Many Christians face the dilemma of whether or not bankruptcy is a sin. Ever since the bankruptcy filing began, this debate has been going on in the church. One thing is for sure, the topic is taboo and rarely talked about in social circles. In the past, most Americans only used bankruptcy as a last resort and as a way to start over. For the last hundred years, America’s morality has been spiraling down like water down a toilet. As the values ​​of our society continued to decline, people began to use the legal process as a way to eliminate all of their bad debts and just do it over again with no regrets. Seven years later, many of these same people are repeating the process when it becomes available to them. Today, I think it’s not about whether it’s right or wrong, but how it will affect this person’s reputation in the future and his credit rating. It’s more about the appearance of doing the right thing, rather than returning the favor to people because his moral values ​​tell him it’s the right thing to do. Today, if a bankruptcy filing were not a public record, I think more people would have no problem filing.

Until recently, the whole business of bankruptcy was traditionally seen as immoral and carried with it the stigma of failure. In 2007, many Americans were forced to file for bankruptcy with no other choice because of what happened to the economy. Now that the topic has become mainstream and many people are facing financial difficulties, opinions about the bankruptcy filing process have changed. Many moons ago, most Americans did everything in their power to avoid filing for bankruptcy because they didn’t want to use the giant scarlet B. The funny thing is how the stigma seeped into American culture. Before the 1970s, most people bought everything with cash, so filing for bankruptcy was uncommon for most Americans, more for business owners to use. In extreme situations, people who had to file for bankruptcy were usually due to an illness that caused large medical bills. With the credit card revolution came a large number of Americans who ended up with debt problems that led to bankruptcy. Before the 1960s, the term credit was almost obsolete. When technology opened up a way for people to carry plastic cards and opened up the world of charging to everyone who couldn’t pay for something any other way.

The Bible has a lot to say about bankruptcy and debt. In Leviticus it speaks of a person’s responsibility to pay their creditors what they owe. That does not mean that he can file for bankruptcy if he has the ability to pay his creditors. Many companies get into bad contracts using bankruptcy as a means of severing ties with the supplier or a union so they can renegotiate the deal they originally agreed to. In Deuteronomy it speaks of the legal right to cancel the debt every seven years. It also says not to be hard on the poor and cancel their debts every seven years. What it is about is canceling the debt of those who do not have the capacity to repay it. In fact, this was the basis for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in the past. Congress used biblical values ​​when creating the bankruptcy code that included filing for bankruptcy every seven years. Now the bankruptcy code changes in 2005 that number has changed to eight years. The bottom line is that if a person took on the debt with the intention of repaying and fell on hard times, there is nothing wrong with filing for bankruptcy. When things get a little confusing, in today’s economy, many people go overboard, buy things they can’t afford, and when it comes time to pay for the items, the person cries and wants to file for bankruptcy. If this person is honest with himself and uses bankruptcy to get a second chance, as long as he learns from his past mistakes, there is nothing wrong with that.