Evangéliumi Hírnök, 2003 (95. évfolyam, 1-11. szám)

2003-08-01 / 8. szám

THE ECONOMIST Church leaders often call on their flocks to live a life of service to God “re­gardless of cost.” This exhortation flies straight in the face of economic thinking - and reality. Believers, to be sure, fully in­tend to live up to this ideal while in church, as reflected by their hymns and prayers. But their everyday behavior tells a different story. The connection be­tween these two life spheres is often tenu­ous and sometimes non-existent. No wonder hypocrisy is the accusation most often leveled against Christians. Econo­mists point to the inevitability of this con­flict between idealism and reality, but they also offer ways to bridge the chasm between them. We live in a world in which our wants are greater than the available resources (land, labor, factories, etc.) to satisfy them. Economists call this fact “scar­city.” Our plight - the “human condi­tion” - forces us to cope with scarcity as best as we can, i.e. to “economize”. This means that we are faced with alternatives and must constantly choose between them. We tend to choose the options that bring us the greatest satisfaction. The value of the next best alternatives that we have to give up represents the costs that we incur whenever we make a decision. Economists refer to them as “opportunity costs.” So every choice involves a com­parison between benefits and costs. Our wants may be material (buying a car) or immaterial (helping the homeless); what counts is that their fulfillment requires scarce resources that have alternative uses. Economists study how we make these unavoidable trade-offs. Nations as well as individuals are plagued by scarcity. When a country wishes to increase its means of produc­tion, it can do so only by diverting re­sources that could otherwise be used to satisfy its citizens’ everyday wants (con-August. 2003 =*> YOUTH CAMP 2003 standing this sermon because one verse or the other effected each and every one of us. Songs were accompanied by guitar and piano, prayers were heard by God, and He blessed the week that we spent to­gether. Officially, the kids/youth camp ended on Friday after lunch, but starting even Wednesday, participants of the 96th Convention started to arrive. The week­end was also blessed, and I feel it was en­joyed by all. Sunday night arrived, and I never thought I would say it, but I was actually just a little bit tired of the camp and wanted to go home, but soon after, I al­ready want to go back! Thomas Csercsa AND THE BIBLE sumption). Developing countries, for ex­ample, can build up their capital stock only by channeling resources away from an already low level of consumption. This is why poor nations seem to become even poorer before they can begin to en­joy the fruits of economic development. We as individuals experience scarcity by not having enough time and money. When we go to a movie, the dust on our furniture remains undisturbed; when we take that dream vacation, we must do without the home video system we also crave. We just can’t “have it all.” So we are forced to make choices and incur un­avoidable costs. Economists view a “ra­tional” choice as one for which the ex­pected benefits to the decision maker are greater than the expected costs. There are no objective costs - and benefits, for that matter. Both depend on our valua­tions. Even if costs can be expressed in monetary terms, such as prices, the true cost to us is the value of what we sacri­ficed by spending our money - or time­­one way rather than another. Both suppli­ers and consumers respond predictably to changes in benefits and costs. This pre­dictability is the basis of the law of supply and demand. Human conduct is therefore an inces­sant sequence of choices: big choices and small choices, conscious and uncon­scious ones. The way we choose is, to re­peat, determined by our valuations, not by some abso­lute, calculable standard. It may come as a surprise to learn that economics is about people’s valuations, not about physical quantities. What, then, determines our valua­tions? One thing and one thing only: our “self interest.” At this point some be­lievers may want to part company with economists. Isn’t the Bible teaching precisely the opposite: to disregard our self-interest in the service of God? How, then, can a committed Christian like myself also be an economist? That’s because economic science, the study of self-interested choices in an en­vironment of scarcity, accurately de­scribes and predicts the broad outcomes in all human spheres, including religious ones. Churches, after all, require their members to contribute money and time, which have alternative uses and are there­fore scarce. They can thus be provided only at a cost, which limits the amount of both that believers are willing and able to “supply.” When Christians refuse to think in the “unholy” terms of the econo­mist, they pay a high price, because they are giving up a proven, indeed the only proven, method of understanding and ex­plaining human behavior. What gives? We need to specify the meaning of “self interest.” Much confusion is caused by debates in which key words are left un­defined, especially when everyone “knows” what they mean. Isn’t self-inter­est synonymous with selfishness and greed? Doesn’t it follow (just think about all the folks who regularly donate to char­ities!) that the economists’ contention that human behavior is guided by selfish­ness and greed cannot be generally valid? No, it does not, when we use a broader and more realistic definition. Our self-in­terest is ultimately governed by the goals (both short-term and long-term) that we have set ourselves and the projects that we wish to accomplish to reach these goals. But how are these goals and pro­jects determined? For answers to this im­portant question, we must look beyond the realm of supply and demand and con­sider such factors as the families individ­uals grew up in, as well as their cultural, moral, and religious backgrounds. Many of us are, indeed, consumed by the goal of making it in this world; but others are mo­tivated by compassion for their fellow hu­mans (and even animals) and are thus willing to use their resources to alleviate their suffering (Mother Theresa). We are all at different points on the continuum between these extremes. Our self-inter­est is a mixture of selfishness and the willingness to share our resources with others, a mixture that is changing and evolving. When the Bible admonishes us to ac­cumulate treasures in heaven, it does not negate our self-interest. In fact it appeals to it by promising us future rewards. In the here and now, Christian life is a pro­cess in which we are asked to continu­ously re-evaluate our self-interest; to keep nudging our goals toward becoming more loving and compassionate, to attach an ever greater value to giving and shar­ing and an ever smaller value to what we have to sacrifice. However, we cannot abolish scarcity and therefore costs. They will continue to limit our ability and willingness to live a life in the service of God. Only if we accept this reality as God-given, only if we integrate its con­straints into our daily lives, will we be able to experience the joy of our Christian faith and avoid the charge of hypocrisy. Because the ultimate truth for a believer - and the one which connects biblical with economic thinking - is the insight that liv­ing in accordance with the teachings of Christ is in our long-term self-interest. Elisabeth Tamedly Tenches, Ph.D. San Marino, California, June 2003 ______________________________Page 9.

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