“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).
As we learn at the very beginning of Scripture, God is the Creator of everything. As such, He is also the owner of everything. Which means we have to follow God’s rules about how to use His property.
The good news is that He has told us everything we need to know about how to do this: “let them have dominion over … over all the earth”; “be fruitful and multiply”; “fill the earth and subdue it”; “thou shall not steal”; “thou shall not covet”; “you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much,” etc. He also made us in His image, so we are creative and can make many things out of the earth He has given us to steward.
Another way of saying this is that God has made us and taught us to think economically. Producing, building, saving, buying, and selling is what we were made for. Even so, we still need to focus on the economic laws and principles God has given us to help us understand when we get off track–as we will in our fallen nature.
That is why several of us at the Texas Public Policy Foundation joined with economist Arthur Laffer back in 2008 to publish the 10-lesson series, Thinking Economically. Each of these short (6-7 pages) lessons are intended to cut through the raucous debates over public policy that are raging in our culture today to help us understand how God designed the world to work.
Of course, some people have agendas that make God’s designs of no interest to them; they prefer to rage. Nonetheless, those of us interested in taking care of God’s world according to His will would do well to read what Dr. Laffer has to say. If you don’t have time to read all ten, though, I’d suggest lessons 1, 2, 3, 8, and 10.
Lesson 1 – Violate at Your Own Risk: The Immutability of Economic Laws
Lesson 2 – What’s it Worth: The Value of Things
Lesson 3 – Government and Prosperity: Free Market Institutions
Lesson 4 – The Condition of Our Nation: The Press is Always Wrong
Lesson 5 – Money Makes the World Goes ‘Round: And the Fed Makes Money
Lesson 6 – Trade: You Ain’t Got the Frills if You Ain’t Got the Skills
Lesson 7 – State’s Right–to Mess Up: What Makes a State Competitive
Lesson 8 – Entrepreneurs versus Regulators: Government Intervention in the Market
Lesson 9 – When You’re Right You’re Right: The Laffer Curve
Lesson 10 – The Perfect as the Enemy of the Good: Market Failure of Market Opportunity?
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