Nope. I don’t have a specific divinely revealed message for you about Venezuelan currency devaluation. What I have instead are just some under-developed ideas to present, and all of you can make up your own minds about it. And you can also feel free to chime in and help me make up my mind.
There story is here. It concerns Venezuelan currency, and because I spent the first five years of my life in that country where weight is measured in kilos and purchasing power in bolivares, anything that happens in Venezuelan politics is of interest to me. This latest piece of news is that Hugo Chavez has decided to devalue the Venezuelan Bolivar by 50% and institute a dual-value system. The end effect of this move is that it takes away fifty percent of the value of any bank accounts in Bolivars people might have, while temporarily forcing down the prices of staple food products, and allowing the government to spend the 50% that they just unofficially took out of everyone’s bank and cash savings to pay for more handouts for the poor. All this is being done right before an election, and Chavez is hoping that this will appear to everyone as a Robin-Hoodesque move, bumping up his support.
Never mind that the Venezuelan government just quickly took half of everyone’s money. Officially, they didn’t take a Bolivar from anyone. But in reality, by manipulating the standard measures of wealth, they might as well have levied an overnight 50% tax on all cash. Of course, this sort of messing around with finances will probably continue to disrupt trade in Venezuela, driving away anyone who might want to make investments involving the Bolivar and therefore driving away the businesses which could employ many Venezuelans and lessen poverty. But what I want to talk about is not the economic effects of Chavez’s class-warfare style of economics. What I want to talk about is the question of whether the Bible condemns the practice of manipulating currency.
Of course, when the Bible was written, there were no modern fiat paper currencies with values set by the central government which could be manipulated through that sort of devaluing. Instead, in Biblical time gold and silver were primary mediums of exchange, with prices set by weighing the gold and silver. Thus, if one wanted to manipulate the money supply, one would have to manipulate the standard measures (and what is a Bolivar if not a modern standard measure?) A local preacher found me in a coffeeshop back in my hometown and started preaching to me on the gold standard. He strongly condemned the move away from the gold standard as the beginning of governmental manipulation of the money supply and then told me that he was collecting references in the prophetic books to “unjust weights and measures,” which he believed fiat currency was a model example of. I’ve not yet had the pleasure of seeing his collection of references, but here’s a few passages to read. The question to ask about them is, what, if any, light to these passages shed on the practices of governments, such as Venezuela’s, who manipulate currency for their own benefit?
Leviticus 19:35-26 — “You shall do no perversity in judgment, in measure of length, of weight, or quantity. Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin you shall have. I am Jehovah your God, who has brought you out of the land of Egypt.”
Deuteronomy 25:15 — “You shall have a perfect and just weight; a perfect and just measure you shall have; that your days may be lengthened in the land which Jehovah your God gives you.”
Proverbs 11:1 — “A false balance is a disgusting thing to Jehovah, but a just weight is his delight.”
Proverbs 16:11 — “A just weight and balance are Jehovah’s: all the weights of the bag are his work.”
Ezekiel 46:10 — “Thus says the Lord Jehovah: Enough, you princes of Israel! Turn away from violence and looting, and practice justice and righteousness; lift up your exactions from off my people, says the Lord Jehovah. You shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath.”
Micah 6:10 — “Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is abominable. Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights?”
Think about it.
Related Posts:
venezuelan currency adjustment and what the bible says about it
Nope. I don’t have a specific divinely revealed message for you about Venezuelan currency devaluation. What I have instead are just some under-developed ideas to present, and all of you can make up your own minds about it. And you can also feel free to chime in and help me make up my mind.
There story is here. It concerns Venezuelan currency, and because I spent the first five years of my life in that country where weight is measured in kilos and purchasing power in bolivares, anything that happens in Venezuelan politics is of interest to me. This latest piece of news is that Hugo Chavez has decided to devalue the Venezuelan Bolivar by 50% and institute a dual-value system. The end effect of this move is that it takes away fifty percent of the value of any bank accounts in Bolivars people might have, while temporarily forcing down the prices of staple food products, and allowing the government to spend the 50% that they just unofficially took out of everyone’s bank and cash savings to pay for more handouts for the poor. All this is being done right before an election, and Chavez is hoping that this will appear to everyone as a Robin-Hoodesque move, bumping up his support.
Never mind that the Venezuelan government just quickly took half of everyone’s money. Officially, they didn’t take a Bolivar from anyone. But in reality, by manipulating the standard measures of wealth, they might as well have levied an overnight 50% tax on all cash. Of course, this sort of messing around with finances will probably continue to disrupt trade in Venezuela, driving away anyone who might want to make investments involving the Bolivar and therefore driving away the businesses which could employ many Venezuelans and lessen poverty. But what I want to talk about is not the economic effects of Chavez’s class-warfare style of economics. What I want to talk about is the question of whether the Bible condemns the practice of manipulating currency.
Of course, when the Bible was written, there were no modern fiat paper currencies with values set by the central government which could be manipulated through that sort of devaluing. Instead, in Biblical time gold and silver were primary mediums of exchange, with prices set by weighing the gold and silver. Thus, if one wanted to manipulate the money supply, one would have to manipulate the standard measures (and what is a Bolivar if not a modern standard measure?) A local preacher found me in a coffeeshop back in my hometown and started preaching to me on the gold standard. He strongly condemned the move away from the gold standard as the beginning of governmental manipulation of the money supply and then told me that he was collecting references in the prophetic books to “unjust weights and measures,” which he believed fiat currency was a model example of. I’ve not yet had the pleasure of seeing his collection of references, but here’s a few passages to read. The question to ask about them is, what, if any, light to these passages shed on the practices of governments, such as Venezuela’s, who manipulate currency for their own benefit?
Leviticus 19:35-26 — “You shall do no perversity in judgment, in measure of length, of weight, or quantity. Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin you shall have. I am Jehovah your God, who has brought you out of the land of Egypt.”
Deuteronomy 25:15 — “You shall have a perfect and just weight; a perfect and just measure you shall have; that your days may be lengthened in the land which Jehovah your God gives you.”
Proverbs 11:1 — “A false balance is a disgusting thing to Jehovah, but a just weight is his delight.”
Proverbs 16:11 — “A just weight and balance are Jehovah’s: all the weights of the bag are his work.”
Ezekiel 46:10 — “Thus says the Lord Jehovah: Enough, you princes of Israel! Turn away from violence and looting, and practice justice and righteousness; lift up your exactions from off my people, says the Lord Jehovah. You shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath.”
Micah 6:10 — “Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is abominable. Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights?”
Think about it.
Related Posts: