Bankruptcy--Skeel on Christian Bankruptcy

Probably the Skeel paper on Christian bankruptcy is published now. It is a good idea for a paper, but he's got it all wrong. The Christian idea is not for debtors to get away with not paying their creditors when they are able to. The creditor is to be reasonable to the debtor, but the idea of bankruptcy is that the debtor gets away with not paying even if he is able to later. Think of the man in The Rector of Justin who slaves to pay off the debts discharged in his father's bankruptcy.

Kindness and generosity are virtues, but not any more with regard to debtors than to other people. Forgiving a debt to a rich man who goes bankrupt means you can't help a poor man who's solvent.

Running up a big debt you know you won't be able to pay is no better than stealing.

This will take a lot of thought.

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