Cost/Benefits and Living in Common

Christians choose to live in a covenant relationship with each other and/or “in common” for two very simple reasons: To maximize benefits, and minimize costs.

I do realize it seems very general and perhaps ungodly, but I think it's important.

God is the ultimate benefit, and the absence of God is the ultimate cost. So, I hope now you realize money is the least of what I am talking about.

Let me try to show via human love, marriage, why this is so important:

People get married expecting mutual benefit; it follows that they must bear mutual costs.

Now if the wife receives all of the benefits of the marriage, and the husband bears all the costs, the husband will die and the marriage will end. Costs, too are about much more than just money.

So, in a healthy, positive marriage, the spouses are quick to sacrifice, that is bear costs, because they know the benefits will be there. Not only are the benefits realized for each individual; through love benefits to each individual becomes a derivative benefit to the lover. For example, the wife loves the husband and gives benefits to him; this increases his wellbeing, which she also will consider a benefit to herself. This is sacrifice in its proper context: the man who lays down his life for his friends will pay the cost, his own life, in order to secure the benefit, the life of his friends.

Notice the concrete nature of the costs and benefits in the example above. It's an important clue. It's a marker, a way to keep yourself on the right path. Ever see a overzealous Christian? We can actually over shoot the mark, and go farther than God wanted us to. He then has to wait on us, until we realize we made up an imaginary path to run down.

So, how can we live in common? We do not know what the end product will look like, but we can infer processes from the two rules above. We can concentrate our capital so that we can increase our return on investment, and we can find ways of buying in common to decrease our costs. Here's a non-monetary example of concentrating capital: prophecy. The gift of prophecy is indeed capital. It is a gift from God, which can be used to bring a great deal of benefit. What good would prophecy be if it was not shared with the community? Prophecy must be heard to be of any use!

This is just the very beginning. I am tempted to define capital, deal more specifically with money, perhaps explain the difference between corporatism/consumerism and capitalism, but I can't tonight.