Practicing Christian here. The thread did kind of go off the rails, but I wanted to go back to the original question.
The author's argument seems to be largely predicated on his definition of "rich", then is supported by truncating biblical quotes. Let me first ask any of the readers this question. A person earns $2m in their life time through labour, but spends it all within his working lifetime. Another person earns $1m in their working life, then enjoys another $1m through interest and dividends in his non working life time. Who is richer? That's a rhetorical question, not one I expect opinions on.
That all said, we were created to work the earth. I'm not entirely comfortable with the "Retire Early" part of FIRE, but that again, depends on the definition of retirement. From paid work, nothing wrong with that, but so far, I've really enjoyed my work, so I'm not even sure I want to give that up. From labouring to love our God and our neighbour? Even if I make it, I won't be buying a boat to sail the world on my own. Not to say I won't do it for a few weeks at a time for refreshment and to enjoy His creation, but I think that as a goal, it is not in alignment with God's instructions.
My favourite bible verse is from Ecclesiastes 5:18-20.
This is what I have observed to be good: that it is appropriate for a person to eat, to drink and to find satisfaction in their toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given them—for this is their lot. Moreover, when God gives someone wealth and possessions, and the ability to enjoy them, to accept their lot and be happy in their toil—this is a gift of God. They seldom reflect on the days of their life, because God keeps them occupied with gladness of heart.
It's been my favourite verse, because in the early days of my career, I really enjoyed my work, and I worked hard, got recognised, promoted, and rewarded, while my friends complained about work, about not having enough money, etc. I felt absolutely guilty that I had it so good, and my friends still seemed to be labouring under a Genesis 3 curse. That is, until a pastor pointed this verse out to me.
In conclusion for the part about the article, I don't feel that FIRE is antithetical to Christian beliefs, any more than money is antithetical to Christian beliefs. However, like money, it can become an idol, draw you away from purpose and meaning that God has directed us towards, and we need to be careful of it.
Back to the derailing, one other observation I wanted to make, was that it's curious what people expect from the bible. The accusation is often leveled that "The bible is just fairytales", and yet, when the dirty, gritty reality of the time is documented, it supposedly shows how evil God is? If you were writing fairytales, wouldn't you make God entirely "nice", rather than just "good"? Wouldn't you make the chosen people always victorious? But the old testament is a repeated cycle of broken relationship. A cycle of people committing evil, God's punishment (which is often read as "evil", because either God says he'll allow or send an evil nation to attack themBut then safety and protection was a promise conditional on all the terms of the covenant, which the Israelites were not upholding), followed by God's forgiveness and restoration of relationship with his people.
In many cases, when you dig down into the oft quoted passages to prove God supports something we innately feel is unjust or unloving, you find they are either concessions, or documenting events, not instructions or commands. A clear cut example is divorce. People cite how unfair it was that women could just be tossed out on a whim in biblical times. Well, yes, sort of. They could be and were anyway. The divorce rules were actually to regulate divorces, allow a non-violent end to a marriage, and allow the woman to remarry. In Matthew 19:8, this is clarified:
Jesus said, “Moses provided for divorce as a concession to your hard heartedness, but it is not part of God’s original plan. I’m holding you to the original plan, and holding you liable for adultery if you divorce your faithful wife and then marry someone else. I make an exception in cases where the spouse has committed adultery.”
It is more difficult to show with other topics like slavery, because the contemporary context was not captured nearly so clearly, but slavery was prevalent at the time, and the laws in the bible were actually to limit the harm that could be done. For starters, slaves could not be kept for more than 7 years. The most common form of slavery was debt slavery, where if you owed someone money, you could work it off. You could take slaves in war - which is, in my opinion, better than the common practice of the time, of slaughtering all men of the age who could hold a weapon, while taking the women and children as slaves. Oh, and if you did take a woman as a "sexual" slave, she pretty much gained rights close to marriage. (Which admitted in those days, were not what they are these days, but certainly still better than being chattel or what contemporaneous nations were doing).
There are parts of the bible that reflect a character of a God inconsistent with the gooey, syrupy, idealised version of God some atheists, and indeed some Christians want. I can't explain those. Perhaps a theologically trained academic or pastor could. But becoming a parent, I have a greater appreciation of what tough love means. It upsets me and angers me when my two boys physically fight and hurt each other. Can I stop them doing that? Of course, I could lock them both in their separate rooms where they can't fight. But the cost of that - to them - is not one I'm willing to bear. They need to learn to get on, they need interaction with each other. They need free run of the house to do things. Of course, they could choose to separate for a time, cool off, chill out, and then continue to enjoy companionship with each other, and freedom.
I see the same thing with God. Can he make a perfect world with no loss, no evil, no hurt? Of course. But at what price? If you don't want to experience evil, does that mean nobody else has the free will to commit evil? Given the bible said God wanted children, not servants, free will is probably a cost too high. But for those willing to be redeemed by him, who
choose obedience and relationship, then that perfect world awaits.
