First, Christians should take Christian faith as a guiding light in this world, not a blinding dark glass that distorts every view. Some people take everything in Bible literally and cause so much pain to themselves and others. Can Christians get interest for money? If so how and by what measure? Here is my personal opinion on the same.
Is There Love in Interest?
When we are going to lend someone money, then we should follow the three principles below:
1. We should try not to lend but gift the money. i.e. You should not lend the money expecting your friend to pay it back, instead you can give it to him as a gift. I know it will be hard if the amount is larger. So this rule can be suitable for small amounts. For example, your friend may come and ask, "I need Rs. 200 to visit doctor. As this is month end, can you help?" In such cases, just give the money and assure your friend that as a brother you are helping him and not expecting the money back. The small amount is dependent on your economic status, and the decision is up to you.
2. We should lend the money without interest. This can be done even for large amounts. But be extra cautious. Don't lend large amount of money to people you don't trust or you know for sure that they can't pay you back. It is better not to give and allow that money to create hatred or spoil your peace of mind. This option is better than lending money for interest in short term. For example, if someone asks Rs. 50,000 for a major event like marriage or buying a home, give them and tell them that you need the money as soon as possible. It is ok to set a deadline too. For durations within a year, there is no need to think about interest is what I feel.
3. Lending money for interest(some sort of interest, not the conventional one) in case of long term loans involving huge sum of money. Here comes the actual problem. It may seem to be breaking Biblical rule for some people. But let me explain. For example, a person gives Rs. 1,00,000 for another person's son's education. The money is returned after 8 years without interest. Is that acceptable? Bible was written in a time when there was no inflation and value of money and price of goods rarely changed for years or even in a lifetime. So it was usually unethical to get interest on those days. But today, imagine, what Rs. 1,00,000 can buy 8 years before and now? For simple standard, let us take gold. It was Rs. 840 per gram back in 2006. Now, after 8 years it is around Rs. 3,000 per gram. That is more than 3 times the value. Consider the person who gave the money also has a son, can he count on the money to spend for his son's marriage?
So what can Christians do to evade money loss in such scenarios? First option is to not to lend the money. This can be simple. But what if when you have lot of surplus money and want to help the other person? You can make an agreement over some commodity. For example, you can tell the person that you are lending money equal to so and so quantity of gold or rice or land or anything whose price can be easily agreed upon. When he returns, he should return money equivalent to the same quantity of same commodity. By this, we are not taking interest but getting what we deserve honestly. Even simple terms like nett change in national inflation or gold sometimes result in negative returns. Remember gold prices suddenly fell in 2013. In such cases, we should assume that we have bought the gold and the loss is ours and should not accuse the person for paying back less. These type of deals can even be made as legal bonds. I don't know about exact nature and ways of doing that though. You may need to seek a lawyer for help.
Can We Get Interest from Banks?
Banks usually offer very less interest and most of the times the interest will be lesser than inflation and rise in price of food or other essential commodities. So we can get interest from banks without guilt. Also most banks invest in market and hence business profits are 100% clean, we can get the interest without feeling bad. It is actually the bank that gets profits from our investments.
What Are The Other Options?
The best way to invest money is to diversify your investment. That is what Bible says. So if you have lot of money, buy lands or houses (don't buy apartments). If you have even more money, start a new business. If you have relatively lesser, go for gold or long-term investments or insurances. If you have even lesser, allow the money to stay as liquid cash in you savings account. If you have not much money, Praise God for not giving you the burden to mange it and ensure that you just earn money in good ways and meet your ends in a honest way. Investing in shares, joining hands as a sleeping partner in businesses are also clean options. While investing in business, try to avoid businesses that contradict Christian values. For example, go for food business even though you know that a wine-shop can earn you more profit.
When We Need Money?
If you are in need of money prayerfully get government bank loans or get loan against land or gold from government banks ONLY! Never get money from private banks or from bankers. That is going to pull you in to an economic black hole. Also don't take loans for luxuries. For example, taking education loan, agricultural loan, for medical reasons etc are acceptable. But taking car loan or for a foreign tour is unethical. Such loans increase overall economic burden and makes your life more miserable.
Conclusion:
Whatever I have written here are my own understanding and ideas. We live in an ever changing world. So we can't say anything black or white as there are lot of gray areas. What we can say for sure is that God loves us and provides us so that we can love others and help them. So ask yourself in whatever you are doing whether it will be acceptable in God's sight. Again, never lend money to others so that it becomes a burden for the person who takes or creates enmity in a beautiful friendship or spoil your peace of mind. Also don't compare your lending with those bankers and money lenders who extract money by tormenting innocents and taking possession of their properties. Also don't get tempted in investing in illegal businesses, private chit funds, money doubling, pyramid schemes etc. They may sound great options, but will make you regret for a lifetime at best and cost your life itself at worst.
Is There Love in Interest?
When we are going to lend someone money, then we should follow the three principles below:
1. We should try not to lend but gift the money. i.e. You should not lend the money expecting your friend to pay it back, instead you can give it to him as a gift. I know it will be hard if the amount is larger. So this rule can be suitable for small amounts. For example, your friend may come and ask, "I need Rs. 200 to visit doctor. As this is month end, can you help?" In such cases, just give the money and assure your friend that as a brother you are helping him and not expecting the money back. The small amount is dependent on your economic status, and the decision is up to you.
2. We should lend the money without interest. This can be done even for large amounts. But be extra cautious. Don't lend large amount of money to people you don't trust or you know for sure that they can't pay you back. It is better not to give and allow that money to create hatred or spoil your peace of mind. This option is better than lending money for interest in short term. For example, if someone asks Rs. 50,000 for a major event like marriage or buying a home, give them and tell them that you need the money as soon as possible. It is ok to set a deadline too. For durations within a year, there is no need to think about interest is what I feel.
3. Lending money for interest(some sort of interest, not the conventional one) in case of long term loans involving huge sum of money. Here comes the actual problem. It may seem to be breaking Biblical rule for some people. But let me explain. For example, a person gives Rs. 1,00,000 for another person's son's education. The money is returned after 8 years without interest. Is that acceptable? Bible was written in a time when there was no inflation and value of money and price of goods rarely changed for years or even in a lifetime. So it was usually unethical to get interest on those days. But today, imagine, what Rs. 1,00,000 can buy 8 years before and now? For simple standard, let us take gold. It was Rs. 840 per gram back in 2006. Now, after 8 years it is around Rs. 3,000 per gram. That is more than 3 times the value. Consider the person who gave the money also has a son, can he count on the money to spend for his son's marriage?
So what can Christians do to evade money loss in such scenarios? First option is to not to lend the money. This can be simple. But what if when you have lot of surplus money and want to help the other person? You can make an agreement over some commodity. For example, you can tell the person that you are lending money equal to so and so quantity of gold or rice or land or anything whose price can be easily agreed upon. When he returns, he should return money equivalent to the same quantity of same commodity. By this, we are not taking interest but getting what we deserve honestly. Even simple terms like nett change in national inflation or gold sometimes result in negative returns. Remember gold prices suddenly fell in 2013. In such cases, we should assume that we have bought the gold and the loss is ours and should not accuse the person for paying back less. These type of deals can even be made as legal bonds. I don't know about exact nature and ways of doing that though. You may need to seek a lawyer for help.
Can We Get Interest from Banks?
Banks usually offer very less interest and most of the times the interest will be lesser than inflation and rise in price of food or other essential commodities. So we can get interest from banks without guilt. Also most banks invest in market and hence business profits are 100% clean, we can get the interest without feeling bad. It is actually the bank that gets profits from our investments.
What Are The Other Options?
The best way to invest money is to diversify your investment. That is what Bible says. So if you have lot of money, buy lands or houses (don't buy apartments). If you have even more money, start a new business. If you have relatively lesser, go for gold or long-term investments or insurances. If you have even lesser, allow the money to stay as liquid cash in you savings account. If you have not much money, Praise God for not giving you the burden to mange it and ensure that you just earn money in good ways and meet your ends in a honest way. Investing in shares, joining hands as a sleeping partner in businesses are also clean options. While investing in business, try to avoid businesses that contradict Christian values. For example, go for food business even though you know that a wine-shop can earn you more profit.
When We Need Money?
If you are in need of money prayerfully get government bank loans or get loan against land or gold from government banks ONLY! Never get money from private banks or from bankers. That is going to pull you in to an economic black hole. Also don't take loans for luxuries. For example, taking education loan, agricultural loan, for medical reasons etc are acceptable. But taking car loan or for a foreign tour is unethical. Such loans increase overall economic burden and makes your life more miserable.
Conclusion:
Whatever I have written here are my own understanding and ideas. We live in an ever changing world. So we can't say anything black or white as there are lot of gray areas. What we can say for sure is that God loves us and provides us so that we can love others and help them. So ask yourself in whatever you are doing whether it will be acceptable in God's sight. Again, never lend money to others so that it becomes a burden for the person who takes or creates enmity in a beautiful friendship or spoil your peace of mind. Also don't compare your lending with those bankers and money lenders who extract money by tormenting innocents and taking possession of their properties. Also don't get tempted in investing in illegal businesses, private chit funds, money doubling, pyramid schemes etc. They may sound great options, but will make you regret for a lifetime at best and cost your life itself at worst.
