The Revolt Against Responsibility and the Coming Transformation of Wealth

As humanism makes further inroads in a society, the concept of wealth that men had inherited from previous generations degenerates from responsible forms of wealth to more irresponsible forms of wealth. Responsible forms require something of man: a productive field must be plowed, sown, weeded, watered, and harvested. The potential wealth in the field requires man to act responsibly and morally so that the “earth might yield up her strength” to him (Gen. 4:12). The wealth in a business enterprise requires entrepreneurial responsibility. The more that humanistic man drives a wedge between the Creation and himself, turning his back on the world of concrete reality to embrace a world of abstractions, the more he seeks forms of wealth that gratify his revolt against maturity, against responsibility.

The liquidity of cash makes it the form of wealth best suited for irresponsible man and his impulses. The next stages of decay involve collective man pushing the limits of irresponsibility through inflation and socialism, so that redistribution of wealth (which makes termites and parasites of us all) soon dominates and attempts to recalibrate the people’s moral values.

Against this humanistic trend, there is a notable and growing countertrend among uncompromising Christians dedicated to bringing about a transformation of the concept of wealth. We will witness a tendency away from money as a primary form of wealth back to more responsible forms of wealth: wealth that embodies a stake in God’s creation. We will see other forms of wealth taking precedence, e.g., means of production, tooling, things on this order, as well as an emphasis on trades versus abstractions. When wealth is taken more seriously, more biblically, it will build the Kingdom more directly.

It’s very hard using Federal Reserve notes for the Kingdom. As Noah Webster warned, legal tender laws are the devil in the flesh, forcing people to accept God-condemned abominations as money. We are not supposed to use such abominations nor have them on our person, as possession implies the intent to use them.

We live in an evil situation monetarily. We must clean house on that situation, committing to being part of the solution rather than remaining, through inaction and neglect, part of the problem (which God will not then wink at, cf. Micah 6:10-14). It won’t happen overnight, but when God’s people start to sanctify their economics, transformations and innovation will arise.

This transformation is desperately needed. We’re warned that “an appetite for silver cannot be satisfied by silver” (Eccl. 5:10). Man gravitates to forms of wealth that enable and increase his irresponsibility. Dr. Rushdoony unpacks the proverb, “Eat, Drink and be Merry” in this way: “The economics of this proverb was an economy geared to quick consumption without concern for the future, and this meant the erosion of tomorrow.” In contrast to this, God’s man has a different calling:

A man, when free from the corruption of modern humanism, will work in terms of God’s calling, and, under God, for his family, for the personal realization of his abilities, and more. These are essentially non-economic motives. Economies self-destruct when their motivating forces become essentially economic.1

The motivating force of an insatiable “appetite for silver” leads to economic suicide. Irresponsible forms of wealth promote consumption and redistribution, creating a conflict of interests that statists demand control over. But responsible forms of wealth, used responsibly, chart the course toward God’s promise of a harmony of interests, which only Biblical Christianity delivers, for the blessing of God “maketh rich, and He addeth no trouble with it” (Prov. 10:22).

Responsible men turn to responsible forms of wealth, to capitalization of future generations. Contrary to the madness of conspicuous consumption, their wealth is the result of work and is intended to underwrite future work. Like the smiths of Zechariah, their mission is skilled work done quietly.2

When you pass by a construction site, the noise level from the tools is oppressive. In ancient times it was no different: buildings arose against a backdrop of chaotic noise. But there was one lone exception: the house of God that Solomon built.

And the house when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building. (1 Kings 6:7)

Unlike all other buildings in Israel, God’s house was constructed in silence: the people saw this amazing structure rise in their midst without a sound. And this will be the way that true, responsible wealth will be generated by God’s people as they transform the concept of wealth with their own minds, hands, and hearts.

1. R. J. Rushdoony, Systematic Theology (Vallecito, CA: Ross House Books, 1994), vol. 2, p. 1045.

2. https://chalcedon.edu/resources/articles/the-smiths-of-zechariah