Found this on Doug’s blog:
It’s amazing how much our culture has embraced debt and snubbed family. Over the years when the book of Proverbs was written, there was no banking system. All debts were personal, or in some cases towards (or between) governments. I suppose it was still possible to “buy on credit,” but the circumstances were so different. And generally family was considering an asset, rather than an annoyance.
For the past few decades, many “experts” have argued that our debt-based society was simply the modern way to do things, and there was nothing wrong with it. But look where that line of thinking has taken us.
Likewise, the supposed freedom of no-strings-attached relationships has spawned a society full of hurt, loneliness, abuse, and crime. And of course there is the tragedy of abortion, with its effect of creating apathy towards the gift of life.
These characteristics of our culture — debt and anti-family attitudes — are so embedded that we can easily become blind to them. Many Christians have.
I couldn’t agree more! Credit is such a curse… I love that quote you put at the top.
But seriously, why I think it has come to this is partly because of our “have it now” and “have it my way” mentalities. If we want it now and don’t have the money, we can just buy on credit. (We’ll deal with the consequences later.) But with children? Well… they’re a nuisance because they require us to think of someone besides ourselves. Of course not everyone thinks like this or to this extreme (and even some who do, probably don’t do it consciously), but I think it is more or less the general tide of the current generations – especially the younger ones.
The other problem, which I have encountered and am paying for (literally), is that it is almost impossible to get a good Christian education without going into debt. Especially if your parents don’t have the money (or the heart in some cases) to help out. One thing leads to another until one day you wake up with a great education (maybe even a degree) but find that a multi-thousand dollar debt is attached… If education was done God’s way, that wouldn’t be the case, but I will spare you that discourse… lol