Is carrying debt a moral issue?

It's always a moral issue for the likes of banks and credit card companies who parasitise the rest of us. Depending on how high your income is, it may also mean that you are indulging yourself or addicted to something, which is a problem rather than a moral failing. If you owe a friend, that really is a problem. Primarily, though, you're selling your future self into slavery to your present self, and if you have dependents that is a problem for others as well as yourself. It also traps people into doing things, particularly paid work, which is inherently immoral in one way or another, but they often have little or no choice.

"In Proverbs 22:7 [Prov. 22:7] we learn that “the borrower is servant to the lender.” The Apostle Paul instructed the Romans to “owe no man any thing” (Rom. 13:8)"

Its not so much a moral issue as it is an issue of being free of a sort of "bondage" to someone else.

Its about being in full control of your body and your life. Not being subjected to anyone *over* you. Whether that be financial, physical, intellectual. We avoid getting drunk/wasted because its a waste and mockery of our agency (the ability to make sound choices and be responsible for them). We avoid needless debt (not counting things such a school loans and mortgages= unavoidable) so that we are never in a position of being under the thumb of someone else, financially. It means freedom for you and your family.

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It's a moral issue because debt involves the promise of an individual to pay for something. Finding a way not pay, even a legal perfectly legal procedure, is not necessarily moral. Bankruptcy is meant for those to seek refuge if they can't ever realistically pay back their debts.

If this woman has decided the cost of bankruptcy is less costly than paying back her debt then she has made an immoral choice and her church was right to be frown. However, if she has no hope of ever paying back the debt than bankruptcy makes sense and the issue becomes practical instead of moral since there is no impact on her ability to keep her promises and meet her obligations and in that latter example her Church would be wrong to be critical.

When you get specific and say "unmanageable" debt....I say yes. Is all debt wrong. I have friends who believe the Christian scriptures teach it is utter sin to carry "any" debt.

They use Romans 13:8 as a proof text which reads:

Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.

I don't think this passage is necessarily saying that it is utter sin to carry any debt but you will NEVER find in the scriptures of the bible that debt is looked upon favorably.

Proverbs 10:22 reads, "22 The blessing of the LORD makes one rich,

And He adds no sorrow with it.

You will often hear people say, "oh the Lord blessed me with a new car."

Well, how can one say the Lord blessed them with a new car when they had to get the new car by financing it for 5-7 years at a high interest rate.....they put very little down on the car....and a month from now when they lose their job they're going to see the repo man picking up the car in their driveway with a tow truck.

This literally happened to the last pastor that they hired at a small church I was fellowshipping with. He had gotten into so much debt that they were hiding their van in the church garage to keep the repo man from picking it up....and then they were jokingly telling others about it. I'm not kidding!

When confronted about it they then lied...and in the end had to come clean about the whole deal.

I had to leave that fellowship unfortunately after that as I could not subject my family to that type of leadership.

He's no longer the pastor there. He lasted about 9 months. Very sad.

So when the Lord blesses you....there is no "sorrow" with it....you see!

Pay cash. Drive something of less value and be content with such things as ye have.

It's a good witness before God.

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edit** Now that I see you explained that your friend is going to declare bankruptcy because of running up credit card bills, yes, that is VERY shameful. Please consider how that happened? She wanted something that they did not have the money to pay for at the time. Instead of saving their money and paying cash they said, "no I want it now." When we do that we show that we are NOT content nor are we willing to wait on the Lord. Now, I know that there are some situations where this may not apply so please know that I am making a statement towards the "general" reasons why most people rack up credit card debt. It's usually items like home furnishings, computers, food, eating out, cars, going on vacations, etc. All of that is a horrible reason to rack up credit card debt.

Is it hard to say "no" to ourselves? Absolutely! But that's what Christians are called to do. Jesus said, "unless you deny yourself you cannot be my disciple." He was telling us that we have to submit to the Spirit to experience the godly joy that comes from fellowship with God. If we submit to our FLESH it usually only leads to heartache and shame as your friend is now experiencing.

I say she should work out a payment plan and PAY what she owes. She made the choices to rack up the debt and it is very shameful for her not to pay what she owes.

Just because it's a credit card company doesn't allow us to get off the hook. It's no different than if she borrowed the money from you. How would you feel if she had borrowed say...$5000 from you and then simply walked away and you never heard from her again? Wouldn't you be a bit disappointed? Why is a credit card any different. Now I think credit card companies are SHAMEFUL entities too...and she should stay away from them....but at the end of the day she is called to gut it out and pay what she owes.

Hopefully, she learns her lesson. I hope God blesses her with much wisdom from this ordeal.

Also, here is a guy who teaches about the very things she's going through. I encourage you to give her this website...and listen to this guys radio program: www.daveramsey.com.

blessings for wisdom to you guys!

I don't know about a moral issue but it's certainly a financial one.

Just because a religion frowns on it doesn't make it a moral issue...

That said, you may be interested in the following:

http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?autoplay=true&in...

http://providentliving.org/content/display/0,11666...

http://lds.org/general-conference/2010/10/trust-in... (click "watch" - the part I'm referring to you starts at 9:32 in the video)

I hope that helps a bit! Please feel free to e-mail me.

No, not really, but it can have a moral concept behind it, such as debt to God for his goodness. In fact, life's troubles are the best at showing us to do right.

Are you serious? Do you even know what capitalism is? You think all those poor people in Bangladesh and Pakistan are pretty hard done by don't you? Well, you may have a roof over your head at night and electricity, but if you have a mortgage, you have far less than they have! If you haven't experienced what it's like to have money troubles, then you either have a lot to learn about life in general, or you've been raised in a very privileged family.

If your debt is unmanageable, if it was unnecessary, if it will be passed on to your offspring or other family members, then yes it can be a moral issue. It isn't always but it can be. Taking out a loan to buy a house is fine, taking out a loan you know you don't have the means to repay in order to buy a bigger house than you need is a moral issue.

Of a greater moral issue is usury, or loansharking. taking advantage of those who have little for your own personal gain is a greater moral wrong than borrowing money to live.

edit: I would say that carrying more debt than you can manage and NOT filing for bankruptcy would be more of a moral issue than doing so, or repeatedly going into cc debt and using bankruptcy to get out of it as a habit, but not the one time deal. Everyone makes mistakes, everyone needs at least one free pass. If your friend doesn't learn from her experience and repeats the same behavior then it becomes a moral issue rather than merely a financial one.

Not really no, every dollar in your wallet comes with pre-attached debt, it isn't like you actually own the real value of a dollar bill.