More about debt - in response to Dan

This post is in response to a comment I got from Dan on "Another big step". Actually, Dan, I knew your stance on going into debt for adoption before, and that's what led to such serious discussions between Brent and I before going for this loan. We just have come to different conclusions than you have.

Here's what Dan wrote:

We also wrestled with the question of whether or not to borrow. One of the best resources we found was at Crown Financial Ministries. The keys for us was:
1. Borrowing circumvented our need to trust God
2. Scripture never speaks of borrowing in a good way
3. It is not likely that God would ask you to do something using means that He thinks poorly of

I agree and disagree with you. Regarding your first point, I disagree because we still need to trust that God will provide the means to pay back the loan - and also, I'm not 100% sure that this loan will cover all of our adoption costs, so we need to trust that God helps us with the rest of the funding.

Regarding what the Bible says about borrowing. I just read through Proverbs the other day, and I was specifically looking for verses about debt, because it was weighing on my heart. I never really saw anything saying that debt is bad. The only thing that I saw that it says was that the borrower will be a slave to the lender - which is certainly true. The other thing I saw was that God was against getting into debt and not paying it back, or co-signing for someone (because you don't kow if he will pay it back, and then it will be on you).

I do agree that God would not ask you do do something, and then the only way to do it would be to go against another one of His principles. But, I don't think that God necessarily looks poorly on debt. I do think that He looks poorly on going into debt without considering the implications - there are many times in the Bible where it says not to take a vow carelessly. I think debt falls under the verse in Romans which says "Everything is permissable, not everything is beneficial" Debt may not be the best thing, but it's not prohibited. And surely getting Andrei home to us is beneficial to both him and us.

I'm pretty confident we did the right thing. I'm pretty much under the impression, that if you don't hear anything specifically from God, you should just do what you think is best and He will bless it. God gave us a mind and his Holy Spirit, so we can mostly trust what we think is right - as long as it lines up with His principles. You heard specifically from God that you shouldn't go into debt for your adoption, and I am enjoying reading how God is blessing your fundraising efforts. I think I was trying to convince myself that I had heard the same, but that wasn't the case. God still has provided the money - just with a little bit of help from Kohler Credit Union :)