HOW LAZY DRUNKS WERE DELIVERED BY THE TEACHING OF PROTESTANTS.
The basic teachings of the Protestants was all surrounding values, ethics and morals. The Protestants teachings affected the view of the populace to work. Through their teachings they dignify even the most mundane professions. According to them any profession or work that adds to the common good of man must be respected and it is dignified. They taught the Protestants that every work is sacred as long as the believer does it to the lord.
In their churches the Protestants taught believers to go out of the four walls of the church to demonstrate their love for God by how they serve fellow humans. The emphasis of the churches were not in how much work or home keeping is done in the four walls of the church itself, they rather told the Protestants to go prove their love to God at their work places through the quality of their works.
It is believed that every work you do is unto the lord and your love to God must show in the quality of your product. This led to a drive in everybody to do their best and produce the best possible qualities. As a result, these products were the best in the market. Eventually they became the best in the world, bringing revolution to the European economy.
The most revolutionary aspect of this teaching however, is the fact that the Protestants began to look for ways and means to serve God better through inventions, through discoveries, researches, sciences, factories, industries, etc. Leading to at first, up to 90% of all inventions of the world coming from the Protestant world. Up till recently 75% of all inventions from the time of the industrial revolution is credited to the countries where Protestant ethics were taught.
The dilemma of the European economy before the capitalist teachings was the fact that, when land owners employed laborers, they could not make these laborers give their best. The only incentive that was widely known and used was an increase in wages thinking that when there is an increase in wages for laborers, the laborers are supposed to view their works as more valuable and so work longer and harder. However, in the real sense, the laborers often spent less time working and not hard because they reasoned that they were been paid as well anyway. They would rather go drink and leisure.
It is this attitude that made Germany to be known as a country of lazy drunks who don’t wish to work. But the Protestant teachings changed all that, because people viewed their work as a way of proving their love to God so they tried to do their best and give the best quality to God by giving the best quality to man.
To be continued tomorrow…
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, CHURCH AND NATION
By Pastor Sunday Adelaja.
