For those of you who have been to MoralMoney.com before, you may already understand what is meant when I use the term Biblically Responsible Investing or BRI. For anyone who doesn’t, BRI can go by many names including, Faith-Based Investing, Christian Investing, or Morally Responsible Investing. I simply choose to use the term “Biblically Responsible” because I want to be sure that people reading understand that we are talking about investing in accordance with the morals established in the Bible as opposed to the Koran (it may seem like an unnecessary distinction to many but the largest “faith-based” mutual funds right now are based on Islamic values)..

Definition

Biblically Responsible Investing (BRI) is the act of abstaining from investing in companies that produce or promote certain products or lifestyles that conflict with the morals taught in the bible. This means that if a company produces products that are contradictory to the Christian lifestyle, such as pornography, or supports companies that do so, such as Planned Parenthood, who provides elective abortion services, then investing in that company is avoided.

Stewardship

BRI is practiced for several reasons. The first is the understanding that God is the true owner of everything we have, including our money, and that he has entrusted it to us as his stewards to use for his will. There are many biblical references to this, including the verses below.

“Behold, to the Lord your God belongs the earth…and all that is in it” (Deuteronomy 10:14
“The earth is the Lord’s and all that it contains” (Psalm 24:1)
“‘The silver is Mine, and the gold is mine’ declares the Lord of hosts” (Haggai 2:8)

The parable of the good servant in Matthew 25 shows us that God appreciates and acknowledges appropriate and responsible use of the resources he gives us and despises the careless use of them. With that in mind, how we spend and invest the resources that God has entrusted to us is not a decision to be taken lightly. How much to give, how much to use to take care of your family and how much to save and invest for a future purpose are all questions that should be asked and prayed over. For many people, including born-again Christians, once those questions have been answered and they have decided what portion of their resources to invest, they forget to include God in the investment process. This may be because there is a common belief in the business world that the only purpose of investing money is to make money. Unfortunately, for Christians, this is not the case. Our first concern in investing, like everything else in life, is to honor God through our actions. This does not mean that growing our investments is not important. This simply means that, as stewards, it is our first duty to ensure that we are not compromising the values that God has given us to live by.

Ownership

When you purchase stock in a company, you receive ownership over a certain portion of that company. If the company is one of those mentioned above then you may have quite literally chosen to grow the finances that God entrusted you with by buying part of an abortion clinic or pornography studio. That’s a little more of a clear cut example then many of the situations that could be faced but it illustrates the importance of taking the time to be aware of what you are investing in.

Even if the company you are buying doesn’t produce immoral products, that doesn’t mean that it’s not participating in them. Companies, just like individuals, support many causes. If the software company that you own is supporting Planned Parenthood, the number one provider of abortions in America, or promoting movies that glamorize pre-marital sex or violence, then can we as Christians justify financially participating in those actions in order to fund our retirement account.

Our Responsibility

In 21st century America, it has become common place to invest through retirement plans or to trust our retirement to professional advisors while taking little responsibility ourselves to find out what we are invested in and what those companies support. But I believe that it is our duty as Gods stewards to educate ourselves and to make responsible choices that do not compromise our faith in any area of our lives including investing. Whether this means taking a more active role in what companies or funds we invest in, finding an investor that shares our beliefs and will avoid putting our money in immoral investments, or just sticking to morally neutral investments such as gold or commodities, it is important that we ensure that we are being good stewards over that which we have been entrusted with. In this way we are able to honor God by acknowledging him as our master and provider in the hopes of being welcomed into his joy as a good and faithful servant

Anyways….

There are a few verses above that I believe support BRI, but I also believe that the Bible has a lot more to say on these topics. This post is just intended to be a brief overview of what BRI is and why it is important to Christians. I’d be interested to hear if any of you think this is biblically supported at all or if it’s just “food offered to idles” (1 Corinthians 8 ). I’ve heard some good points on both sides but, as you can tell from this post, so far I think the pro-BRI side has more pull.