Perfection is Found Only in Heaven

The Christian Economist | Dave Arnott

We can't make a perfect economic system. But we can make it better. God is perfect, we’re not. But that doesn’t stop people from striving for perfection. So how do we design an economic system for an imperfect world? That’s the subject of today’s podcast. There’s an article in the Wall Street Journal this week by Rachel Feintzeig titled “Try Hard, but Not That Hard.” She writes, “So many of us were raised in the gospel of hard work.” Okay, my first observation is that she called it “the gospel.” It makes a Christian Economist think about the book The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by Max Weber way back in 1904. Ms. Feintzeig’s article contains long quotes from Greg McKeown who wrote the book Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less. Mr. McKeown suggests we aim at about an 85% success rate. Both of these authors are writing about what economists call “Opportunity Cost.” So, my sophomore students at Dallas Baptist University will study until they know the chapter pretty well, but not perfectly. Why? They know the concept of declining marginal utility, that says that each additional minute spent studying produces less than the previous minute did. So, after a few hours of study, they go play flag football or have pizza with their friends. Facebook is the classic example of the old phrase from Voltaire, “Perfect is the enemy of good.” It features your friends and their perfect homes, vacations, children, food, etc. It is reminiscent of a guy whom Jesus encountered. Trying to be Perfect He was a rich young ruler who wanted to be perfect. Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” In the book The Maker Versus the Takers, Jerry Bowyer explains that Jesus was talking about conversion, not entry into heaven. We can’t be perfect. The ways we might measure perfection are different than how God measures it. We seek perfection through our accomplishments, wealth, academic degrees, and social status. Jesus tells us to forget seeking perfection, and simply love God, and love your neighbor. It seems strange to me that so many protestants seek perfection, because of two events: Jesus came to save us because He knew we couldn’t perfectly keep the law. And Martin Luther led the Reformation because Luther found he could not keep the Catholic laws. Here’s what Martin Luther had to say about perfection, “We are not what we shall be, but we are growing toward it, the process is not yet finished.” Most Christians call that “sanctification,” meaning, we are becoming closer to perfect, but we can’t gain it on this side of heaven. We’re Fallen, and we Can’t Get Up. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The Christian Worldview says that God created a perfect world, fallen humans have messed it up, and it’s our job to redeem it, to the extent we can. We can’t make a perfect world, but we can make this broken world better. That’s our calling. So how do we design an economic system that we know is going to be implemented by fallen people? Christian Economics There is no perfect economic system. I get so tired of hearing people poke holes in the free-market capitalist system, but then fail to present a better alternative. There isn’t one. Of course, capitalism has its problems, as all human systems do. As Whole Foods founder John Mackey said, “Capitalism is humanity’s greatest invention.” It’s head and shoulders above its nearest competitor, socialism. The market is so complex, even the greatest economists have not been able to define it. Adam Smith called it “The invisible hand.” That’s not a scientific answer. Invisible?! Friedrich Hayek said it was “spontaneous order.” A freshman at DBU would ask the “first cause” question, which goes something like, “Who spontained it?” I like the answer from Jay Richards,