An Asian Christian woman living in London blogging about the everyday issues of religion

Thursday 24 March 2011

Was there a Christian slant to the Budget?

The budget has been well received overall as being one that will drive growth, attract investment into the country and has dealt with the problem of the rising cost of living by providing concessions for first time home buyers and introducing a fuel cut. Was there anything in it, though, to give a Christian hope?
  1.  I was personally delighted that the Chancellor acknowledged that 'a society should not just be judged by the strength of its economy'. Charitable giving in the form of reforms to Gift Aid and changes to inheritance tax reform to encourage people to leave money to charitable causes were in the budget. This reform has received the backing of the Charities Aid Foundation.
  2. £100 million for Science research centres will allow research to be done into areas such as the environment (climate change is a social injustice and every Christian bears a responsibility to safeguard God's creation) and life sciences.  
  3. The increase in the personal allowance to £8,105 will give millions of people extra money in their wage packs every month. This also increases the incentive to work, making work more lucrative than welfare benefit payments.
None of this takes away from the fact that most of us are affected in one way or another financially and drives home the fact that we need to distinguish consumer greed from a genuine consumer need. Aidan Vaughan, Chair of the Association of Christian Financial Advisers, said, 'our nation has to learn the painful lesson of spending less than we earn and to work out the difference between needs and wants'.

Therein lies the Christian message for me. Rampant consumerism and excessive individualism has contributed to the nation's debt. People (not everyone) have come to rely on the safety net of credit and borrowing to cushion their wants. At what point do we need to draw a 'faith line' and take responsibility for our actions?
Luke 16:3
No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon (material wealth or possessions.)





2 comments:

  1. Dear Bob,
    Thank you for stopping by and leaving a comment. I have listed your blog on the right and am following you too.
    God bless
    Jane

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think the issue of personal responsibility is very important. The zeitgeist at the moment seems to be a constant litany of bankerphobia which I find weird considering it wasn't just their fault. It's all a little typical, this blame game. The momentum for the housing boom had to come from somewhere after all - the bankers were very irresponsible and arrogant and closed off from reality... but, or so it seemed to the pseudo socialist me, so were an awful lot of 'ordinary' people :/

    ReplyDelete