Can't remember who said it, but this isn't original to me and I think applies here.
"It's never right to do wrong in order to have a chance to do right."
Maybe the question should be is credit an option for the Christian
Credit is a useful tool, if handled properly. The absolute most important thing in regards to a credit card is to pay that bill off every single month. Not paying it off every month is tantamount to giving your money away.
Most of these situations would be avoidable if we just lived within our means.
I completely agree. However, that doesn't apply to every case. A lengthy hospital stay of any kind can cripple any one of us financially. I currently don't have anything resembling decent healthcare through my employer and have had to buy it myself. There's nothing that angers me more than the state of healthcare in this country. Regardless, that sounds like it could be a thread of its own.
But, before we start thinking we can cop out because of the cost of healthcare, I've got an example of someone who took 18 years to pay a medical bill off.
About 10 years ago, I worked with a single mom who had 2 teenagers. She told me that, when her oldest was born, she had no medical insurance at all and the entire bill fell to her. At the time I worked with her, her oldest had just graduated high school, and she had just paid the bill. As far as I know, she wasn't saved.
If a non-Christian has the character to pay what she owed, though it took 18 years to do it, then I don't see why Christians think they have any business going into bankruptcy.