| Free Market Capitalism and the Protestant Work Ethic, Part 3 |
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| Written by David Lawrence |
| Sunday, December 27 2009 00:00 |
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When Louis XIV of France revoked the Edict of Nantes which gave Protestants freedom, the Huguenots fled to Prussia, England, and America. The economy of these regions flourished even more than before, while the economy of France began to decline. The result of that decline, an indirect result of driving out the Huguenots, was the French Revolution and all the destruction it brought. France has never recovered proportionally in its economy. On the other hand, it has been argued that “Calvinism built America.” There is some truth to the statement, although there were other influences at work in the formation of the American colonies and later nation. However, there is no doubt that the “Protestant work ethic” formed the very backbone of the American economy, lifting the nation from obscurity to the world’s leader in economic matters. However, the Protestant work ethic died. Somewhere along the line, American business interests lost their spiritual moorings. American businessmen no longer were impelled by a desire to glorify God but to accumulate as much wealth as possible at the expense of anyone standing in their way. Without a governing “ethic” there was no concern for who was hurt in the process. Thus the statement in Psalm 52:7 “Here now is the man who did not make God his stronghold but trusted in his great wealth and grew strong by destroying others!” Psalm 52:7 rather than Col. 3:23-24 drives the American economy today. For that reason we cannot assert that free market principles, based on greed and callousness, can be expected to prevail, for these principles stand against God’s revealed will. No one can expect God to bless the free market just because it acts independently of government when it is not shaped by a desire to glorify God and to work so as to bless people. Until that time comes again, the Protestant work ethic is gone, and the American people have no basis to complain about government regulation of their greed and evil! |
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