He tried to warn us:
It (The Bible) tells us that there are to be no passengers or parasites: if man does
not work, he ought not to eat. Every one is to work with his own hands,
and what is more, every one's work is to produce something good: there
will be no manufacture of silly luxuries and then of sillier
advertisements to persuade us to buy them. And there is to be no "swank"
or "side," no putting on airs. To that extent a Christian society would
be what we now call Leftist. On the other hand, it is always insisting on obedience-obedience (and
outward marks of respect) from all of us to properly appointed
magistrates, from children to parents, and (I am afraid this is going to
be very unpopular) from wives to husbands...
If there were such a society in existence and you or I visited it, I
think we should come away with a curious impression. We should feel that
its economic life was very socialistic and, in that sense, "advanced,"
but that its family life and its code of manners were rather
old-fashioned-perhaps even ceremonious and aristocratic...
Now another point. There is one bit of advice given to us by the ancient
heathen Greeks, and by the Jews in the Old Testament, and by the great
Christian teachers of the Middle Ages, which the modern economic system
has completely disobeyed. All these people told us not to lend money at
interest: and lending money at interest-what we call investment-is the
basis of our whole system.
Quoted from Mere Christianity: 3. Social Morality.
I suddenly feel inspired to dust off my copy of Mere Christianity. I haven't read it in a number of years.
ReplyDeleteIt was long ago that I read it, too, just recently remembered the quote.
ReplyDelete