Qn. Is it sin to charge interest (unsury)?.. because the Bible says not to charge interest my fellow brother?, does that mean those who lend to people with interest are sinning?
Ans. The Bible forbids us to charge interest only to our own brother and sisters, but to others outside the brotherhood it is not a sin to incur interest.
Deutoronomy 23:19-20 “Do not charge a fellow Israelite interest, whether on money or food or anything else that may earn interest.
20 You may charge a foreigner interest, but not a fellow Israelite, so that the Lord your God may bless you in everything you put your hand to in the land you are entering to possess”
For example, you see your brother is in trouble struggling, and he asks you to lend him a little money, and then you use that opportunity to tell him to add another level of money (interest), as your benefit, that is a sin, if he / she borrows, then he repays what he has borrowed.
Don’t turn your brother’s problems into capital
Under normal circumstances even without being told by someone or being educated, you have a business house, and then your close relative has come to stay there for some time. You can’t tell him to pay the full tax like other people, he can only pay the normal small expenses but not cover everything, no human being can do that to his brother.
Likewise in Christianity, all of us who believe in Jesus Christ are made brothers. Christ’s love unites us together. We love each other unconditionally. That love makes us even less inclined to seek the benefit of our brethren in the Faith just as it does in our fleshly brothers. This is where the Bible urges us not to take interest in each other. But for someone other than our physical and spiritual brothers, we can tax them to make a profit in what we do. because interest is what makes the job grow.
But if we charge our brothers for profit, then the love of Christ is not in us, and so we sin against God.
Ezekiel 22:12 “In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood; thou hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbours by extortion, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord God”.
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