#864 Is It Wrong to Retire?
December 03, 2023Hi Dr. Craig,
I appreciate your work and am a long time listener. I am submitting a question on a topic that is probably unique but which I have genuine interest as to how it relates to Christian ethics. I am wondering about the ethics of retirement. Is it ethical for a Christian who has the financial means to do so, to "retire" and live a life of leisure?
I have always lived with the assumption that many people aspire to work until traditional retirement age (perhaps 65), and then "ride off into the sunset" with a life of leisure, golf, travel, etc. As a high earning professional who developed an interest in personal finance, I discovered that I would likely have the ability to be financially independent and retire well before the age of 65 if I desired. There is even a popular cultural movement today, known as the FIRE movement (financial independence retire early) that focuses on many aspects of financial independence and perhaps early retirement, and I have read a lot about this. While I believe that saving for financial independence is certainly good for everybody, I'm not sure if retiring at 50 to a life of leisure would be ethical. I know that someone can always retire from one job to other areas of meaningful work, and that could be good (for example, at times, I have considered a second career in the future with teaching apologetics or a related topic). But it got me thinking that if it would be unethical to retire to a life of leisure at age 50, then would the same concept apply to an able-minded, able-bodied person who is 60 or 70 years old. It seems that a life of leisure after age 65 is certainly culturally accepted, but the whole concept of "traditional retirement age" itself seems to be a cultural construct.
In essence, is it ethical for someone who has earned financial independence to say "I have done my work, and now it's time to relax", if they have potential to continue doing work for Christs Kingdom? Or should Christians always have a plan to do some form of a job (paid or unpaid) until they no longer can?
Thanks
Homer
United States
Dr. craig’s response
A
Jesus said, “We must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day; night comes, when no one can work” (John 9.4). He clearly intended that as his disciples we should be engaged in the Lord’s work as long as we can, until the end comes. It would be unthinkable that we should devote the final years of our lives to the pursuit of pleasure and relaxation.
So if we are able to retire from earning an income because we have planned carefully for our final years, so as to carry our own expenses and not burden our children financially, nevertheless we never step back from a life of discipleship, but take up our cross daily to follow Christ. We should look for ways in which to do the Lord’s work. Of course, ill health may severely restrict what we can do; but what we must not do is substitute pleasure-seeking or a leisure lifestyle for following Jesus.
It's so easy to let the world squeeze us into its mold. We often unthinkingly accept the mores of the culture around us without even realizing it. The Western ideal of retirement is precisely one such unbiblical assumption. Our attitude should rather be that of the apostle Paul, when he wrote, “one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3.13-14).
- William Lane Craig