Big question: in what ways does God give over – “beyond-give” – folk to the consequences that flow from their decisions? Take a deep breath.
In today’s financial world we have all been – and are still – perilously close to financial collapse. The world’s biggest banks are undercapitalised and, possibly, insolvent if their assets were subjected to stringent valuation. The Western governments which have borrowed to bail them out and are (as it were) standing behind the banks may now themselves be unable to repay.
Worryingly, many Western governments are now not only unable to repay their own borrowings but also unable to raise more money from lenders. Their economies cannot stand it. Some are close to having to borrow so as to keep up the interest payments on their debts.
Choices were made in past decades – choices that now are seen to have been crassly stupid. Those choices, including choices to close eyes, were all taken on the basis of personal utility – “will this choice benefit me”, “will it benefit the bank”, “will it benefit the nation which votes me into office”.
What is your view? Would it be “right” and “just” and “good” to allow those choices to be worked out? Would it be “right” to paradidomi the decision-makers – to beyond-give them, to give them over, to their own decisions?
My first answer is “I didn’t do it so why should I suffer?” But who wanted high rates of interest on their deposits? Who wanted a loan to buy a house even when he had to massage his income upwards to get it? Who paid less than he should to workers? Who asked more than he should for his property?
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