Saturday, February 16, 2008

Justification by Economics

Here is a fun exercise. Justify yourself economically. As an example, I would say that since we live in a capitalist society under a system of laws, I verify the ownership of real property for the benefit of prospective owners and lenders. As they seem willing to pay me for this service, I make money.

Now it gets fun. Justify the existence of an orthodox priest. One might say that such a priest provides a service mandated by God which is therefore necessary. The service being necessary, it well behooves the beneficiaries of the service to recompense the provider. Assuming you believe in God, this makes sense.

Now, justify the existence of a re-appraising minister. Go ahead. All of a sudden any economic necessity vanishes.

It is entirely possible that someone will try to rationalize their own economic existence. If such a thing should happen watch out for a sudden prolixity and use of content-free jargon.

Over time, reality has a nasty habit of conforming to economics. I think this is one reason why the mainline churches are shrinking. They can not justify their own existence in a coherent and clear manner.

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