Conservatives rightly see morality & economics as linked. But we tend to see the affect as linear or unilateral, w/ morality affecting economics. This thread reveals different story & one that's more consistent w/ Scripture, imo.
For example, Proverbs 6:30 says that no one despises a poor man who steals to satisfy his hunger, assuming his economic state is what has reduced him to stealing, not simply a loss of personal morality or responsibility.
But it's larger than this. E.g. Genesis 1 sets the frame for human flourishing as image bearers. Interestingly, the Creation Mandate link family formation (be fruitful & multiply) & stewardship/ vocation (rule & reign). They are intertwined & mutually dependent.
The ability to form family rests on ability to rule & reign. And ruling & reigning rests on stable families. Typically, conservatives only focus on second part.
But that's not how Scripture portrays the dynamic. E.g. under OT law, family integrity & inheritance structures were essential to ability to rule over land. Every tribe was not equally weathly/strong, but every tribe had legal guarantees that they would retain their family land.
The year of Jubilee was designed to break cycle of generational poverty & give families a fresh start by restoring their land & giving them possibility of a future. It was an economic initiative centered w/in familial context.
At the same time, family breakdown (things like adultery) does lead to poverty per Proverbs 7:23. The foolish youth goes after the seductress, not knoeing that it will cost him everything.
So what are we to make if this? Does poverty lead to immorality? Or does immorality lead to poverty?
Yes.
Yes.
According to Scriptural paradigms, they affect each other. Conservatives rightly accept that immorality leads to poverty, but this is not the whole story. Economic injustice also leads to moral collapse.
Going back to Creation Mandate that links family formation & ruling/reigning, consider what happens to families who do not exist in equitable context, where their work does not result in their ability to rule over their own lives. What happens to their families?
What happens is their families are sold in the slave market. What happens is their sons & daughters stand at auction to become servants to other families. What happens is their marriages are undermined by the ruling class.
In the US, we have an entire history that testifies to how larger economic forces destroyed working families. It should come as no surprise when current data tells a similar story.
God designed human beings to live holistically. The success of our families & our ability to benefit from our own work are linked. Mess w/ either variable & it will affect the other.
And lest we see this convo as "class warfare" or special interest, remember: Social stability is in our collective interest. Data predicting loss of middle class means loss of middle class values, too. An ever widening gap btwn rich & poor is sigm of larger social collapse.
