Spiritual Capital: How the Church Is Uniquely Equipped to Break the Poverty Cycle

At the beginning of the twentieth century, one of the founders of sociology examined the origins of successful capitalism. Why, asked Max Weber, did capitalism thrive in certain parts of Europe and especially in the United States? His conclusion was simple and powerful. He noted that predominantly Protestant nations had adopted values of vocation, hard work, and personal piety that led to greater economic success. Neighboring countries with similar resources and people groups didn’t fare as well. Weber noted that in Catholic societies, the pious served in the Church; in Protestant cultures, the spirit of personal piety permeated into the marketplace and built spiritual capital. Applying internalized biblical values to business resulted in successful capitalism. Almost a century apart, Max Weber and Douglass North reached very similar conclusions—that a society’s beliefs and values are strong determinants of its economic success.

What Is Spiritual Capital?

Spiritual capital is the collective societal faith, trust and commitment to do what is right—not only what is right in our own eyes or what benefits us the most, but what is right in the eyes of God. Showing integrity, being accountable and honest, offering hope, being loyal and trustworthy, loving and encouraging others, exhibiting good stewardship, being fair, creating order and serving others—these are not, for the most part, covered by the laws of the land. We have no legal compulsion to love others, exhibit good stewardship, create order or serve each other. There is no legal compulsion to encourage one another to pursue new ventures in hope and faith, trusting that God will go before us. But where these biblical values are exhibited, spiritual capital is built.

Spiritual Capital: The Missing Leg in Economic Development

Indeed, it is interesting to observe that with very few exceptions, every nation at the top of the GDP-per-capita list has a long Judeo-Christian tradition. That’s no coincidence. There’s a relationship between economic prosperity and the pervasiveness of biblical values in the culture. When biblical principles are practiced in business, spiritual capital grows, and economic success follows. Thus, spiritual capital provides the link between biblical principles and business success.

Depleting the Trust Fund

Most developing nations are trying to build their economies with very little spiritual capital, and they lack the business practices and institutions necessary to grow that capital. In these situations, people who draw on the nation’s spiritual capital account can bankrupt it. After the fall of communism, Western corporations rushed into the former Soviet Union, attracted to cheap labor, an educated workforce, and a large market. However, many were stung by corruption and lost millions of dollars in the process. Russia is not an isolated case. Companies have encountered similar situations in China and other emerging economies.

Misguided Development Efforts and the Failure to Recognize Spiritual Capital

The lack of recognition of spiritual capital’s importance has led to disastrous outcomes. For example, it has been thought for decades that the world’s financial community holds the keys to success for developing nations. What’s holding back certain regions of the world, the argument goes, is a lack of access to economic capital. Bangladesh has been the focus of the largest microenterprise development programs. More than 10 million people have received business loans over the past thirty years, yet poverty is still pervasive, and the economy hasn’t developed much. Why? Bangladesh also suffers from the highest perceived corruption in the world. Development efforts provided economic capital but not the tools to build the nation’s spiritual capital.

Building Spiritual Capital: The Transforming Power of the Gospel

Spiritual capital is the foundation for successful commerce, and the Church is uniquely equipped to develop and produce Kingdom business professionals who will equip the nations with the life-changing means of growing their spiritual capital account. We shortchange a nation if we introduce laws that facilitate commerce and teach principles of accounting and yet fail to equip the nation with the means to establish a spiritual capital base on which to build its economy. Without the integrity, morality and love that comes from the Spirit of God transforming the hearts of men and women, nations will fall short of God’s ultimate blessing.

Jesus’ parable about the wise and foolish builders (see Matt. 7:24-27) is particularly instructive here. The wise man builds his house on the rock. The foolish man builds his house on sand. Business principles, technical training and start-up funding are just the walls, doors and roof of business. The transforming gospel of Jesus and the ultimate authority of God are the rock foundation. The businessperson must be committed to pleasing Jesus and doing what is right, or his business will be built on sand. If these rock principles are not in place, they will not support the business structure in times of trouble. When the economic storms of life come, the uncommitted businessperson will revert back to what he fundamentally believes.

The gospel is an important component of developing an economy and blessing the nation through Kingdom business. Only the Holy Spirit has the power to transform the hearts of men and women. Only the gospel can work at the core level and alter the collective DNA of a society. Only the gospel can ingrain the biblical values that lead to spiritual capital accumulation and successful business.

Transformed hearts lead to renewed minds. Fundamental beliefs, values and attitudes are radically changed. Spiritual capital is built, laying the foundation for economic development. And that’s why the church is uniquely equipped to break the poverty cycle.

(for more, see Ken Eldred, Spiritual Capital: How the Church Is Uniquely Equipped to Break the Poverty Cycle, Mission Frontiers, July-August 2011)

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Ramadan is Finally Over

The month of Ramadan finished on August 18th this year. Thoughout the Muslim world, Ramadan brings a dark, evil spirit over the entire region. It's a month that brings oppression, fear, anger, and even death.

One missionary wrote to explain how in a dream, the Lord showed him that when the call to prayer goes off, it releases demons across the region who draw heavy nets over the minds and hearts of the people, keeping them bound in darkness. He writes...

Historically and in our experience, it is truly a time when minds are dulled to truth, hope, or faith. New and national believers in Jesus very often come under very strong attacks and setbacks. Every local knows that the spirit of argument is waiting to explode on every street corner. There are times of day when it's best to not be traveling, as drivers and road rage are so ridiculous it would almost be funny if it wasn't so tragic or potentially dangerous

With every call to morning prayer, people in many Muslims countries start their day facing the summer heat, hunger and irritation. They do this to please "Allah," whom they do not know personally, nor believe they CAN know personally. He demands meritorious work to gain his favor, but offers virtually no assurance of salvation.

But they do know the consequence they will face if they break the fast and eat during the day. Some people are socially ostracized and hassled; others are beaten for insulting Islam!

This is a huge contrast to the message of Christ who said "Come unto me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest." What the Muslim heart needs is rest from dead religious works and the free gift of salvation that comes through Jesus Christ!

Please, we ask you for urgent, intensive intercessory prayer!

Please pray that the light of Jesus Christ will pierce the darkness. Many Muslims are opening their hearts to Christ, as they hear the gospel. They recognize the hopelessness of their own religion and are deeply seeking other ways to know God. Christ is the only solution for the Muslim heart who cannot find rest or peace in Islam.

(from a Christian prayer letter, August 2011)

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This hernia is due to my fish ancestry!

In a recent amusing story by the usually staid BBC, Michael Mosley claimed to find evidence of “fishy features” in human anatomy.¹ Mosley, Clack, and others who reject the biblical account of creation must attempt to shoehorn scientific discoveries into uncomfortable—and often conflicting—evolutionary interpretations. They began by stating:

It may seem strange that humans have evolved from fish, but the evidence can be found not just in fossils but also within our own bodies.

It has long been known by many researchers, both evolutionists and non-evolutionists, that the fossil record fails to document Darwinism’s claim of gradual change from one kind of creature into another as one ascends the sedimentary rock units.² Mosley tried to spin the evidence in favor of evolution:

The early human embryo looks very similar to the embryo of any other mammal, bird or amphibian—all of which have evolved from fish.

His arguments mirror the long-discredited “recapitulation” theory of German zoologist Ernst Haeckel, who infamously stated that human embryos develop through ancestral stages—such as the fish stage—before specializing into people.³

Mosley then wrote:

Your eyes start out on the sides of your head, but then move to the middle.

So what? Eyes have to start somewhere. It makes sense they should start on the sides of the head rather than the top or bottom.

And only in the strange land of Darwinism would someone suggest that hernias are throwbacks to a fish stage:

Inguinal hernias often require surgery, and if you are unfortunate enough to get one, blame it on fish.

How could a patient say with a straight face, “This hernia is due to my fish ancestry”?

Mosley played the “no obvious function, so it must be an evolutionary leftover” card in regard to the philtrum, the grooved area on the upper lip just below the nose. He wrote:

[The philtrum] has no obvious function. Instead it is an accident of our origins, a clue to our fishy past and how our faces first formed.

But the same “non-function” argument was erroneously applied to the appendix, adenoids, tonsils, coccyx (“tailbone”), and other structures and tissues that have since been found to have biological—not evolutionary—functions. The philtrum could allow people to show a wider range of lip motions, which enhances non-verbal and vocal communication. It has nothing to do with fish ancestry.

Amazingly, Mosley even tried to tie hiccups—that irritating spasm of the diaphragm—to evolutionary ancestry, although he stated it’s a “bit of evidence” that “we seem to have inherited from an amphibian ancestor,” a speculation based purely on the assumption of evolution.

It is hardly surprising that people and animals have blemishes such as hernias and hiccups. They are the result of the Fall and the Curse—not a fishy ancestry.

(for more, see Frank Sherwin, Fishy Evolutionary Explanations, Acts & Facts, Institute for Creation Research, August 2011)

References (selected)

1. Mosley, M. Anatomical clues to human evolution from fish. BBC News. Posted on bbc.co.uk May 5, 2011.

2. See Morris, J. D. and F. J. Sherwin. 2010. The Fossil Record. Dallas, TX: Institute for Creation Research; Denton, M. 1985. Evolution: A Theory in Crisis. Bethesda, MD: Adler & Adler; and Werner, C. 2007. Evolution: The Grand Experiment. Green Forest, AR: New Leaf Publishing.
 
3. See Wells, J. 2000. Icons of Evolution. Washington, DC: Regnery Press, chapter 5. 

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"Unpacking Islam" streams live to churches on Sunday evening 9-11

On the 10th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, Lee Strobel and Mark Mittelberg go beyond the cliches and caricatures of Islam to present its central teachings as they interview experts as well as Muslim-turned-Christians whose stories you won't want to miss!

Since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon and the subsequent U.s. military involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq, Islam has been thrust into the American spotlight. But even ten years later there's widespread confusion and controversy over the teachings and ideals of Islam.

- Is it a religion of peace?
- How much overlap is there with Christianity?
- What's the origin and message of the Qur'an?
- What is the Islamic attitude toward non-Muslims?
- How should we regard our Muslim neighbors?
- What's the best way to interact about matters of faith with our Islamic friends?

Lee Strobel and Mark Mittelberg will cut through the hysteria and offer a balanced and accurate assessment of Islam through their interviews with Muslim experts and the riveting testimonies of former Muslims who have become followers of Jesus.

The combination of easy-to-understand explanations and the gripping stories of Muslims-turned-Christians will both inform and inspire participants, who will walk away from the evening with a fresh understanding of Islam and how this fast-growing faith affects them personally.

One of Lee and Mark's special guests is Georges Houssney, Director of Horizons International, a ministry that reaches out to Muslims worldwide with the love of Christ.

Lee Strobel is a renowned Christian apologist and New York Times best-selling author. Mark Mittleberg is a best-selling author and sought-after speaker. Click here for pricing for this 2 hour webcast event. The event is scheduled for U.S. evening times: 7pm-9pm Eastern, 6pm-8pm Central, 5pm-7pm Mountain, and 4pm-6pm Pacific. For more information, see the Unpacking Islam website.

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Diatoms, Triangles, and our Creator God

Many diatoms, a group of specialized single-celled plants, are shaped like triangles. These shapes are so highly ordered that they exceed existing human nanotechnology manufacturing capability. Evolutionists believe that sunlight striking these diatoms drove them gradually to end up as triangles by successive steps. Others believe that they went triangular to defend themselves from predators. A better explanation is that our Creator God designed them in this incredible way from the beginning, without the aid of evolution.

Selections from The Mighty Triangle: A Microscopic Hammer of Design, by Mark H. Armitage.

(These selections by Marko Malyj are of the article published in Creation Research Society Quarterly Journal, Volume 47, Number 4, Spring 2011)

Diatoms, a group of specialized single-celled plants that live in aquatic systems, exhibit remarkable geometric body styles—particularly when it comes to triangles. Diatoms are known for the intricate beauty of their self-manufactured shells, but they also represent a massive component of all aquatic bio mass, upwards of 80% in some cases. They capture more global carbon than all terrestrial rainforests combined (Karthick, 2009).

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"Simple" diatoms are better than human technology

These shapes are so highly ordered that they exceed the existing human nanotechnology manufacturing capability (Gordon, et al., 2008; Hildebrand et al., 2009). Optics manufacturers have discovered centric diatoms can be used as ready-made lenses to focus very small spots (10nm) of laser light. They are not only better than anything humans can currently manufacture but can also be cheaply and rapidly cultured in enormous numbers (DeStefano et al., 2007; Vrieling et al., 2000). Other new applications of diatom nanostructure include the development of robotic nanoscale medical machines for highly localized drug delivery or tissue repair, for use in biophotics as mentioned above, and for 3D computing development (Gordon et al., 2008). Actual living computers made from diatom chips could be in our future!

Evolutionists grope toward the triangle

Evolutionists contend that their complex geometric shapes and symmetry might form by a successive series of very small changes that produce intermediate steps (DeCarlo and Metaxas, 1998; Martindale and Henry, 1998; Finerty, 2005; Busch and Zachgo, 2009); each improving over the last to eventually arrive at perfect shapes, such as the triangular shape seen in Figures 5–12. It strains one’s credulity to imagine a long series of steps to arrive at a perfect triangular shape, yet these workers are convinced that it can happen in spite of the lack of evidence, including fossil evidence.

A very sophisticated mathematical formula (called the Superformula) that allows one to generate flat geometric shapes by the manipulation of relevant variables was recently published (Gieles, 2003). Geometric shapes, such as triangles employed by diatoms, can be derived in this fashion, but only in two dimensions: top to bottom and left to right.

What cannot be explained by this single (and very complex) formula is the three dimensional symmetry that diatoms make by the untold giga-billions each and every day. It requires two or more superformulae multiplied together to account for these three-dimensional symmetrical body shapes (Wikipedia, 2010).

Stories of triangle evolution

Many, such as Bunn (2009), contend that the earth is constantly absorbing high-energy sunlight and that this alone, plus natural law, is sufficient for the evolution of complex body shapes in direct opposition to the second law. But it is counterintuitive (and unobserved) to assume that sunlight striking a round or amorphous diatom can drive it to become a triangle by successive steps. Triangle body shapes are a hallmark of design.

Predation of diatoms by more advanced organisms is an explanation of triangular body shape that, as of late, has taken root. It is postulated that complex geometric body shapes may have evolved and continue to evolve) to counter the ever escalating “arms-race” of predation (Hamm, 2005). Triangles represent an effort by the diatoms to escape predation by staying “one step ahead” of the predator and display a body shape that would “confuse” or otherwise “confound” them. 

Diatoms, Triangles, and Truth

No matter what absurd yarn evolutionists spin to explain symmetry and specific shape in living organisms, one cannot escape the gnawing intuition that these compelling structures are there because of some purposeful planning.

We must conclude that diatom triangles are designed by a Designer. This is the only explanation that fits common intuition, and is supported by the empirical evidence. What is even more incredible is that this Designer has revealed Himself to us through the Bible and His Son, Jesus Christ.

References (selected)

Busch, A., and S. Zachgo. 2009. Flower symmetry evolution: towards understanding the abominable mystery of angiosperm radiation. BioEssays 31:1181–1190.

DeCarlo, D., and D. Metaxas. 1998. Shape evolution with structural and topological changes using blending. IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence 20(11): 1186–1205.

Finnerty, J.R. 2005. Did internal transport, rather than directed locomotion, favor the evolution of bilateral symmetry in animals? BioEssays 27(11): 1174–1180.

Gordon, R., D. Losic, M.A. Tiffany, S.S. Nagy, and F.A.S. Sterrenburg. 2008. The glass menagerie: diatoms for novel applications in nanotechnology. Trends in Biotechnology 27(2): 116–127.

Hamm, C.E. 2005. The evolution of advanced mechanical defenses and potential technological applications of diatom shells. Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology 5(1): 108–119.

Hildebrand, M., S. Kim, D. Shi, K. Scott, and S. Subramanium. 2009. 3D imaging of diatoms with ion abrasion scanning electron microscopy. Journal of Structural Biology 166:316–328.

Karthick, B. 2009. Genome sequencing of cells that live inside glass cages reveals their past history. Current Science 96(3): 334–337.

Martindale, M.Q. and J.Q. Henry. 1998. The development of radial and biradial symmetry: the evolution of bilaterality. American Zoologist 38:672–684.

Wikipedia. 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superformula (accessed 5/9/10)