[Ohio-Communities-of-Faith] Amazing facts devotion

[Shelly Duffy]

SHOULD A CHRISTIAN EVER FILE BANKRUPTCY?
May 07, 2021 

Average reading time is about 5 minutes


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When people invest in a business, always doing their best, but the business fails, I don’t believe it’s a sin. The creditor knew the risk. Likewise, if you borrow money with the best intentions of paying it back, and due to circumstances such as unexpected catastrophic medical bills, it’s not a sin to find relief. 

But suppose you borrow money promising you’ll pay it back, but when you have a way to repay, in whole or in part, you decide to spend it on something nonessential. In that case, you’d be stealing. God evaluates sin based on a person’s heart. (See 1 Samuel 16:7.) 

There are several types of bankruptcy. One kind actually buys you time to reorganize your business so you can pay your debts, holding creditors back awhile. And there’s a form of bankruptcy that basically wipes out all your debt. Another type has you pay back a portion of the debt based on your assets and income at the time. 

People who have lost a spouse to tragedy are often left with tremendous debt. Sometimes the only way they’re ever going to see the light of day is by taking advantage of the legal means to remove those debts. In Bible times, every 50th year was a Jubilee, during which most debts were wiped out (see Leviticus 25:9–14). 

A woman once came to the prophet Elijah and said, “Your servant my husband is dead. … And the creditor is coming to take my two sons to be his slaves” (2 Kings 4:1). Elijah didn’t tell her not to pay her debt; instead, he performed a miracle to make it possible for her to pay it (2 Kings 4:2–7). 

As Christians, we can be the best witnesses by always honoring our debts. Sometimes the economy turns upside-down, or other drastic circumstances arise, and people need to file bankruptcy to survive. But I personally could not rest easy if I owed a debt but chose not to pay it. Yes, it can take years to pay off credit cards and dig ourselves out, but paying back just debts is a Christian responsibility. 



KEY BIBLE TEXTS 
"Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law."
Romans 13:8


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Shelley Duffy