts, it had been $10? $1000? Your yearly salary? The winning Powerball ticket? • Should 10% of the donuts have been given to the church/tithed? • Clearly, it was luck of the draw in terms of who got the donuts – it was based on who sat in the “lucky” chairs. But what would a fair distribution of the donuts be? • Equal distribution? • Equity-based distribution? • Need-based distribution? • Other rules? • The Donut Song

  8. Next time… • We’ll turn to scripture, and have some small group discussions of passages related to this topic • Hope to see you next Sunday!

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