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Christians Are Called To Use Money Based In Truth: Bitcoin
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The Worldwide Church Will Benefit From Global Money
From Gutenberg to Google, for the last six centuries the church’s ability to utilize innovation has led to further expansion of the Gospel. Whether a missionary’s ministry takes place in modern cities or third world countries, the process of sending money across oceans can be equally as difficult. Whether because of lack of technology or an oppressive government, money transfers are often slow and expensive. The properties of Bitcoin allow a monetary network that is global, permissionless, and pseudonymous; three attributes that Christians in both hostile and friendly environments should welcome. Christians adopting technology to spread the Gospel would not be a new development, and in adopting Bitcoin they will be empowered to take part in cheap, instant, and borderless transfers of money that does not need the consent of any government or third party.
In Matthew 28:19, Jesus gives The Great Commission before His ascension, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold I am with you always, to the end of the age.”1 Nearly two thousand years later there are an estimated 2.3 billion Christians spanning every continent and country.2 In countries like the United States, evangelism comes with minimal persecution, while believers in African or Asian countries may lose their life choosing to follow Jesus.
Missionaries, led by the call of The Great Commission, put themselves and their families at risk for the sake of making disciples. Many will leave their home to go to the ends of the Earth to teach others the message of Jesus. Missionaries in hostile and non-hostile environments depend on churches, organizations, and personal relationships to fund their missionary efforts, which can often cause a loss or delay in the receiving of funds.
Today, it can be extremely difficult to get money to missionaries overseas. Even in modern countries, a transfer can take days to receive and the fees associated with it may be high. Sending a payment to a country that is hostile to the Gospel can be dangerous, expensive, and time consuming as well. This is where Bitcoin is able to save people a lot of trouble. This use case is quite common across the globe. For example, currently many immigrants who come to the United States will send money back to family in their native country to help support them, using companies like Western Union which charge high-percentage fees for smaller transactions.3 The families who receive the money also deal with privacy concerns, long travel, bus fares, and the threat of gangs who prey on those who depend on these services. Bitcoin is already being implemented to give these communities instant and nearly free transfers back home.
Activists in Hong Kong, Nigeria, and Russia also use this technology to fund their protests. People from around the world are able to send money to support these undertakings without any government being able to stop the transfer. In Venezuela, citizens are able to sell their possessions, store their wealth in bitcoin, and flee across the border without the government confiscating their life’s savings.4 All of this is possible with nothing more than access to a mobile device and an internet connection. While the technology is still fairly young, mobile devices and internet access are expanding quickly across the world, leaving the opportunity for the church worldwide to benefit from this innovation.
Looking back on the history of the church, she is no stranger to taking advantage of technology to advance the Gospel. Around the year 1440 the Gutenberg Press was invented, providing an exponentially quicker way to produce books.5 This advancement in technology allowed the Bible to be in the hands of the average man for the first time ever. Christians no longer depended on the Catholic Church to hear the Word of God; they could read it for themselves. For the first time, these men and women were not reliant on the papacy to learn, but were able to come to conclusions for themselves and as a result the Reformation rapidly spread across Europe.
At the time of the Reformation, the great reformer Martin Luther said, “Printing is the ultimate gift of God and the greatest one.” At the time, the majority of Europe was illiterate and did not have access to books, therefore the Catholic Church essentially held a monopoly on information. The invention of the printing press allowed information to be transferred around the world at a faster rate than ever before, putting power in the hands of people. This new technology made it possible for reformers to bring to light the lies and abuses of power within the Catholic Church. When Johannes Gutenberg created the printing press, he gave mankind the ability to spread information, via books, faster than ever before. When Satoshi Nakamoto created Bitcoin, he gave mankind the ability to spread information, via a monetary network, faster than ever before.
Over the last century, technology advanced at a much higher rate, and in many cases the church used the opportunity to reach lost souls because of it. The invention of the television for example, brought Billy Graham and his crusades to millions of homes across the world. The invention of the internet brought and still provides thousands of translations of the Bible, an incalculable amount of resources, and it gives those in the mission field the ability to communicate on a daily and instant basis.
Christians should embrace Bitcoin as a monetary network in the same way. In the early days of the telephone, when there were only two, it was not a great system of communication. However as phones became more mobile and accessible they also became more useful. The same is true for the internet, as well as networks on the internet such as email, Facebook, and other applications that connect people. Bitcoin is still a new technology, and over time interacting with users worldwide will only get simpler as its network expands. Using bitcoin as a means of trade does not mean one needs to speculate on the price, in the same way someone 600 years ago did not need to speculate on the adoption of the printing press in order to enjoy the reading of the books it produced. Let it be clear, the church has nothing to lose and only something to gain in using this technology to fund those who are making disciples whether in peaceful or hostile corners of the world. It will bring these missionaries more anonymity, more safety, and faster access to money to pursue their ministry.
Before going further it is important to separate the idea of bitcoin the asset and the use case of bitcoin as a payment tool. Bitcoin is a permissionless and decentralized monetary network that cannot be controlled by any one person, organization, or government. This is different from a centralized currency like the United States dollar, because there is no government or central entity that gets to dictate policy.
The decentralized nature of Bitcoin means that it is borderless and can be accessed by anyone with an Internet connection. Therefore, someone living in Kansas City can transfer wealth instantaneously from his or her digital wallet across the world to a missionary in China without the use of a third party. The implication is that it is no longer necessary to use Western Union, Visa, PayPal, Venmo, Cash App, or any bank; a bitcoin transaction is simply a peer-to-peer transfer, i.e. digital cash. The use of this technology gives missionaries the freedom to transfer funds freely using bitcoin, without worrying about a government or corporation freezing their accounts. As the technology advances it is also becoming quicker and nearly free to convert one’s money from bitcoin to local currency and vice versa.
At its base layer, any form of money is a ledger of transactions and information for the people who ascribe it value. Money has taken many shapes across time, with societies trading cattle, rocks, salt, gold, and as of late paper printed by the government.6 The advancement of credit card technology over the last few decades has reduced the use of paper money and put the ledger of transactions in the hands of companies, banks and governments. The control over money by institutions has led to increased corruption, which can be seen by the debasement of currencies and the breaches of privacy by hackers. Because of Bitcoin’s decentralized properties, there is no need for third parties to intervene in the transfer of money and the keeping of ledgers. In fact, because the Bitcoin ledger is spread across computers all around the world, it makes it more secure and more private than any monetary network today.
The fact that it is decentralized makes bitcoin a perfect tool for the church to aid and support missionaries. In the current system, Christians are left to trust governments or other third parties for the transfer of money. With many missionaries living in areas unfriendly to Christianity, trusting these third parties is an unwanted, but necessary risk. Missionaries who plug into the network will be able to avoid these risks and operate in a more protected and secure manner. The smaller the risk involved in conducting transactions, the less time that must be committed to it and the more time that can be committed to the mission. Bitcoin frees up time and energy for those in the mission field.
Although only 13 years old, Bitcoin is the next ground breaking technology that can be used for Christians to obey the Great Commission. While the asset’s price is currently volatile, the ability to give Christians more freedom and security in their ministry is undeniably real and certain. Missionaries across the world face the danger of death and persecution every day, but this is an invitation to take part in a monetary system that would minimize danger while also relieving a large portion of fiscal stress. Bitcoin provides the same opportunity for missionaries in Africa as it does in Asia and the United States. It empowers missionaries to send, receive, and hold their finances with less risk and danger.
This is a guest post by Brian. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC, Inc. or Bitcoin Magazine.
Works Cited
1. Esv Bible. Crossway, 2013.
2. Diamant, Jeff. “The Countries with the 10 Largest Christian Populations and the 10 Largest Muslim Populations.” Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center, 1 Apr. 2019, https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/01/the-countries-with-the-10-largest-christian-populations-and-the-10-largest-muslim-populations/.
3. “Western Union Fee Table.” Free Tracking, https://www.wikibacklink.com/search/western-union-fees-2020.
4. Gladstein, Alex. “Check Your Financial Privilege.” Bitcoin Magazine: Bitcoin News, Articles, Charts, and Guides, Bitcoin Magazine: Bitcoin News, Articles, Charts, and Guides, 12 May 2021, https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/check-your-financial-privilege.
5. Woodbridge, John D.; James III, Frank A.. Church History, Volume Two: From Pre-Reformation to the Present Day (p. 203). Zondervan Academic. Kindle Edition.
6. Ammous, Saifedean. The Bitcoin Standard: The Decentralized Alternative to Central Banking. John Wiley & Sons, 2018.
Financial Protestants: How The Bitcoin Revolution Resembles The Reformation
The European Renaissance is generally held in high regard in the Bitcoin community as a model of a contrarian, revolutionary impact on the world. This movement was driven by humanist thought leadership and philosophy, scientific discovery, geographic exploration and artistic evolution. Likewise, Bitcoiners have been champions of pushing the boundaries of society’s status quo, looking to make real, lasting and positive change for all people in the world.
A major component of the Renaissance is often left untold, but, in my opinion, carries an even greater parallel to the events we are witnessing in the present day. The Protestant Reformation was responsible for much of the social and political liberation in Europe, paving the way for a number of advantages for the people of that time and their descendants. These benefits include a weakening of the centralized political power (the Roman Catholic Church), the increase of localized (decentralized) church organization, seeding the concept of separation of church and state, and the lawful printing of the Bible in common languages, which enabled the intellectual freedom to choose the faith or not. The rest of my essay will illustrate important historical features of the Protestant Reformation and draw parallels to the journey the Bitcoin Revolution is on with a hopeful conclusion.
All Roads Lead To Rome
The Protestant Reformation was initiated by Martin Luther, a German monk disillusioned with the Church’s clerical culture of false piety and power abuse over the millions of Europeans under their sovereign rule. The Church was able to amass an unrivaled fortune through the promotion of religious sacraments that enabled a person to “earn” one’s way into Heaven. These sacraments, while allegedly divine in motive, all came with a temporal price. Paying indulgence was a fee to save dead relatives from Purgatory. The greater the payment, the more the Pope was willing to grant more years of supernatural clemency for the dead.
Individuals were compelled to partake in pilgrimages to massive Cathedrals across Europe to witness alleged ancient relics from Biblical and early church history. This generated economic activity in the municipality to build, maintain, and further enrich the Church’s domain. Relics, if there ever was a real one, were easily counterfeited, stolen and fabricated. French theologian John Calvin famously remarked that there were enough shards of the “True Cross” of Christ in the middle ages to build a boat. Regardless of these relics’ true origin, they were all used as a way to generate tourism revenue, promising spiritual experiences and reduction of time in purgatory for passed relatives.
Additionally, the church financed cathedral building projects through the selling of church positions such as Bishop and Archbishop to wealthy families for their sons. The leadership of the church at this time grew to be saturated with wealthy opportunists, as opposed to humble servant leaders.
A Spark Of Knowledge, An Abundance Of Freedom
The renowned “95 Theses” of Luther was posted on the church door in Wittenberg, Germany on October 31, 1517. This was an antiquated bulletin board medium of communication and intended for a specific church leadership audience as it was written in Latin, not the local German dialect. It was essentially an encrypted message to discuss his concerns with leadership. Unbeknownst to Luther, some local seminary students reviewed it as well. Compelled by its shocking revelations and perspectives, they felt this letter should be known by all. Leveraging a local Gutenberg Printing Press, they were able to print thousands of copies that spread the message throughout all of Germany in two weeks. Like an ancient WikiLeaks, this was one of the first times in history where we see how the individual was empowered against an oppressive central authority through the use of technology.
Bitcoin’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, is often compared to Johannes Gutenberg because they both invented technologies that empower the masses against central authority. I propose a more accurate comparison to Satoshi would actually be Martin Luther. Both provided a spark to the latent energy in groups of people that grew tired of the wholesale theft that defined the systems of their respective times. The Bitcoin Revolution and the Protestant Reformation both provide a way to opt out of the oppression in authority.
Number Go Up, Strength Go Up
Protestants found support in their shared faith with others that agreed with Luther’s contention with the centralized Church. They organized local (decentralized) places of worship that were void of the bureaucracy that held their spiritual faith hostage for the purpose of wealth and power consolidation. Those freethinkers 500 years ago realized they did not need to funnel their meager earned value to the wealthy central authority to have an organized, healthy system of faith.
Similarly, Bitcoiners have found various ways to act against the rulers of the present day: central banks and their fiat currency. Many participate in the emerging digital economies like the Lightning Network or manage their own full node to help secure the Bitcoin network. Miners spend costly amounts of energy to generate bitcoin rewards while the mainstream world continues to protest the alleged fake money.
“Cryptocurrency has created opportunities to scam investors, assist criminals and worsen the climate crisis. The threats posted by crypto show that Congress and federal regulators can’t continue to hide out, hoping that crypto will go away. It won’t. It’s time to confront these issues head-on.” -Elizabeth Warren, June 9, 2021
Even the simple act of HODLing is being a “protestant” against the established power. Exchanging your time, energy or money for bitcoin is a proclamation saying “the current financial system is broken and must change!”
Monopoly: The Language Edition
As mentioned before, the “95 Theses” was reprinted in the native german tongue for the commoners. Although the German Gutenberg Bible was first printed in the mid-1400s, the Catholic Church had used the Latin Vulgate since the fifth century. This created an ever increasing divergence of religious knowledge between the Latin-versed clergy class and the commoners across Europe. Only the highly-educated, the clergy and some affluent individuals understood the Latin. If you were of common upbringing or too busy to learn the language, you were unable to read religious scripture to determine for yourself if you believed the teachings and practices. For over a millenia, the people of Europe were unable to challenge Church authority and decisions according to religious doctrines in the Bible. They had no counterparty because of the monopoly on information.
The Protestant Reformation reformed Middle-Age Roman Catholic Christianity from an aloof, unapproachable intercessor to God (clergy-as-middlemen) and instead developed a format that brought the faith of the individual to a local and personal level. With the increase of the Bible being written in common tongue, it gave way to more individual clarity in theological teachings. Various alternative church government structures were formed at the town, provincial and even national level as people tried to reform their faith under leadership they felt they could trust and govern. Generally speaking, a nationally sponsored religion is an abomination to individual rights, but it was a vast improvement to the Catholic Church’s unchecked international supremacy. The people gained traction in the institutions they participated in. They truly had “skin in the game” and were participants in their faith because of the Reformation, rather than subjects to the rulers of their faith.
Bitcoin Is Free Speech
In this current day, the separation of church and state is an obvious first principle of a free society. That freedom is protected in the United States under the First Amendment. Freedom of speech is also protected under the First Amendment. Money is a form of communication, like language, to indicate wants and needs. Bitcoiners have already known this for years and the rest of the world is increasingly understanding this as well.
The U.S. Constitution that protects religion, press, peaceful assembly and speech must also protect the many forms of those ideas. A newspaper owned by a major corporation is not the only format of press that should be protected. As technology progresses, the newer mediums like blogs and online video streamers should also be protected. Bitcoin, as the highest form of monetary energy, is therefore the most accurate and powerful form of monetary communication. This power is most seen in the individuals that use Bitcoin instead of fiat currency that mostly empowers the political domains that control it.
Bitcoin is governed by the protocols of the Bitcoin network. There are no exceptions for the wealthy or affluent. Whether you own 1 BTC or 1000 BTC, everyone plays by the same rules. This is a clear parallel to the Reformation when Protestants sought to dethrone the Vatican and its manipulation of religious practices for the benefit of those in positions of authority. Rather, these brave trailblazers sought to rely on the text of the Bible for their highest authority. Whether accepted or not, it is unchanging for everyone, regardless of their power or wealth.
Wolves in Wolf Clothing
Many socio-economic factors played into the Protestant Reformation. It was not void of its fair share of opportunists. The Catholic Church had sway over monarchs because it was the church that controlled the masses. For hundreds of years monarchs across Europe had to tread carefully when crossing the Vatican, as it was not unheard of for the Pope to deprive them of their role as head of state for any number of reasons. King Henry VIII took advantage of the socially weakened Catholic Church during this time in history to establish the Church of England and the 1534 Act of Supremacy, declaring the monarch as “the only Supreme Head on Earth.” Was this decision made based on his moral opposition to the Vatican? Perhaps. Was this decision politically opportunistic? Most definitely!
Comparably, Bitcoin and cryptocurrency will not be void of bad actors seeking illegitimate gain. From the rubble of fiat institutions, there will be some entities that the good people of Earth will likely wish would disappear. This is natural. But what is also natural in Bitcoin is that bad actors have no additional leverage over the Bitcoin protocols than anyone else. It will truly be up to society how powerful such pariahs might become through the free market. In a decentralized financial world you cannot hide behind endless debt and central bank friends to exert monetary power.
Persevere In The Truth And Freedom
Politics may have been a factor for some, but the essence of the Protestant Reformation was about who decides what is true and how to reconcile who we are with who God is. When knowledge and information was able to spread, people realized they had power. As commoners gained access to Bibles, they realized they were not forced to practice their religion in the way the Church had mandated. They even had the right to not believe at all! Through the varied perspectives of the Biblical message, multiple denominations are able to exist freely and in a decentralized manner. Through their differences, the study of contended principles are enhanced while discovering common essential tenets that bind the Christian faith as a whole.
It is an obvious parallel with the battle facing the Bitcoin network today. The masses are illiterate to the world religion of this day: fiat currency. We are told inflation is the key to economic prosperity. We are told assets and hard resource prices do not matter when assessing the strength of a currency. We are told quantitative easing is not bringing us closer to a communist economic model. We are told money printing is an exciting event. We are told that toxic, failing companies should be bailed out rather than let the free market establish new participants. Bitcoiners may focus on one of many attributes of Bitcoin: the hard money cap, the decentralized network, proof of work, etc. A favored concept does not disqualify another. Rather, one’s favored concept brings them into the Bitcoin fold where they will then discover more than what initially attracted them to Bitcoin.
Satoshi Nakamoto is our modern-day Martin Luther. As Bitcoiners, we are the students responsible for broadcasting this economic truth, debunking lies and helping those on the fence understand it’s okay to live in a world bound by rules, not rulers.
As a Christian, I have always lived in a world structured with sound doctrines, first principles and order. It’s not always smooth sailing. It takes mental fortitude and hope in a future promised. Every day is about sacrificing some instant gratification for a better tomorrow. This is known as “low time preference.” Bitcoiners share this characteristic.
Bitcoin was a no-brainer choice for me once I learned about it. I believe that clarity will come to millions more once they hear it from the people in the network. I encourage readers here to persevere. History does repeat itself. 500 years ago, brave people put their lives on the line for religious rights that the western society experiences today. The fight for financial rights is just beginning, but seeing how The Reformation turned out with just a few printing presses, I think there is hope for us yet!
Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning. -Proverbs 9:9
Grace and peace be to you all in these historic times! HODL.
Sources:
- https://www.ligonier.org/learn/series/making_of_the_protestant_reformation/
- https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/the-history-of-the-reformation/
- https://www.thoughtco.com/renaissance-timeline-4158077
- https://www.thoughtco.com/beginners-guide-to-protestant-reformation-1221777
- https://www.history.com/topics/renaissance/renaissance#section_8
- http://protestantism.co.uk/timeline.html
- https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papal_deposing_power
- https://www.coindesk.com/why-bitcoin-is-protected-by-the-first-amendment
- https://www.reuters.com/technology/warren-us-government-needs-confront-crypto-threats-head-on-2021-06-09/
This is a guest post by Ulric Pattillo. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC, Inc. or Bitcoin Magazine.
Christian Fear of Bitcoin Stems From Lack of Knowledge and Misdirection
“No Stance” Is the Wrong Stance
The silence among Christians regarding bitcoin and cryptocurrency is surprising and alarming. While the Bible offers several hundred verses about prayer and faith, there are over 2,000 with the focus on money and wealth. Arguably, the most prominent verse of this nature is stated by Christ,
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. —Matthew 6:19–21
Christians are encouraged to look past temporal and corruptible wealth of the world. When we are heavenly minded, we can mitigate the allure of this world to desire the things that God desires.
However, we are not like the gnostics who completely disregard the physical realm as inconsequential. Christians have duties to live out their time in the world as full members in the name of the Lord God and Savior, Jesus Christ, as he was fully man in this realm 2,000 years ago.
Bitcoin is a very real part of our society but also very new. As any new concept or construct in the world, there will be supporters and detractors. Over its brief existence, it has only recently truly been a topic of global significance now and during its infamous spike and tank of 2017.
Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt Fueled by Old News and Propaganda
It was in 2017 that many Christian commentators came out to speak against bitcoin citing “volatility” and “risk,” commonly exchanged for “illegal activities,” and the lack of “control” by appropriate authorities. While 2017–2018 was not a great time period for the asset, these negative statements about bitcoin are easy to make while it is on the way down for a brief moment. But now that it has recovered and grown three times past that peak to a total market cap of $1.1 trillion and the 15th most valuable currency in the world, one can’t help but wonder with what type of eyes are we judging this new entity in the world.
Christian financial writers have used terms like “volatility” and “risk” in relation to investing as a form of subjective moral fencing or boundary, alluding to partaking in investments where risk was at all present as a form of gambling. Whether gambling is inherently wrong or not is not the point of this piece, instead whether volatility and risk should be avoided. In our current economic climate, any investment that does not keep up with the creation of M2 money supply as the cost of capital is a slowly losing venture (11% annually over five years, 26% in the last year).
Volatility is a measure of the range of potential returns. That is not inherently wrong. A return could be very positive, slightly positive, slightly negative or very negative. In the case of bitcoin’s 12 years of existence, if you hold it for any four-year period you would have increased the value of your holdings. This would surely be irritating for a day trader and even more so for the government that does not hold the power to manipulate its price like they do gold and silver. As Christians we are told not to deal in lies. If the morality of an asset is any factor in an investment decision, then a store-of-value asset that is traded all over the world experiencing true price discovery with minimal barriers is the closest to that virtue we can get. Bitcoin is the answer.
Risk is another word often depicted as evil or toxic. Risk is the “chance that an investment’s actual gains will differ from an expected return.” That doesn’t sound bad at all, because risk is relative to expectations. Bitcoin’s portrayal as a speculative gamble, and therefore inherently evil asset, comes from a lack of understanding. The sinful nature of man has many times in history resulted in the destruction of something before it is fully understood. Why would a Christian, knowing the way the Pharisees received Christ or how we are generally received by the world, so quickly reject a proposed solution to the weaknesses of world currencies of the last 50 years?
Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. —John 8:43–45
Based on the financial definition of risk, bitcoin’s performance is so that the longer you hold it, the more you can expect it to grow multiple times over as people grow to understand its value proposition. The only real risk out there is to the banking industry that may quickly become obsolete in their current existence like a pager or a newspaper.
The “illegal activities” argument makes me wonder if we are all indeed in a simulation similar to “The Truman Show,” “The Matrix” or the recently released “WandaVision.” The favorite currency for black market dealings is and has been, for as long most of us have been alive, the US dollar. If we deny the sin of one, yet ignore the sin of another, how righteous as we really? How does the most simplistic of rationale not heed this? When Christians work so hard to guard their minds and hearts from media propaganda, and then turn to support statements like this, it could only be interpreted as we are always vulnerable to the allure of the world’s message.
For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. —1 Corinthians 1:18–21
Eyes That Discern
Additionally, it begs the question that if the media would attack bitcoin in the same way as it attacks conservative values, what does that say about the nature of bitcoin? Bitcoin is financial TRUTH. It is not manipulated by centralized powers. It cannot be taken from you at the whim of those worldly powers. When you work and earn income as a result, the powers of the world cannot make more bitcoin to debase (devalue) your wealth or inflate the cost of goods.
An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. —2 Timothy 2:5–7
When people think of what money is, they are unknowingly groomed through our Keynesian worldview into thinking that the government should control our money. Because bitcoin is decentralized, many people find that scary, because all money they have ever known has an overarching ownership of their money. Every medium of exchange of note has a controlling authority. The Bitcoin monetary network of miners are financially incentivized to operate for the benefit of the network and its users through mining the remaining bitcoin and collecting the fees from the growing number of transactions. Central banks that own the fiat money do not make decisions to benefit the individual. This is evident by the gross inflationary policies throughout the world. Inflation, a word we have been groomed to accept, actually means “the devaluation of the individuals buying power.” What good is central control when the control is used to hurt and steal from its users?
Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. —Ephesians 4:28
If a man gives to his neighbor money or goods to keep safe, and it is stolen from the man’s house, then, if the thief is found, he shall pay double. —Exodus 22:7
While Christians have been generally silent, it does trouble me that the little commentary I have seen seems to take mainstream media’s answer to bitcoin. The mainstream media generally regard both Christian values and Bitcoin in a similarly dismissive fashion. Could that correlate Bitcoin and Christian characteristics more closely than people would admit? My perspective is a resounding yes!
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. —John 6:13
May God bless you on your journey to economic truth.
This is a guest post by Ulric Pattillo. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC, Inc. or Bitcoin Magazine.