Is Faith-based Investing Only a Matter of Conscience?

One person, so the thinking goes, may feel compelled to align their investments with biblical wisdom, but another may not sense this same pull. To each their own.

The difficulty with this rationale is how there’s no area of a Christian’s life which remains outside God’s rule and design. God’s transforming light and truth touches every sphere, every corner. Is there any aspect of our lives we want to remain uninformed by our faith? As disciples of Jesus, we hope to allow Scripture and the Spirit to renovate our family, our vocation, our friendships, our passions, and yes, our investments. God invites us to lay down our whole life to follow Jesus, and this means heeding God’s wisdom for absolutely everything. Even the sort of businesses we decide to own.

Of course, people who share a commitment to shaping our investing around God’s intentions will sometimes disagree—either on the understanding of a biblical principle or how a truth applies to a particular question. We’ll never navigate these decisions perfectly, and thankfully God’s mercy abounds even when we get things wrong. However, disagreeing on details or making a mistake in judgement is very different from believing we navigate investing on our own without concrete, faith-shaped convictions. We really do need the Bible to help us discern what’s good, wise, and truly profitable (2 Timothy 3:16-17, Titus 3:8, 1 Corinthians 6:12).

The Bible has a lot to say about how we use our money and offers immense insight for how we should think about our investments. For instance, the Bible levels an especially sharp rebuke for those who greedily pursue bad profit, what Proverbs calls ill-gotten gain (Proverbs 1:19). When we profit from others’ misery, Proverbs decries our selfishness. Rather than using our money for God’s purposes, we instead inflict harm and oppress the innocent.

Unfortunately, too much investing benefits from ill-gotten gain. If we invest in companies connected to abortion or tobacco or pornography (only a few examples), we underwrite businesses which destroy human life. We profit from death and destruction, expanding our portfolio through industries and businesses which wreck and ravage and abuse.

It’s far too easy (and often without realizing what’s happening) to make money from companies which spread harm, injuries we’d never inflict on someone we loved. We’d never allow someone to hand cigarettes to our middle school daughter or porn to our ninth-grader son. Why then would we ever seek to make money from exploiting someone else’s children?

Some of us may still think Scripture does not absolutely prohibit these sorts of investments, but that they are rather a matter of personal freedom and conscience. Even if this is the case, the Bible encourages us to bind our liberty for the greater good. Wouldn’t it be beautiful if the world saw Christians pursuing the common good across every part of our lives, including our investing?

In God’s vision, investing creates joy for everyone. Good investments generate life. Good investments expand possibilities and promote healing. God cares about how we invest. And faith-based investing is simply how we describe our shared commitment to seek and then follow God’s design. Who doesn’t want God to guide these crucial decisions?

Faith-based investing really is for everyone. Faith-based investing is for everyone who wants their investments to bless rather than harm the world. We all need God’s wisdom. And all of us need our faith to guide our way.