What On Earth Is A Christian Mortgage?

What on earth is a Christian mortgage? Enter the term in Google and you get more than 13,000 responses.

I guess it’s a mortgage that’s arranged by a Christian mortgage company.

Which of course raises the next question, what is a Christian mortgage company? Presumably it’s an enterprise run by Christians, and operating on some kind of Christian principles.

Here is some guidance from one company:

It is our Christian responsibility to give you the best solution possible with integrity and honesty which is our top priority and not taken lightly. Many mortgage brokers take advantage of customers who are not informed. It is our Christian duty to help educate consumers so they can make a sound decision based on facts, not unethical sales tactics.

I wrote a while back about so-called Christian real estate companies. If such entities can exist, then why not “Christian” companies that provide just about any other kind of service?

Perhaps the more important question is this: should Christians be borrowing huge amounts of money to buy a home? Is this really what God calls us to do?

I was impressed to read a lengthy article on Christians and finance, titled "The Debt Slayers," on the Christianity Today website. It was centered on an interview with financial adviser Dave Ramsey, described as “a fast-talking, in-your-face kind of guy whose tough-love guidance - both in books and over the airwaves from Nashville - connects with a lot of Americans.”

Here’s a little of what the article has to say on Christians and their debts:

"A whole bunch of us got all this stuff we really didn't want with money we really didn't have to impress people we really didn't like," Ramsey says.

…"We are essentially trying to deprogram what many people believe is normal," says Dave Briggs, director of the South Barrington, Illinois, megachurch program that has been adopted by almost 3,000 other congregations. "Many people have bought into the teachings of the culture: the idea that debt is good, that everybody is in debt, that debt is an opportunity to get things you couldn't otherwise afford, that debt really isn't a big deal. But the more you buy into the message of the culture, the more you get into the whirlpool of debt."

…Most Christian financial leaders acknowledge that debt isn't called sin in the Bible, but they believe that Scripture discourages debt. They concede that debt is a reality of modern life and even drives the economy, but warn against a lifelong pattern of debt.

…Ramsey says he doesn't berate callers for taking out a 15-year fixed mortgage. "It's not my job to tell people they're going to hell if they have a home mortgage," Ramsey says. "But I can't find in the Bible that it's okay."

That seems to make sense to me. I live in a relatively upmarket part of my city that attracts some people looking for what they perceive to be the “good life”. I’ve seen people in our church struggling with their mortgages, and I wonder if God has really called them to live in this part of town.

Indeed, I wonder if a Christian mortgage company would be prepared to tell that to potential clients. Now that would really be a service to Christian mortgage seekers.

March 18th, 2009

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