{"id":1519,"date":"2014-02-20T06:48:57","date_gmt":"2014-02-20T11:48:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/godonomics\/?p=1519"},"modified":"2014-01-08T09:12:23","modified_gmt":"2014-01-08T14:12:23","slug":"glenn-beck-capitalism-and-the-bible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/2014\/02\/glenn-beck-capitalism-and-the-bible.html","title":{"rendered":"Glenn Beck, Capitalism, and the Bible"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I had an opportunity to speak with Glenn Beck recently about the Biblical case for free market capitalism. \u00a0Here is a clip.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=8DFO7mCdkx0[\/youtube]\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Godonomics: Chad Hovind gives Biblical Case for Free Market Capitalism to Glenn Beck\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8DFO7mCdkx0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I was reading the book of Ruth again this week and struck by God&#8217;s powerful record of Godly business men. \u00a0The book of Ruth should be called the <em>Book of Naomi. <\/em>\u00a0 It tells the story of a mother who endures terrible tragedy. \u00a0Her business fails due to famine. She is forced to move cross country with her husband. In the span of a few years, she loses her husband and both of her sons. She is so terrified, so angry, so hardened by life&#8217;s relentless attacks that she changes her name to &#8220;bitter.&#8221; She returns to her hometown and asks everyone to call her bitter as a constant reminder that God is out to get her.<\/p>\n<p>Enter the scene, Boaz. \u00a0 Boaz is a business owner. Boaz is a capitalist. \u00a0Boaz owns lots of land. \u00a0 He is rich. \u00a0He lives his life to do kingdom work. What is kingdom work? \u00a0Well, first he runs a successful business making enough profit to provide jobs for many in his town. \u00a0Secondly, he cuts his margins and expenses to enable generosity. \u00a0He leaves the corners of his fields for the poor to glean. They still must work to pick up the food, but no one will go hungry. \u00a0 \u00a0Boaz doesn&#8217;t sit up in some ivory tower away from his employees, but instead sleeps in the barn with them to protect the produce from animals. \u00a0 Boaz is a blessing not just by giving to the poor, but by providing jobs for the poor and middle class in his community. \u00a0He is not to be demonized, but celebrated.<\/p>\n<p>Ruth and Naomi are starving. Boaz allows Ruth to glean her fields. Boaz has heard about Ruth&#8217;s love for God and care for her bitter mother-in-law. \u00a0Boaz asks his men to drop &#8220;extra&#8221; food as the glean for Ruth and her mother. \u00a0 Ruth comes home with a basket full. \u00a0Naomi is surprised. \u00a0She praises God for the first time&#8230; in a long time. She notes that God may not have forsaken them.\u00a0 Boaz&#8217;s business and generosity is the tool God uses to bring Naomi back to faith in the Great God Jehovah. The story is littered with Biblical principles of capitalism: \u00a0Work Ethic, Property Rights, Incentive, Profit, Savings, Fair Wages, and a Generous Spirit.<\/p>\n<p>We need to celebrate capitalism today. We need to distinguish capitalism from corruptionism in our culture. We need a thousand more Boaz&#8217;s in America to take down the unemployment rate. \u00a0We need to educate our children to grow up to produce, profit, save, invest, and give. \u00a0 We need our children to intuitively see business as good and a blessing to our nation, instead of &#8220;evil&#8221; greedy trolls ~as they are portrayed in movies and TV shows. \u00a0The Bible challenges the &#8220;progressive&#8221; movement to think deeper than bumper stickers. It challenges them to examine if they are being used as &#8220;useful idiots&#8221; for a coercive corrupt government clock and dagger. \u00a0The Bible also challenges the unthinking banner waving republican who presumes business is always good. \u00a0 It challenges us as business leaders to pay fairly using the golden rule as our standard. \u00a0 It challenges us to put ourselves in the shoes of our employees. \u00a0It challenges us not to use the government to steal from someone to enhance our endeavors over someone else. \u00a0 The Bible is not Red or Blue. \u00a0It does not support Democrats or Republicans. God is not on &#8220;one side&#8221; or the other. \u00a0God is on God&#8217;s side. \u00a0We need to side with Him rather than trying to get Him to side with us. \u00a0 \u00a0Capitalism (properly defined and implemented) is the most moral, wise, and generous system of\u00a0elevated\u00a0poverty in human history. \u00a0We need more, not less, of it. \u00a0Jesus worked and sold goods in his dad&#8217;s carpenter shop. \u00a0His family celebrated when they made a profit so they could buy food and give to others. \u00a0 All records seem to indicate that Jesus&#8217; family was very very poor. \u00a0The sacrifice they offered at Jesus&#8217; dedication was the cheapest sacrifice offering, further evidence to their financial struggles. \u00a0 The Bible doesn&#8217;t promise financial prosperity to all, but it does see prosperity as a critical stewardship.\u00a0 Jesus made money as a blue collar\u00a0carpenter\u00a0and didn&#8217;t promote hiring Rome to steal from the <em>three kings<\/em>\u00a0to give to the shepherds. \u00a0 Jesus is no more a Marxist than he would be a murderer. Jesus is no more a socialist than he would be a bank robber.<\/p>\n<p>For more information, check out\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.godonomics.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">www.godonomics.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.godonomics.com\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.godonomics.com\/images\/godonomics-header.png\" width=\"600\" height=\"162\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I had an opportunity to speak with Glenn Beck recently about the Biblical case for free market capitalism. \u00a0Here is a clip. I was reading the book of Ruth again this week and struck by God&#8217;s powerful record of Godly business men. \u00a0The book of Ruth should be called the Book of Naomi. \u00a0 It&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":353,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67,65],"tags":[443,444,445],"class_list":["post-1519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-capitalismsocialism","category-generosity","tag-boaz-bible-capitalism","tag-business-god","tag-glenn-beck-and-capitalism"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Glenn Beck, Capitalism, and the Bible - Godonomics<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/2014\/02\/glenn-beck-capitalism-and-the-bible.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Glenn Beck, Capitalism, and the Bible - Godonomics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I had an opportunity to speak with Glenn Beck recently about the Biblical case for free market capitalism. \u00a0Here is a clip. I was reading the book of Ruth again this week and struck by God&#8217;s powerful record of Godly business men. \u00a0The book of Ruth should be called the Book of Naomi. \u00a0 It&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/2014\/02\/glenn-beck-capitalism-and-the-bible.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Godonomics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-02-20T11:48:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-01-08T14:12:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.godonomics.com\/images\/godonomics-header.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"chadhovind\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Glenn Beck, Capitalism, and the Bible - Godonomics","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/2014\/02\/glenn-beck-capitalism-and-the-bible.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Glenn Beck, Capitalism, and the Bible - Godonomics","og_description":"I had an opportunity to speak with Glenn Beck recently about the Biblical case for free market capitalism. \u00a0Here is a clip. 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He graduated from Moody Bible College in Chicago, majoring in pastoral ministry and communication. His love for ministry and creativity can be seen in many forms: leading teams, expository teaching, acting, and video production. He has served as pastor at two high-impact churches in Georgia: Cumberland Community Church and New Community Church. Chad received an M.A. in Ministry from Moody Graduate School in 2008. He loves volleyball, movies, and hanging out with his wife Beth and their three children.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.godonomics.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/author\/chadhovind"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/353"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1519"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1519\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2902,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1519\/revisions\/2902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}