Dan’s Bible Fellowship Class

I posted a video on YouTube yesterday that describes in my view what is happening in the Chrysler bankruptcy as it relates to the bondholders. The administration convinced a court to disregard the bankruptcy code and allow a sale of Chrysler to a “New Chrysler” in a way that prefers unsecured creditors (the UAW) to secured creditors (the bondholders). One of the comments to the video was made by a Canadian viewer. He said, why would anyone invest in the US when the rules can change based upon the expediency of the moment. How true.

This was on my mind as I read Proverbs 10:9: “He who walks with integrity walks securely, But he who perverts his ways will become known.”

He who walks with integrity “walks securely.” These last few chapters of Proverbs draw a distinction over and over between the guy who trusts God compared to the man who lives for the flesh or for wickedness. Here we have another comparison. This time the comparison is between the guy who walks with integrity and the guy who says one thing and does another (perverts his ways).

As I was reading this, I thought, “So what does it mean to walk with integrity?” We associate integrity with truth. We associate integrity with what is right.

Here, I’m thinking that integrity may mean “true in public and in private.” I say that because of the comparison. He who “perverts his ways will become known.” I say, he will be “found out.” We have a number of folks in the public eye who have perverted their ways and have been “found out” recently. What they looked like in public was way different that what they were in private. Senator Edwards and Governor Spitzer immediately come to mind, but there are many others.

The challenge or question here is what is the foundation upon which my life is built. How can I say I love my wife, and be having an affair? How can I say that I have a heart for God and cheat people? How can I change the way I live for the expediency or convenience of the moment?

The point made by the writer is to remind me that if I claim to be a man of integrity (which I do) then what I say must match what I do. He’s reminding me that I do not need to deceive myself into thinking that I can say one thing, do another, and be protected by the secrecy of it all.

So how does that relate to the Chrysler bankruptcy? Here’s how: All the other businesses that go through bankruptcy and their creditors are governed by one set of rules that (good or bad) are predictable. However, in the Chrysler case, the administration is saying, they are too big to fail, so we are going to change the rules in this case due to the necessities of the moment. I see that as perverting the ways of the debtor/creditor relationships that have been established over time.

But this is different they say. Look at how many people will be hurt if we don’t make this change this one time (through executive fiat). I’m sure Elliot Spitzer said to himself, “I’m surely entitled to a little pleasure this one time; things are just so difficult at home.”

There you go. “He who walks with integrity walks securely, But he who perverts his ways will become known.” Proverbs 10:9: