Family Debt - General
- Dec 1, 2005 - comment
There is no dignity so impressive, and no dependence quite so important as living within your means. (Calvin Coolidge)
Wise Words from America’s Founding Fathers and other Patriotic Americans [Accessed August 8, 2005]
Famous quotes on debt:
- Credit buying is much like being drunk; the buzz happens immediately, and it gives you a lift. The hangover comes the day after. (Dr. Joyce Brothers)
- There are but two ways of paying debt: increase of industry in raising income, increase of thrift in laying out. (Thomas Carlyle)
- Credit is a system whereby a person who can not pay gets another person who can not pay to guarantee that he can pay. (Charles Dickens)
- Rather go to bed without dinner than to rise in debt. (Benjamin Franklin)
- The nation is prosperous on the whole, but how much prosperity is there in a hole? (Will Rogers)
- Modern man drives a mortgaged car over a bond-financed highway on credit-card gas. (Earl Wilson)
Debt [Accessed August 8, 2005]
General principles regarding debt:
- Going into debt is quick and easy; getting out is long and difficult.
- When emotion overrules rational thinking, you’re headed for trouble.
- The short-term gain is rarely worth the long-term pain.
- Be pro-active rather than reactive. The time to evaluate your mutual comfort level with debt is long before you’re deciding on a purchase.
Excerpted from Bethany and Scott Palmer, Cents & Sensibility (Colorado Springs: Life Journey, 2005), 36-37.
“DEBT. It’s the single worst four-letter word in the English language … Debt is the longest-lasting economic curse, the most heinous financial plague, and the least recognized form of modern slavery afflicting Americans this millennium. Debt keeps you up late at night. Debt drives you to drink, fight with your spouse, have anxiety and experience a host of other miseries that you never imagined. Can’t figure out why you’re always depressed on the morning after payday? It’s because the only ones celebrating your payday are your creditors, since 40 percent of your paycheck is going towards your ever-growing debts.”
Lynnette Khalfani, Zero Debt: The Ultimate Guide to Financial Freedom (South Orange, NJ: Advantage World Press, 2004), 8.
“Regardless of how it seems today, debt is not normal in any economy and should not be normal for God’s people. We live in a debt-ridden society that is now virtually dependent on a constant expansion of credit to keep the economy going. That is a symptom of a society no longer willing to follow God’s directions. We see this disobedience in abortion, homosexuality, pornography, and adultery. Why do we assume it is any different in the area of money? Yet Christians who would never think of actively participating in those other areas naively follow the world’s path in the area of credit.”
Larry Burkett, Debt-Free Living (Chicago: Moody Press, 1989), 57.
Who is in debt and why?
More often than not, people with heavy debt loads generally fit into two categories: 1) over-spenders and poor money managers; and 2) individuals who fall victim to “The Five Dreaded D’s:”
- Divorce
- Downsizing
- Death
- Disability
- Disease
Lynnette Khalfani, Zero Debt: The Ultimate Guide to Financial Freedom (South Orange, NJ: Advantage World Press, 2004), 13-14.
“Nothing in the area of finances has so dominated or influenced the direction of our society during the last fifty years as debt. It’s amazing when you consider that only a generation ago credit cards were unknown, car loans were a rarity, and mortgages were for G.I.s who were getting their starter homes. No one in our fathers’ or grandfathers’ generations would have believed that any banker would be so foolish as to lend a teenager money to go to college. Their counsel would have been (and was) to ‘Get a job.’
“Today it is not unusual for a young couple to owe nearly a [sic] $100,000 within the first two years of marriage. A profile of a young couple’s debt often reveals their financial training—or lack of it—including a home mortgage of approximately $65,000, college loans (his and hers) of $20,000, and car loans (his and hers) of $13,000. Often the list extends even further to include consolidation loans, finance company loans, and parental loans. And why not? If it’s good enough for the country, it’s good enough for the family, right?”
Larry Burkett, Debt-Free Living (Chicago: Moody Press, 1989), 7.
“Debt is not a well-understood term today. Most people use the word debt to describe any borrowing, but although that is not entirely inaccurate, it is not precise enough.”
“Scripture goes beyond that definition to describe the conditions of indebtedness. Even if a debt is current (all payments up to date), the borrower is potentially in a position of servitude, according to Proverbs 22:7: ‘The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower becomes the lender’s slave.’ But if the debt is delinquent, the lender is given an implied authority from God, according to the Bible. In the time of Christ that authority extended to imprisonment, slavery, and the confiscation of a borrower’s total worldly possessions. Not once in Scripture is there even a hint that that was not the legitimate right of a lender. The only variable Scripture allows is that, if the lender and the borrower were both Jews, the borrower would be released from servitude at the end of seven years, unless he voluntarily elected to remain a slave. To say the least, borrowing was not a decision to be taken lightly.”
Larry Burkett, Debt-Free Living (Chicago: Moody Press, 1989), 53-54.
“The absolute minimum that God’s Word establishes for any borrower is found in Psalm 37:21: ‘The wicked borrows and does not pay back, but the righteous is gracious and gives.‘ If we don’t want to be counted among the ‘wicked,’ we must repay any debt we owe. Knowing this should cause any Christian to avoid unnecessary borrowing for any reason. It really doesn’t matter if the ‘circumstances’ are beyond our control. If we make a debt, we’re stuck with it.
“It may mean many years of sacrifices to pay even the minimum amount to creditors, but anyone who has ever made the step over to a life of ‘faith’ will attest that having God’s peace is more valuable than the world’s wealth. ‘A good name is to be more desired than great riches, favor is better than silver and gold’ (Proverbs 22:1). It would seem clear, biblically, that cheating includes not paying a legitimate debt. Until that is cleared up, and the creditor has agreed to some repayment plan, God’s blessings are blocked. ‘If therefore you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar, and go your way; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering’ (Matthew 5:23-24).”
Larry Burkett, Principles Under Scrutiny (Dahlonega, GA: Christian Financial Concepts, 1985), 75.