I was recently gifted “The Founder’s Bible“, compiled by signature historian David Barton, which is a conglomeration of historical writings from men who founded the United States. Proverbs 22:7 makes this observation:

“The borrower becomes the lender’s slave.”

Thomas Jefferson made it a point that in order to live in freedom, we must avoid debt, both as individuals and as a country. Debt is an attack on liberty.

Jefferson writes:

“I am for… applying all the possible savings of the public revenue to discharge of the national debt. But if the debt should once more be swelled to a formidable size, its entire discharge will be despaired of and we shall be committed to the English career of debt, corruption, and rottenness, closing with revolution. The discharge of the debt, therefore, is vital to the destinies of our government.”The Founder’s Bible, David Barton

The clarity with which scripture and our nation’s founders had regarding debt is brilliant, and we would be smart to avoid debt, both personal and public, at all costs.

“My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger, you have been trapped by what you said, ensnared by the words of your mouth. So do this, my son, to free yourself, since you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands: Go — to the point of exhaustion — and give your neighbor no rest! Allow no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids. Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler.”Proverbs 6:1-7