This is post is taken from the Frequently Asked Questions.
Bitcoin was created (or found, as some people say), in 2009. It is obviously not directly discussed in the Bible. However, many of the attributes of Bitcoin are discussed in the Bible.
In Genesis 1:27, we learn that “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him;” We have the “divinely-delegated authority to create useful things with our hands.”1 Money is a tool to collectively allow the community to produce more output than individuals can do in isolation.2Money as an essential tool for the flourishing of civilization is a gift from God.3
What about Matthew 6:24? “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
“Truly understanding what money is will reduce the power that money has over us.”4 Money does not have to rule our lives, become an obsession, or have to be a source of pain in the world.5 “Money can be received with thanksgiving and viewed as a good gift that serves us, not the other way around.”6
“Moral and immoral money have existed throughout history.”7 “Once we understand the negative changes to our money, we can avoid the immoral incentives inherent to the unsound money that we have today.”8
“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.” – Galatians 6:7
God gives us the will and ability to sustain and multiply ourselves. Investment and its returns are a part of God’s design, making work an integral part of being human.9
“Money is an integral part of life because work is an integral part of life.”10Work is creating something of value for ourselves and others.11 Work is hard.12 It adds value by creating new goods and services that improve people’s lives.13 “Work that adds value should get rewarded.”14 Theft destroys value, stealing something of value from others.15
Money is a tool to measure the value of work.16 It allows specialization within a society. Prior to non-commodity forms of money, we ran into the issue of coincidence of wants. If I only produced eggs and wanted to buy some milk, then the milk seller would hopefully want to buy some eggs. If he didn’t, then trade would be difficult because I would need to acquire something that he also wants. A good money is one that is not consumed itself but rather decided on by society to be valuable. The value of your work is assigned a certain number of units and those number of units are determined by what society values. A sound money system allows us to “sacrifice our time today for money that can be redeemed for something of similar value in the future”.17
Proverbs 16:11 says “A just balance and scales are the Lord’s; all the weights in the bag are his work.”
Proverbs 11:1 says “The Lord detests dishonest scales, but accurate weights find favor with him.”
God desires us to work in His image and maintain and grow His work throughout the world. The value of each of the contributions should be rewarded in a fair money appropriate for the value of work done.
Jesus said “the laborer deserves his wages..” Luke 10:7
When we are paid in fiat money, we are paid in money that can be perpetually debased. As our money gets inflated through printing of new money, the purchasing power of each unit of money decreases.
Here’s a chart showing how the purchasing power of the US dollar has decreased since the establishment of the Federal Reserve System in 1913.
The time that we sacrificed to do work and earn money is stolen from us. In Exodus 20:15, God said “You shall not steal.” This command is universal. Just as individuals should not steal from a merchant or their neighbor, central banks should not steal purchasing power from the people through inflation.
At a “goal” of 2% inflation, the purchasing power of our money is halved in about 35 years. At the targeted inflation of 3%, we lose half of our purchasing power in just over 23 years.
God desires that we earn the money we deserve. Monetary inflation increases the supply of money and makes it less and less valuable overtime. In the same way that Roman authorities used unjust scales, clipped off portions of their coins, or decreased the amount of pure gold or silver in the coins, direct printing of money by government decree is effectively no different.
A laborer who sacrificed most of his life providing for his family would retire and find that the money he saved is no longer worth the time he put into it. It is not just money that was stolen from him but literally time on this earth that he could have instead spent with his family, doing something enjoyable or productive.
Proverbs 22:22 says “Do not rob the poor, because he is poor, or crush the afflicted at the gate…“
Fiat money does just that…
As there are more units of money available, prices of products and assets rise to match. The rich get rewarded as they own assets that appreciate with inflation, like gold, real estate, and stocks. The rising inflation punishes the poor as they may be trying to save up for years and years to purchase these assets, but their cost may be constantly out of their reach, largely due to asset inflation from the rich putting their money here.
“The form of money we use affects everything we do.”18 “Bad money incentivizes immoral behavior.”19 Under the Bitcoin standard, there would be less incentive for consumption because our money would hold its value and become more valuable in the future. Products might be better designed and built to last longer so that they don’t need to be replaced as often. And governments would be accountable to its citizens; politicians wouldn’t be able to promise “free money” if elected20; and there would be real budget constraints.21
Bad money encourages behavior like what was described in Proverbs 24:30-31:
“I passed by the field of a lazy one, and by the vineyard of a person lacking sense, and behold, it was completely overgrown with weeds; its surface was covered with weeds, and its stone wall was broken down.”
Bitcoin fixes this. Bitcoin encourages a lower time preference with planning towards a more abundant future.22 It encourages families and helps us view children as a blessing, not as a cost to us or society.23
The Church is made up of people. An economic reformation of the Church requires the economic reformation of the congregants.24 Bitcoin can help the Church recover from fiat money’s corrupting effects and instead become a congregation full of people free from the worship of money and solely devoted to God and the work that He desires for us.25
“God blessed them; and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’” -Genesis 1:28
Bitcoin fixes many of the corruptions of our current monetary system, but it is not a panacea.26 Good money is a gift that can help us be better but we must fight the temptation to worship the work of our own hands.27 Instead we must focus on living lives in love and service to others.28
“Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’ s work from beginning to end. So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can. And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God.”
-Ecclesiastes 3:11
God continues to be at work even today.29 Bitcoin is an invitation to slow down, step off the fiat treadmill, and became more aware of God’s benevolence and the blessings that we receive from Him. Corruption of money and resultant economic uncertainty is one of the things that leads to a hurried lifestyle that many of us are perpetually in.30
Money and the discussion of money doesn’t have to be whispered with a mixture of fear, anxiety, or greed.31 Money is a gift from God and good money, sound money, should be a blessing to us and others around us.32
“Money is a means to trade, and trade is a means for creating useful things for the community.”33 “Money … is a necessary ingredient for the fullest expression of who God created us to be.“34 “Bad money … draws us toward the worship of created things rather than the Creator. Good money helps us fulfill our purpose and brings us closer to God.”35
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