The late professor Angus Maddison made some interesting observations in looking over what has happened to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita over the last 2,000 years. North America has been spectacularly successful economically for the average person, followed by Europe.
Why was the West so successful while the Soviet Union collapsed economically along with China under Mao and North Korea. All three countries impoverished their people and starved millions - at least 20 million in the Soviet Union in the 1930s and 60 million in the years following the launch of the Great Leap Forward in Chins beginning in 1958.
The Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto wrote an article in the International Herald Tribune in 2002 entitled “Why Capitalism Succeeded in the West and not elsewhere.” Based on the economic research that The Institute for Democracy and Liberty, which Hernando heads, has conducted in 35 countries in the world, Hernando believes that it is property rights and limited regulation that help the poor economically.
Property rights and freedom are core to the Bible and yet so hard to find in other religions and views of the world. Almost everyone knows the Biblical commandment “Do not steal” which effectively establish property rights. Somewhat less familiar is the concept that God pulled the Hebrew people out of slavery and meant for humans to be free.
But there are a number of other things that support flourishing. Even in the time of great crisis, when Jerusalem had been destroyed in 586 B.C., the Prophet Jeremiah told those carried off in exile to “seek the Shalom (Hebrew for wholeness) of the city… If the city flourishes, you will flourish.” In the ancient world where rage and revenge were what captives did, this was a startling and shocking idea.
The Bible asks us to look after others. The word compassion didn’t enter the Greek language until the first century where it appears 12 times in the New Testament.
The Biblical notion of flourishing was later implemented as a measure of justice in the guilds in England by having Fair weights.
A business ethic grew up around John Wesley’ Sermon 50 on “The Use of Money.” It was based on three premises “we ought to gain all we can, (not throwing our) precious talent into the sea, save all you can and then give all you can.” This was very important to Sir John Templeton who built up value in the Templeton Funds which he sold and now after his death has three foundations collectively worth $5.5 billion.
Andrew Carnegie’s Gospel of Wealth which he wrote in June 1889 sums it up well for many. It was a favorite of Bill Simon and my father who worked with Bill. Addressing the issue of rich and poor, a hot topic today, Andrew Carnegie concludes:
“Thus is the problem of Rich and Poor to be solved. The laws of accumulation will be left free ; the laws of distribution free. Individualism will continue, but the millionaire will be but a trustee for the poor; entrusted for a season with a great part of the increased wealth of the community, but administering it for the community far better than it could or would have done for itself. The best minds will thus have reached a stage in the development of the race which it is clearly seen that there is no mode of disposing of surplus wealth creditable to thoughtful and earnest men into whose hands it flows save by using it year by year for the general good. This day already dawns. But a little while, and although, without incurring the pity of their fellows, men may die sharers in great business enterprises from which their capital cannot be or has not been withdrawn, and is left chiefly at death for public uses, yet the man who dies leaving behind many millions in available wealth, which was his to administer during life, will pass away “unwept, unhonored, and unsung,” no matter to what uses he leaves the dross which he cannot take with him. Of such as these the public verdict will then be: “The man who dies thus rich dies disgraced.”
Such, in my opinion, is the true Gospel concerning Wealth, obedience to which is destined some day to solve the problem of the Rich and the Poor, and to bring Peace on earth, among men Good-Will.”
For a person the Bible, then, life is about being free, having property rights, working hard and seeking the wholeness of the communities we live in. While so many humans don’t live up to these ideals, imagine if they did. Wouldn’t this be Paradise?
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