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jn_en_2012_02_14

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The Growth Question ...

Tuesday, Feb 14, 2012. Is growth good or bad? Currently, there is a big discussion in a working group of the German parliament about this question. Did the financial crisis show that there are limits in growth and that we need to find a new way for the economy, with some type of “qualitative growth” in contrast to “quantitative growth”?

Growth Good or Bad? …

Is growth good or bad? I would say that in general growth is natural. Growth is a sign of life. Usually, anything what lives is growing in nature. We see plants growing. We see babies growing. When life starts, growth is there.

Of course, life is also stopping growth at some point. When a kid has grown up, it is no longer growing in body size, but in other things like understanding and experience. Growth is changing, but there is still growth.

Humans are creative. That also means that they have ideas, for example the ideas how to make things more efficient or better. When you start manufacturing something, you initially grow, but at some point everyone has your product. Then, you only need to manufacture it to replace old products when their life-time is over. At this point you go into a static period. But then, efficiency starts to be more important. You want to improve a product. You want to make it more convenient, want to give it a nice touch and adapt it further to human needs. Growth becomes qualitative.

Spiritual Life …

Growth is important in spiritual life! God wants us to come to faith in him, and then he wants us to grow. The point where we come to faith is compared with a new birth, with a human becoming a child of the Lord. The gospels describe this with beautiful images and many parables.

So in spiritual life growth is good and necessary. It is one of the duties of the church to support growth. This task is given to teachers, to leaders, to prophets and evangelists: lead them to faith and then let them grow in faith. This growth happens to every believer, who is alife. Without growth there is a large danger that faith dies. It is like a baby: it needs to grow or it will die.

Growth sometimes can mean less. If you grow in wisdom, you might realize you should do less here or there, that you should drink less, that you should work less. Here, growth means to find the right balance of some things … such that others can grow further. Balance will lead to growth of wisdom, friendship and love. Spiritual life needs this type of growth … (Roland Potthast) ... more texts

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