Second, insurance is a guarantee that the policyholder will
be compensated for his loss. From the world's point of view, the
best insurance is that which restores a victim as nearly as
possible to a pre-loss condition or better, with as little
inconvenience as possible.
Providing a system of protection that guarantees being
compensated for the loss of possessions or loved ones is foreign
to the Scriptures. This includes church-sponsored insurance
programs. All of these, by their very nature, violate scriptural
principles.
We should have the attitude of Job in the Old Testament.
After losing his business, his house, and his children, the Godly
man said, "Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall
I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away;
blessed be the name of the Lord." (Job 1:21)
Later Job even lost his health. But his attitude was the
same. He said, "Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and
shall we not receive evil? (Job 2:10)
Reasons Why Insurance is Unscriptural
Having insurance is contrary to at least four scriptural
principles: Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. Do not
share a common purse with sinners. Be content with food and
raiment. And, trust God to provide all your needs.
1. Insurance is an unequal yoke. (2 Corinthians 6:14-17)
Scripture says, "Be ye not unequally yoked together with
unbelievers. . . . Come out from among them, and be ye separate,
saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing."
With insurance, your funds are pooled together with those of
unbelievers. You agree to let an insurance agent settle your
disputes according to company policy, not according to the word
of God. The insurance company may require that you participate in
lawsuits, swearing of oaths, and other activities that Jesus
speaks against.
"Come out of her (the world system), my people, that ye be
not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her
plagues." (Revelation 18:4)
2. Forces common purse with sinners. (Proverbs 1:10-11, 14-15)
It is God's will to provide for the needs of His people
through the local church, not from the common purse of the
world's insurance schemes. God warned us through the Spirit-inspired
wise man of long ago, "My son, if sinners entice thee,
consent thou not. If they say, . . . Cast in thy lot among us;
let us all have one purse: my son, walk not thou in the way with
them; refrain thy foot from their path.
3. Promotes Discontent with necessities. (1 Samuel 2:7)
Both riches and poverty come from God, but many Christians
go to great lengths to avert God's working in their life. They
are in league with the insurers of this world system so that they
will not have to risk doing without their possessions or risk
paying on a settlement against them.
We need to have a healthy detachment from all the temporal
things of this world. The apostle Paul said, "I have suffered the
loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win
Christ. . . . I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith
to be content." (Philippians 3:8; Philippians 4:11).
4. Fosters distrust in God.
God is in control of all events in the world from eternity
past, to eternity future. He upholds "all things by the word of
His power." (Hebrews 1:3) "In Him we live, and move, and have our
being." (Acts 17:28) And He is before all things, and by Him all
things consist. (Colossians 1:17) "The righteous, and the wise
and their works, are in the hand of God." (Ecclesiastes 9:1)
The Lord, in whose hand is the soul of every living thing,
and the breath of all mankind, is the Sovereign One who controls
the minutest details of our lives. (Job 12:10) "A man's heart
deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps." (Proverbs
16:9) "I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and
create evil [calamity]: I the Lord do all these things." (Isaiah
45:7)
We should not try to avoid poverty in the event of
"calamity" created by God - loss of property, or health, or
lawsuit. "Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye
in mine hand." (Jeremiah 45:7) "And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28)
The psalmist wrote, "It is better to trust in the Lord than
to put confidence in man." (Psalm 118:8) The world system, under
God's sovereign hand, is controlled by Satan who has devised many
schemes to cause man to conform to the ways of the world and to
rely on that system rather than God. The Lord told us through the
apostle Paul to "be not conformed to this world." (Romans 12:2)
"God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory"
(Philippians 4:19) In the Scriptures, Egypt is a type of the
world. God said, "Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help."
(Isaiah 31:1)
Christians Must Not Compromise
We must not compromise the Word of God by having insurance
for any reason. We don't obtain insurance to protect the "other
guy," nor for hospitalization and major medical expense, nor for
fire insurance on a mortgaged house, or collision insurance on a
financed car. Nor can we obtain liability insurance to drive a
car because that would compromise Christ's principles.
Protecting the "other guy":
Insurance is not purchased to protect the "other guy." The
truth is that liability insurance protects you from possible
financial ruin if the "other guy" sues you for damages.
Medical Insurance
If it is God's will for one of His own to use the services
of a physician or hospital, then He will provide the money to pay
them without borrowing and without insurance. But a Christian
should always go to the Lord first. The Scriptures have a few
things to say about this subject: "Asa in the thirty and ninth
year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was
exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not the Lord, but
to the physicians." (2 Chronicles 16:12)
Luke recorded the following incident: "A woman having an
issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon
physicians, neither could be healed of any." (Luke 8:43) It was
only when she went to Jesus that she was healed.
God has provided a remedy for His people with health
problems: "Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. . . . Is any
sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and
let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the
Lord: and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord
shall raise him up. . . . Confess your faults one to another, and
pray one for another that ye may be healed." (James 5:13-16)
It is not always God's will to heal our infirmities. The
apostle Paul apparently had a problem with his eyes because of a
messenger of Satan that was sent to buffet him to keep him from
being proud. (2 Corinthians 12:7)
After Jesus refused to heal him, Paul said, "Most gladly
therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power
of Christ may rest upon me." (2 Corinthians 12:7-9) And Timothy
was told by Paul to use a little wine for his stomach and
frequent infirmities. (1 Timothy 5:23) Another case in which God
chose not to heal was that of Trophimus whom Paul left at Miletum
sick. (2 Timothy 4:20)
Many Christians think they have a "right" to partake of the
services offered by medical corporations. Again, if it is God's
will for one of His own to spend thousands of dollars on hospital
and doctor bills, He will provide the money without borrowing and
without insurance.
Fire insurance and collision insurance required by lenders
It is not God's will for you to borrow money to buy a house
or anything else. The Scriptures are clear about this. "The
borrower is servant [slave] to the lender" (Proverbs 22:7) and
"Owe no man anything, but to love one another." (Romans 13:8)
Liability Insurance Required by Law
Many Christians, who do not have any other insurance, have
been seduced into buying car insurance. Mandatory insurance laws
have forced anyone registering a car to obtain insurance.
We have become virtually dependent upon automobiles. But
the Word of God is the standard by which we must live, regardless
of how "developed" our society may become. Yet if we must violate
scriptural principles to continue driving, we must find other
options.
One option is to travel in cars under the authority of the Great Commission.
Before we take a car on the road, we are committed to being responsible for our
actions. If we damage life or property, we must make restoration to the best of
our ability. We rely on Almighty God's assurance plan to make a way for us in
times of trouble and adversity.
The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time
forth, and even for evermore. Psalm 121:8
Psalm 91 - God's Assurance
- He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide
under the shadow of the Almighty.
- I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress:
my God; in him will I trust.
- Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler,
and from the noisome pestilence.
- He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.
- Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for
the arrow that flieth by day;
- Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for
the destruction that wasteth at noonday.
- A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy
right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.
- Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward
of the wicked.
- Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even
the most High, thy habitation;
- There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague
come nigh thy dwelling.
- For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep
thee in all thy ways.
- They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash
thy foot against a stone.
- Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion
and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.
- Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I
deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my
name.
- He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be
with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.
- With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my
salvation.
