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[Professor Amateur]

How is receiving a loan with interest on the principal different than working at a bank?

Are Christians not supposed to work at banks? Or is it OK to be a teller and not a loan officer?

Also, does anybody even care about anything these days?

[jimwalton]

The Torah on occasion encourages lending to those in need (Dt. 15.1-7). There were several understandings about loans.

1. The preeminent principle for business was to operate with honesty and integrity (Prov. 10.3; 11.1, 3; 16.11; 20.10).
2. Any interest charged for loans was always supposed to be fair and reasonable, not usurious (Ps. 15.5). In the ancient Near East (Hammurabi), interest could not exceed 20%. In ancient Israel, common interest rates were 20-33%. In the Roman world, interest was sometimes as high as 48%. At Elephantine, interest rates as high as 60% have been found.
3. Israelites were not supposed to charge interest to other Israelites, since they were all under the covenant, but a reasonable pledge (collateral) could be secured (Ex. 22.25-27).
4. It was OK to charge interest to foreigners, but it should still be at a fair rate. Loans to foreigners were allowed but discouraged in case the foreigner defaulted on the loan (Prov. 11.15)
5. If one lended money to the poor, one should expect never to get it back and consider it charity. If you had that much money and the other person had that little, just give it. (Prov. 11.26; 29.7,14).
6. Every 7th year, all debts were to be forgiven (Lev. 25). God established policies so that there would never be a permanent poverty class in Israel.
7. Any ill-gotten profit was considered to be wrong (Prov. 10.2; 11.18).

> How is receiving a loan with interest on the principal different than working at a bank?

It's not, though there were no such entities as banks in the days of the Bible.

> Are Christians not supposed to work at banks? Or is it OK to be a teller and not a loan officer?

It's OK to work at banks. The principles of the Bible still stand (integrity, honesty, fairness), but the laws about loaning to Israelites and foreigners don't pertain to us. Those laws were intended for Israel as a theocratic state. When Israel/Judah fell (586 BC), the civil law became defunct with it. The civil law was not intended to be carried out by every government in history.

> Also, does anybody even care about anything these days?

That's a pretty general question. Lots of people care about lots of things these days: some right, some wrong, some major, some minor, some good and some misguided. As far as our secular country of America, ignorance of biblical principles is high, and ignoring them is even higher. It's all about "Show me the money!"