Deliver us from our credit cards

"The fact that you could not control your desire, there is the problem," says Sheikh Fazaga. "Part of having good character is to control your desires, not let them control you.... You are not rich because of how much you have, but you are rich because of how much you can do without. You want to be able to say, 'I am so rich, I don't need what Bill Gates has.' "

Christian financial advisers are quick to point out that Scripture is replete with references to money. With 2,350 verses addressing money in the Christian Bible, no topic garners more attention except love. So it follows logically in their eyes that a happy, well-lived life means abiding by biblical codes for handling money, and that means borrowing only when absolutely necessary.

Perhaps the most often quoted verse among Christian financial advisers is Proverbs 22:7, which says, "The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender." Armed with this citation and others, counselors impress on clients that such servitude - for instance, in the form of minimum monthly credit card payments at rates that can exceed 25 percent - is more than a frustrating financial situation.

"God did not intend for His people to live in bondage," says Tallent. Overly indebted people "live in constant fear that their car is going to be taken away, or they're going to lose their house. They live in constant fear, and that wasn't what God intended."

Like religious converts who have sought a new way after hitting "rock bottom," many debt-saddled individuals turn to debt counseling only when the problem is extreme. The average client at Christian Credit Counselors Inc., for instance, is in his or her mid-30s and owes between $25,000 and $35,000 on credit cards.

"They've overextended themselves, and they don't want to turn off their credit cards," says manager Jeff Baker, who has watched Christian Credit Counselors' client base double to 3,000 since April.

"They say, 'I can't make these payments, I've got these credit cards,' and everything starts falling apart. That's when they seek help."

At that point, moral consequences may have already taken root. As soon as debts become burdensome, the borrower runs a heightened risk of telling coverup lies that can wreck marriages and other relationships, according to Howard Dayton, cofounder of Crown Financial Ministries. But in his view, the converse is also true: Those who cultivate contentment to live within their means and without borrowing stand a better chance of maintaining their relationships in good order.

"As folks get their financial lives in order, they're in a position to be more generous," says Dayton. Once free from "servitude" to the lender, he said, "you can do the things that are most important to you and your family."

It's a point on which even the most diverse of traditions can agree.

"It's not a spiritual problem [to owe] as long as you pay it back in a timely fashion without letting it keep you from other things you should be doing," says Mary Gelfand, copresident of the Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans. "But if it keeps you from having money for your child's tuition or from paying for your aging mother's needs, then what you have is a spiritual problem."

Page: 1 | 2