8/12/2019 1991 Issue 7 - Sound Money: Scriptural Principles to Guide Monetary Policy - Counsel of Chalcedon
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Scriptural
Principles
t
uide onetary
Policy
hy Larry
all
Thispastyearlwas appointed
by
the
high school athletic
booster's
club
to
supervise the concessions during the
basketball
games. My two sons
played
on
the
varsity team and I
felt
a
responsi-
bility
to
help the school in
any way
I
could. Jtisalsoagoodwaytomakemany
new acquaintances.
Oneevening I
was
showing avolun
teermother
how to
operate thepopcorn
machine.
Thiswasherfusttimeworking
in
the concession stand and
she was
very apprehensive and serious as she
followed my instructions. 1added first
one properly portioned measure of salt
to the popcorn. Being in a jocular
mood, I added a secondmeasure of salt
explaining thatoften I did
this . She
then
asked why I would double
the
proper
portion. I responded with a straight
face, Ilecause w sell mOre drinks
this
way. Shelookedalittlesurpnsedatmy
response, especially since I had previ-
ously told her that I was an ordained
minister. Later, as I was showing her
how
to
serve
the
soft drinks I encour
agedher to fill the cups
to the top
with
ice.
I explained how
ice
was less
expen
sive than coke and
this
enabled us
to
make more money. By this time she
must have been wondering if I had
receivedmyordination papers through
some mailordercatalogue.
Maybe
Ihad
taken
my humor a bit
too
far.
Dilution
of
merchandise with water
is
an old trick used
by
unethical sellers
since the fallofAdamandEve.
Adding
an
equal
ammmt
of water
to
a
gallon
of
lemonade will double the revenues
with
no additional
cost
to the seller. Once
customers overcome
the
initial shock
and
become
adjusted to the
taste
(assum
ing business collusion or a
monopoly),
then
dilution
will
have made
the
seller
twice
asrichatthe
expenseof the
buyers.
Another trick used by ungodly
trad
ers
is
tampering
with
weights and mea-
sures. f
am
willing
exchange
my
prize
Bowie
Knife for a pound of
choco-
late
, how
do I know
that
I am getting
a
poundofchocolate. Thesellercarrieshis
own
balance scales
andhis
own
weights
on which
he has
inscribed
each
weight
with an etching of one pound .
f
hat
one pound weight which he catries
actually
weighs
less trum
a
pound,
if
it
has
been diluted with
a bogus metal
weighing less,
then I
am
being
cheated.
Again,
thisbecomescommoninawicked
and ungodly nation.
od
warnedabout
it in the Scriptures.
You shall
do no
wrong in judgment, in
measurement
of
weight,
or capadty.
You shall have
just
balances,just
weights,
a
ust
ephah, and
a
just hin:
I am
the
Lord
your God, who
brought
you Qutfrom
thelandofEgypt.
(Leviticus 19:
3536)
A f lse
balance
is
an abomination to the Lord, but a just
2 , THE COUNSEL of Cbalcedon
October
1991
weight is is
delight. (proverbs 11:1)
The Scriptures warn abgut the un
ethical
business
praciices
of
dilution. It
isasuresignofawickedandunrighteous
nation.
The most diluted commodity in
the
United States
is money.
The
Federal
Reserve
System dispenses moneyin this
countryand
our
eaders
have been
dilut-
ing
the money
supply
for years. It is
a
pollution
as dangerous as any environ-
mental
concern.
It robs our
people
of
theirwealth and threatens to destroy us
as
a nation.
Christians need
to be more aware
about what istakirig place.
We
need to
protectoui5clves.
We also need
to pro
mote
a sound monetary
policy
based
upon the Holy Scriptures.
To
help in this
endeavor Iwill
in
this
shonarticleseek
to deal with three
ques-
tions.
First
I will discuss
the
nature
of
moneyitself. Secondly,
Ishallshow how
moneyis diluted, and thirdly,
the
conse-
quences
of
dilution. Then.
I
hope the
reader
will be
better prepared
to
under
stand the real economic issue of our
day
the
dilution
of our money.
Money
is a medium to
expedite
the
exchange of
goods and services. With
out money we would have
to
teSOrt to
bartering. As
a part-time fanner I
have
a
8/12/2019 1991 Issue 7 - Sound Money: Scriptural Principles to Guide Monetary Policy - Counsel of Chalcedon
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bushel of com which 1
would like to
exchange
for
some
half
inch
limestone
formy driveway. My
local
quarry opera-
tor
does
not
need
abushel ofcom. lhis
creates a problem for me.
He does need
a used lawnmower and
has agreed to
supply me
with
the
limestone
if I can
trade
my
com with
someone who has
a
usedlawnmower.
I
foundsomeonewith
ausedlawnmower buthedoesnotneed
mycom.
However hedoesneedawater
bed
You can see how complicated barter-
ing
becomes. It
takes too
much
time to
match
supply and demand. Money
sim-
plifies
the
whole
process.
As
a
commod-
ity
which
is universally accepted
it
expedites the whole
system
of
ex-
changing goods
and
services. The
quarry operator
will
not
take my
com,
but he will take money be-
cause with money he can
go
pur-
chase
that used lawnmower from
my other friend
who can
now
purchase that water bed .
Money
makes
this
all possible
with a
minimum amount of time and
searching.
Money must be acommodity
which
is
univ
ersal
ly accepted.
Ifmy
friend with the
used
lawnmower will
not accept
money,
then none
of the
exchanges will be possible. In
the
Bible
the
most common
money
used was
gold
and silver.
Gold
and
silver
have
always
been universally
accepted as
adequate
payment for
goods
and selVices
ren-
dered.
Both
are
scarce,
limited in quan-
tity, attractive, durable,
and capable
of
being both weighed and
coined.
A
standard size, weight, and purity of gold
and silver enables us to
eliminate
carry-
ing
scales
and
weights
. 1bus
you now
see the usefulness of
coined
silver and
gold as
money.
How
then
does
one dilute (debase)
standard gold and silver
coins
used
as
money?
Israel
during her days of
apos-
tasy knew how to do
it.
Isaiah
speaks
of
it in
Isaiah 1:22
where Gcd
speaks
of
Israel's money, "Your
silver
has become
dross,
your
drink diluted
with
water."
Mixing of less valuable
m
etals
such as
bronze,
iron,
lead, and tinwith gold was
the
standard method
of
dilution. Gold
replaced
with
dross was then used for
other purchases.
It was
gold obtained
without
creating a
product
or rendering
a
service.
It
was
an
ungodly practice
which
produced
easymoney
by
cheating
others. Th
e
only way
the
value of the
gold could be verified was
by
testing in
the furnace of fire
where
the dross could
beseparatedandthetruenatureofmoney
will be
melted
in the midst of t; andyou
wililmow
that
I,
the
Lord,
have poured
out
My wrath on you."
Most of us carry silver coins in our
today. Pullout a quatter or a
dime.
Examine
it and you will see evi-
dence
ofdilution. Notice the copper ring
around the
edge
whichextends
from
the
interior. To add futther guilt to the
sin
of
dilution
notice the inscription In
God
We Trust". Amore appropriate inscrip-
tion might
be
"In
Dilution
We
Trust".
You
may
now
be asking about that
real
money, the green paper we
all
carry in our
billfolds.
How did we
; .
' ' ' come
to accept this
as
money and
ffJ our
silv r
lias ecome
dross 11
ascettained.
Gcd
compared the
impu-
rity
of Israel
with
the
dilution
of their
money supplyinEzekiel
22:
1822, "Son
of man
the
house
of
Israel
has become
dross to Me; all of them are bronze and
tin
and
iron
and lead
in the
furnace; they
are the dross of
silver.
Therefore thus
..says
the
Lord God, because all you
have become dross, therefore,
behold,
I
am going to gather you into the
midst
of
Jerusalem.
As
they gather silver and
bronze and iron and
lead
and tin into
the
furnace
to blow
fire
on t norderto melt
it, so I shall gather you
in
My anger and
in Mywrath, and I
shall lay you
there and
melt
you. And
I shall gather you and
blow
on you
with the fire of My wrath,
and
you will
be melted in
the
midst of t.
As
silver
is
melted in
the
furnace, so you
secondly
how
can one dilute dol-
lar bills? A dollar bill
was
origi-
nally
nothing but a warehouse
receipt
whereby
you could
re-
deem
the receipt for
gold and
silver at any warehouse (Bank)
entrusted with the responsibility
of storing
gold
and silver. Rather
thancarryaroundgoldespecially
for large
purchases,
it was easier to
store
the gold in a warehouse and
use
the receipt as money. Thus
we find
the
origin
ofwhat was formerly known
as
gold and
silver
cettificates. They were
nothing
but
certificates
of ownership
which transferred to the holder owner-
ship
of
the gold they represented which
was storedin
the
warehouse.
A
dishonest warehouse
owner soon
learned how to beat the system.
Once
the
public came to trust
him
and the
warehouse receipts as money, he could
simply write
warehouse receipts
without
any gold
backing, and then
he
could
go
out and spend
them.
As long as
people
do
not demand their
gold
his
scheme
would remain unknown.
f there was
everarun onihe
warehouse
(Bank), then
of course he
would
be
in trouble.
f
he
use of gold could somehow be declared
illegal, and the use
of warehouse
receipts
mandatory Oegal tender), then he would
never
have to
worry.
His only
worry
would be that godly men might once
October 1991 THE COUNSEL of
Chalcedon
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8/12/2019 1991 Issue 7 - Sound Money: Scriptural Principles to Guide Monetary Policy - Counsel of Chalcedon
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aga,in discoverwhat was happening and
promote
the redempti