BIBLE AND ECONOMICS

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIV, Issue 79, 15 March 1934, Page 8

BIBLE AND ECONOMICS

British Israel Teaching OBEDIENCE TO GOD'S LAWS Tho practical application of the Christian Gospels and of the teaching of the British Israelite creed as a means of solving tho economic problems now facing the world, formed the subject of an interesting address given in Hastings last evening by Dr. D. 8. Milne, of Otaki. Mr H. E. Grainger, who acted as chairman, explained that the British Israelite movement asked nobody to leave his Church, but believed that the teaching of the British Israel truth made the churchman cling more closely to his Church, and realise more vividly the truth of God’s teaching. The most potent factor in our Ilves was the economic problem, the doctor began. It would be surprising, therefore, if there were no instructions on this problem in the Bible. In actual fact there was a multitude of such instructions. To illustrate some of them, the doctor went on to speak of God’s promises to Abraham, and of their extension by Abraham among li:a descendants. The speaker referred also to the exile of the House of Judah and tho House of Israel. The House of Judah, ho said, was due to emerge from exile in the year 1800—the very year when Britain began to extend abroad and to teach the Gospel among the newly discovered countries of the world. SIGNIFICANCE OF SABBATH. The House of Israel had been promised their emancipation 136 years after tho emancipation of Judah. That meant tho year 1917, which was the year in ' which the Jews were re-established in Palestine. Those and other covenants ; had attached to them very strong 1 economic meanings. 1 Even the new covenant, under which 1 Christ died in promise of fulfilment, ’ gave promise of prosperity in material ' things. Indeed, all tho laws of the ' Bible promised material blessings to > those who obeyed them. The children ! of Israel broke the law from the beginning, and Ahab, who married i Jezebel, and wanted to buy a piece of , land from Naboth, had to employ » 1 subterfuge to get it. i The Sabbath law prescribed a day of rest for man and for the land, ana ! even an atheistic writer had said that tho observance of the Sabbath was the I foundation of England’s greatness. No other nation kept the Sabbath as England kept it. The Sabbath was a day | for man to halt and to examine his I soul, and to commune with himself and | with God. ( The Biblical law prescribed also that I the land should have a rest, from tillage every seventh year, and after every 49 years —in other words, in each 50th' vear—there was to bo a jubilee, is tn which landholders and labourers e were allowed to make mutual concesn sions to each other in contravention of t the laws of the land. Furthermore, each seventh year was to bo a year of release from debt. lt j When, 10 years ago. Balfour pro- * I posed the forgiveness of debts, he was laughed at as a crazy idealist, bu» Balfour’s proposal was highly in fav our among the nations to-day. Speaking of tithes, the doctor won' on (o say that many people were prii' - Using tithing to-day, and had no cause to regret it. The world was groaning under a load of taxation, much ol which was applied wasteful!}', but # is man required to pay a tithe, which at one lime was the only form lax«

tion, certainly had the advantage o.f knowing definitely what tribute was ex pected of him. ST.| MATTHEW ON ECONOMICS. Interest and usury, said the doctor, were synonymous terms. Often a loan had to be raised to pay the interest on previous loans, and this defiance of the law of God had created a toppling mountain of debt. The world’s debt was almost greater than the value ot the world itself. The whole prosperity of the wohld was dependent upon man’s faith in God, and religion pervaded every one of life’s activities. Moses’ laws were not abolished, as some people contended, except the sacrificial law, by Christ’s death and sacrifice; excepting that part of the Jaw, the laws of Moses, including the Ten Commandments, still held. Christ actually confirmed some of the laws of Moses, notably the law dealing with interest on loans, or usury. Jesus, the speaker believed, taught that we should forgive our debtors at the end of every seventh year, r.s was taught by God through Moses. The doctor went on to speak of the. Sermon on the Mount as the greatest lecture on economics that was ever written, and read from it a number ot passages to illustrate his contention. The sermon was not idealistic or impracticable; the world to-day showed what had come of the disobedience of God’s laws. Service should be the chief aim of mankind. It w;as possible that the Biblical laws were a little out of date in their applicability to the world of to-day. but certainly not in their spirit. The Douglas Credit System was perhaps the proper way of carrying out the laws of Moses, but it would be of no use to the world unless there was a change of heart among the people; unless tho nations gave themselves wholeheartedly to God’s service. It, was only by a national turning to God that such things could come about. Tho British Israelite teaching was that the coming of Christ was very close, and that He would come back 1 when the. world was repentant and ask--1 cd for Him. i