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| The Bread Line – George Benjamin Luks (1867-1933) Dayton Art Institute |
GLEANINGS – Consenting to Consciousness - by Marilyn Chandler McEntyre, February 3, 2014
IN MANY YEARS OF TEACHING I’VE COME TO UNDERSTAND at least one basic thing about learning: It can be scary. Knowing something we didn’t know before can be disorienting, threatening, unsettling. It may require that we rearrange what we thought we knew, to become less comfortable and more accountable, and to act on what we have learned. All real learning entails those consequences, but especially learning about the systems we inhabit and the processes we rely on for goods, services, food, security, and peace of mind.
If we consent to be conscious, we will be blessed with the courage it takes. If we live in solidarity with the poor who are always with us, we will find ourselves less attached to the false security of wealth, and gradually discover the benefits of holding our “treasures on earth” with a more open hand.
Exploiting the Poor to Benefit the Rich
When we begin to read about how we get our food, for instance, it doesn’t take long to encounter the sobering truth that the people who plant and harvest much of the food we obtain through vast networks of chain stores are often underpaid for long hours of backbreaking labor and have no health benefits. Nor does it take long, if we bother to inquire, to find out which companies are subjecting workers in poor countries to substandard working conditions, including squalid housing, no job security or direct abuse, in order to provide inexpensive clothing to North American consumers and large profits to stockholders.
Learning for the first time about injustices we hadn’t been aware of can be a little like throwing a new chip in a kaleidoscope: one new chip changes the whole design. And one new fact can sometimes change our whole understanding of, say, the “American way of life,” or of what’s “normal” or “harmless,” or of how we understand what it means to be a person of faith. We will likely find that some of our most basic assumptions may need to be reevaluated.
Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger
I have come to believe that saying “yes” to Christ means saying yes to seeking the truths that will set us and others free, and consenting to act on those truths when we find them. For me, that has meant that, though I haven’t given away all my possessions and abandoned my car, I have attempted to cultivate new habits of awareness and choice—to ask about economic and agricultural and political processes, to consider what I’m supporting when I vote, buy, or travel. It has meant considering my moral choices not only in terms of whether I personally lie, cheat, steal, or play fair, but of how the systems I inhabit work, for whose benefit, and at whose cost. Like most North Americans, I am a beneficiary of the labor of many who are poorer and more vulnerable than I. I have to live with the disturbing truth that I get more than I have earned from the fruits of others’ labors, and they, often, far less.
I do not believe it’s my job to “save the world,” but it is my job to be a good steward of the resources given to me—the time, money, and power over which I have any control. There is nothing to be gained by overwhelming myself or others with fruitless guilt, but there is something to be gained by the spiritual discipline of taking participatory responsibility and for living generously and justly as a “rich Christian in an age of hunger.”
The Culpable Ignorance of the Consumer Culture
In American consumer culture, very few of us have much opportunity to witness a whole process. It is easy not to know who planted or harvested what we eat, or even what part of the world it comes from. Most of us don’t understand the process of designing and building a computer or TV—or of disposing of toxic techno-waste—though we depend heavily on our electronic technologies. We don’t know who made the clothes we’re wearing—and we don’t have to see how little those workers eat or how tired they are at the end of a sixteen-hour day.
To seek truth is to have the courage and will to ask how things came about, to concern ourselves with justice in human process and with wisdom and good stewardship in the ways we intervene in the processes of nature. Only to see the surfaces of things, only to concern ourselves with the immediacies of our daily tasks, and to rely comfortably on products and conveniences without counting the human costs involved in making and maintaining them is a shameful irresponsibility—what the church used to call culpable ignorance. Culpable ignorance—the will not to know for the sake of protecting your own comfort zone—comes from fear. And fear is a taproot of sin.
Small Steps Toward New Habits of Fidelity
So what are the practices that can keep us at that learning edge, help us to walk through the fear of guilt or change, and open our hearts wide enough to imagine and love the others whose lives we affect so deeply, even though we never see them? There are simple practices: the learning curve need not be impossibly steep, and God is gracious. There are small steps to take toward new habits of fidelity. I would suggest four practices that might be taken on as simple spiritual disciplines: asking the hard questions, acting on what we find out, having asked them, sharing that knowledge and allowing it to lead us into new relationship with each other and the earth, and allowing our widened awareness to reshape our practices of worship and the focus of our prayers.
It is both easier and harder in this internet generation to find out what we might need to know to make more responsible choices about how to be faithful participants in public process: easier because there is so much information available, harder because there is so much misinformation and disinformation available. Still, we can begin anywhere we can find elders and authorities we trust and work outward from there, doing the homework required to make our choices more caring by raising questions like these:
— What are the processes involved in making and delivering what I buy? (It’s good to be specific here—this pair of jeans, this pound of coffee, this diamond ring.)
— What are the real costs of its manufacture and marketing?
— Who is paying those costs? Who is bearing the risks? Whose lives are enhanced and whose diminished in the process?
— What habits of consumption have I normalized? Where does my notion of “normal” come from? (Is it normal, for instance, to have fifteen pairs of shoes? Or to produce sixty pounds of trash a week? Or to drive 30 miles to see a movie?)
— Is my way of life sustainable? If not, how can I help the coming generation of children prepare for a world in which their economic options are likely to be very different from ours? (How, for instance, might I get involved in educating children about particular processes—for instance, teaching them what comes into a house and what goes out of it, and where it goes, or teaching them how children live in Baghdad or Hong Kong or Manila?)
— What do I have to take into account if I widen my sense of personal responsibility to include the policies and practices of corporations and of our government? (What letters might I write, what meetings might I show up at that might make a difference?)
— What particular burden of responsibility does my Americanness impose upon me as a Christian?
More specific questions to pursue might include these:
— What legal protections are in place for the large labor force working as harvesters on megafarms or as garment makers in the largely outsourced clothing industry?
— What are the consequences of exposure to the FDA approved pesticides—for consumers and for those who work in fields that are sprayed?
— How has the fast food and convenience food industry changed my eating habits? With what particular effects on me and others?
— How by protecting my high-consumption “way of life” am I contributing to others’ poverty?
— In what specific ways have I become oil-dependent along with so many others, and how does this affect government and corporate economic and military decisions? Who is directly affected by oil drilling and the competition for that particular resource?
— Who owns the media and what controls do they exercise on what we get to know?
— What is happening to the world’s soil, water, animal species, air, and ecological balance? With what short- and long-term effects on humans and the rest of the natural world we were given to care for?
— What are the consequences of thinking about morality in a purely individualistic way?
— What tensions define for me the relationship between “Christian” and “American” right now?
— What, as an American Christian, might I need to re-examine, resist, or renounce? What might I need to support and commit to?
Along with broad questions like these, it’s helpful to raise routinely some personal “test questions” like these when shopping:
— Is this item really something I need? How will owning it and using it serve my deeper purposes?
— Can I choose to buy it from a socially and ecologically responsible company?
— Can I choose to support local or independent producers rather than those that concentrate disproportionate money and power in a few hands?
— How can I make my purchases part of a pattern of choices that help me practice love and justice?
— Do I want this enough to relinquish or forego something else?
Joyful Obedience in Courageous Solidarity
Questions like these lead to practical choices. Those choices can lead us into new patterns of conversation and community life. Though they may involve some relinquishment and some sobering reassessment, they can be undertaken in a gracious, life-affirming way, keeping the accent on joyful obedience, generous caring, and compassionate curiosity about how others experience the world. When we find our way to others who share these concerns, especially other believers, they can inform our worship and our life of prayer. Our understanding of what it means to be a part of the Body of Christ, of what it means to be stewards of creation, and of what it means to do justice and love mercy in caring for creation can be widened and enlivened in amazing ways.
Our God is a God of amazing grace. Though we are deeply complicit in unjust systems, I believe God can and does enlarge and transform every effort we make toward living justly and every prayer we offer on behalf of the vulnerable and the victimized. If we consent to be conscious, we will be blessed with the courage it takes. If we live in solidarity with the poor who are always with us, we will find ourselves less attached to the false security of wealth, and gradually discover the benefits of holding our “treasures on earth” with a more open hand. If we come together in these efforts, we may find ourselves in a more enlivening conversation than we could have imagined, among people who can teach us as we go what it means to heed the great command to “Choose life.”
Marilyn Chandler McEntyre is adjunct professor of Medical Humanities, UC Berkeley-UCSF Joint Medical Program, and a Fellow at the Gaede Institute, Westmont College, having been professor of English literature at Mills College, the College of New Jersey, and Westmont College. With a Ph.D. from Princeton University, she is a frequent contributor to Weavings, and is the author of Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies, Christ My Companion, and three collections of poetry on the art of Vermeer, Rembrandt, and Van Gogh — In Quiet Light, Drawn to the Light, and The Color of Light. Her most recent book is Patient Poets: Illness from Inside Out.
© 2014 Marilyn Chandler McEntyre
John Deacon, VP at Deacon Insurance Agencies Limited
Fabulous article!
I couldn't help thinking that such considerations and life emphasis have been characteristic of our more liberal minded Christians for decades!
We need to link with them in advancing the social imperatives of the gospel: justice for the poor, etc.
Robert Dallmann, Director at ChristLife, Inc.
2 Corinthians 8:1-5
"(1) Now, brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia, (2) that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality. (3) For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord, (4) begging us with much urging for the favor of participation in the support of the saints, (5) and this, not as we had [d]expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God."
Charles Davidson, Pastoral Counselor & Psychotherapist, Blue Ridge Pastoral Counseling and Consultation; Editor, Lifeturnings.com
So, then...? You agree with John Deacon? Thanks for the testimony of the Macedonians.
Robert Dallmann, Director at ChristLife, Inc.
No... I agree with how true salvation in Jesus impacts people's lives.
I am not nearly as inclined as many to focus on the ABUSES of individuals, which usually leads to a dismissal or perversion of Scriptural truth.
Charles Davidson, Pastoral Counselor & Psychotherapist, Blue Ridge Pastoral Counseling and Consultation; Editor, Lifeturnings.com
Top Contributor
So, Robert, with respect to social justice and the new social order of God's kingdom that Jesus said is present to us now ("the kingdom of God is among/within you"), how are we to read Jesus' parables about the first becoming last and the last first? The parable of the Workers in the Vineyard? The parable of the Rich Man and Poor Lazarus at the Gate? The parable of the Prodigal Son and the Older Brother? The parable of the Good Samaritan (outsider), in contrast to the priest and the Levite (insiders)? And his encounter with the Rich Young Ruler? And the Beatitudes and Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7) as Jesus' manifesto to his disciples? And Luke's Sermon on the Plain (6:20-26) in which Jesus turns the social order upside down for the sake of justice for the poor, as when he overturned the tables of the moneychangers in the temple as sign of God's reversal of the socio-religious-economic order, which quickly landed him nailed to a tree as an agitator and traitor who taught his followers to love not only one another but also their enemies? How are we as servants of the gospel to interpret these texts? What if they are "Scriptural truth" with respect to the "true salvation" that "in Jesus impacts people's lives," and indeed how!? It seems to me that we all stand under both the judgment and the liberation of these words of our Lord, subject to the radical reversal of sin, evil, and death in the final resurrection to everlasting life in God's altogether new creation, which he declared with respect to the present social order is breaking in upon us now! How marvelous! What do you think?
Robert Dallmann, Director at ChristLife, Inc.
Top Contributor
I think everything in the Bible should be read literally in context. Parables are parables... promises are promises... history is history...
The passage I referenced is historical fact and demonstrates how a truly saved life is impacted in practical... amazing... and unbelievable ways.
Today, the Macedonians would be told... "No, you folks are poor and under oppresion, you shouldn't give. Let the rich give."
That was historical fact... here is a commandment from the Law...
Exodus 30:15 - "The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give an offering unto the Lord, to make an atonement for your souls."
Charles Davidson, Pastoral Counselor & Psychotherapist, Blue Ridge Pastoral Counseling and Consultation; Editor, Lifeturnings.com
And with respect to the commandment of the Mosaic (and Levitical) law, Jesus said: "You have heard it said, but I say unto you . . . ." Contrary to Exodus 30:15, Jesus said to the rich young ruler, "Go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure [not here but] in heaven." And such a gift would have been far more than half a shekel, or the man would not have been "rich" to begin with. Then Jesus followed thereupon with those most disturbing of words: "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God," which dumbfounded his disciples, who asked, "Who then can be saved?" To which he replied, "With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God." And that leaves room for you and me, since no atonement for our souls can be made with a human offering of as much, or little, as half a shekel, or any amount of money. Jesus' drove the moneychangers out of the temple to make that very point, and thus to put an end to animal sacrifice. Our human offerings, unless they be our gifts to the poor in solidarity with their cries for justice, are worthless in the sight of God.
Robert Dallmann, Director at ChristLife, Inc.
Our atonement, no matter how rich or poor, is EXACTLY the SAME! The substitutionary death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.
The Law required the SAME from all people - Grace requires the SAME atonement from all people.
_________
Isaiah 55:8 - "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord."
You're approach makes perfect human logical sense. NOT God's ways though...
Mark 12:41-44
41 And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich CAST IN MUCH.
42 And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing.
43 And he CALLED UNTO HIM HIS DISCIPLES, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury:
44 For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.
According to human logic, Jesus should have commended the RICH for their generosity! The Bible says that they CAST IN MUCH!
Who "impressed" Jesus? The POOR WIDOW who gave EVERYTHING she had!
According to your theories... she should have given nothing and taken offerings.
Because of her faith and faithfulness, she is recorded forever in the Word of God as someone that Jesus CALLED His disciples over to POINT OUT.
If she followed modern protocols of giving... no one would ever know about her!
_________
For me, I cannot IGNORE the truths of the Word of God, because some people abuse it.
Robert Dallmann, Director at ChristLife, Inc.
Hi Charles Davidson
You said quote: "And with respect to the commandment of the Mosaic (and Levitical) law, Jesus said: "You have heard it said, but I say unto you . . . ."
My response: Look up EVERY one of those "but I say unto you" references and you will find Jesus EXPANDING the letter of the Law and demonstrating that the spirit of the Law FAR exceeds the letter.
Examples: Don't murder expands to don't hate - don't commit adultery expands to don't lust - etc.
Fran Pultro, Senior Pastor at Calvary Chapel King's Highway
Charles, c'mon. You know the Scripture doesn't say "blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
More accurately it says, 'Blessed are the poor IN SPIRIT..."
Robert Oliver, Pastor at KJV BIBLE BAPTIST CHURCH
That's from the Sermon on the Mount, which is to Israel, it applies to "Kingdom Law" not the Age of Grace and not the Age of Law (Millennial Context).
Fran Pultro, Senior Pastor at Calvary Chapel King's Highway
Top Contributor
Robert, so, you don't believe the Sermon on the Mount is for the Church?
Charles Davidson, Pastoral Counselor & Psychotherapist, Blue Ridge Pastoral Counseling and Consultation; Editor, Lifeturnings.com
"Then he looked up at his disciples and said: 'Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God'" (Luke 6:20). And then, additionally, what does it mean to be "poor in spirit"? Was Matthew attempting to relieve the hearer of the universality and harshness of Luke's beatitude, or instead, to call all disciples to the spirit of poverty that belongs to the poor? Or . . . what? It is left to the disciple to decide.
Fran Pultro, Senior Pastor at Calvary Chapel King's Highway
Top Contributor
Are the "His disciples" in Luke, those nearest to Him (the 12 + some others), or all who were following Him at that point?
In the context of that portion of Luke they were seeking healing, & deliverance from unclean spirits.
So does "poor" here refer to their financial state, their physical health or their spiritual state?
I believe the latter, making no conflict with Matt 5.
Robert Dallmann, Director at ChristLife, Inc.
Top Contributor
God's ways are not our ways results in the poor widow giving all she had, trusting in God, and being immortalized in the Word of God for all eternity.
Lean on our own understanding results in the poor widow keeping all she had, trusting in herself, and having no mention in the Bible.
_______________
I would much rather teach people to TRUST God, rather than badger or confiscate from the wealthy to re-distribute to the poor.
Does anyone here think that the poor widow who "impressed" Jesus ever suffered lack?
Don't get me wrong... the Bible has much to say about generosity... where many get it wrong is in the secular mindset that God only expects the wealthy to be generous.
Charles Davidson, Pastoral Counselor & Psychotherapist, Blue Ridge Pastoral Counseling and Consultation; Editor, Lifeturnings.com
So, Fran, why conflate Luke ch. 6 with Matt. ch. 5, when clearly neither Matthew nor Luke intended such conflation? Otherwise the words "in spirit" would not have differentiated the texts as they do. And then what do you make of the surrounding context in Luke in which Jesus declares, "But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry"? With respect to Luke's Jesus, the poverty of which he speaks is as literal as it gets. It means empty stomachs and famished frames. When Jesus commanded the disciples to feed the 5,000, he wasn't asking them to give the poor a sermon about "spiritual" poverty. And when he asked the rich young ruler to sell all his worldly goods and give them to the poor, he was asking the man to become poor himself (something which very few of us have been willing to do in response to the gospel, unless we happen already to be among the poor). And then there is the Matthean matter of poverty of spirit as radical humility, the necessary prerequisite to discipleship in every form.
Fran Pultro, Senior Pastor at Calvary Chapel King's Highway
Charles, so tell me, do you suppose this means that all who are poor will get into Heaven, or only that this (along with other Scriptures) means all who are poor have a better chance of getting in [Matt 19:24; Mk 10:25]?
Robert Dallmann, Director at ChristLife, Inc.
Very interesting how direct quotes of Bible examples goes ignored, especially when they conflict with one's agenda.
Robert Oliver, Pastor at KJV BIBLE BAPTIST CHURCH
Hi Fran, no, I'm not saying that Matthew 5 or any other portion of Scripture is not for the Church, as "every" verse of the Bible is indeed for the NT child of God in 1 of "3" ways: Doctrinally, Spiritually, or Prophetically; let me explain..the Sermon on the Mount applies "Doctrinally" to the physical seed of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob for the time period known as the Millennium, that would be called "Kingdom Law", however, the sermon on the mount absolutely applies to those today under the Age of Grace but only "Spiritually", in other words, yes, we should strive to love our neighbor as ourselves and forgive others as they offend us, "But", that has nothing to do with our salvation under Grace. Note: we are already Forgiven of all sin positionally, whether or not we forgive others, but these people in Matthew 5,6,7 must forgive "others" in order for them to be forgiven, why? because during the Millennium the King will be present and works will be an active part of one's standing before God, they must abide by Kingdom Law or perish. So, to answer your question, yes, it applies to the Christian spiritually but "not" doctrinally or prophetically. I hope this helps clarify brother.
Fran Pultro, Senior Pastor at Calvary Chapel King's Highway
Robert, thanks for the clarification.
John Deacon, VP at Deacon Insurance Agencies Limited
Dear Charles:
Words fail me in conveying my deep appreciation for your post and Marilyn's article.
By way of affirming her message and yours, below is an article I wrote on 'advocacy' initially posted on a blog devoted to street people. (www.homelesguide.com)
LESSONS ON ADVOCACY
Learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.
Isaiah 1:17
One Sabbath day as Jesus was teaching in a synagogue, he saw a woman who had been crippled by an evil spirit. She had been bent double for eighteen years and was unable to stand up straight.
When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Dear woman, you are healed of your sickness!”
Then he touched her, and instantly she could stand straight. How she praised God!
But the leader in charge of the synagogue was indignant that Jesus had healed her on the Sabbath day. “There are six days of the week for working,” he said to the crowd. “Come on those days to be healed, not on the Sabbath.”
But the Lord replied, “You hypocrites! Each of you works on the Sabbath day! Don’t you untie your ox or your donkey from its stall on the Sabbath and lead it out for water? This dear woman, a daughter of Abraham, has been held in bondage by Satan for eighteen years. Isn’t it right that she be released, even on the Sabbath?”
This shamed his enemies, but all the people rejoiced at the wonderful things he did.
Luke 13:10-17
This passage from Luke 13 is textbook material on advocacy.
It involves an advocate, someone who mediates between those in charge and those afflicted. In this instance it involves Jesus and a woman bent double for eighteen years.
She is crippled by something evil as are all things that oppress. Those around her believe what ails her can't be changed.
But her advocate sees otherwise. Jesus sees a woman standing upright, no longer crushed by evil. He may even see her dancing.
With God's help, he heals the woman. Praising God she walks upright, no longer having to crawl or beg or be pushed aside. She's free.
The relationship between the woman and her advocate is personal. His healing involves words and touch. To justify his contravening religious protocol, he identifies the afflicted woman as family: 'this dear woman, a daughter of Abraham ... Isn't it right that she be released, even on the sabbath?' True justice insists on freedom regardless of what day it is! She is one of us, she is family!
Those in charge insist her advocate is in violation of things God has ordained. 'This is not the time' they indignantly reply. It's a ruse as are all conventions that stand between the oppressed and their release.
Jesus is not dissuaded and heals her, evidence of God's being at work among those written off as insignificant.
The resistance of those in charge ultimately leads to their condemning Jesus to death, which only plants an irrepressible seed in every generation producing advocates like him.
Which may include us, if we have the faith and tenacity to see things the way they should be and to intercede regardless of the cost.
As much as we believe in God we must see the disadvantaged and oppressed as family, our family, God's family for whom justice can only mean release. (http://www.homelessguide.com/2011/06/lessons-in-advocacy.html)
John Deacon, VP at Deacon Insurance Agencies Limited
Dear Robert Oliver:
Your explanation of Matthew 5-7 is the most convoluted crap I have ever heard. There is no distinction as to who those verses apply to: to all those who lay claim to the kingdom. We are to live these out without compromise, equipped by the grace that makes such living possible.
Your explanation reminds me of something Soren Kierkegaard wrote:
“The matter is quite simple. The bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world? Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church’s prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close. Oh, priceless scholarship, what would we do without you? Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament.”
Robert Dallmann, Director at ChristLife, Inc.
2 Thessalonians 3:10 - "For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat."
Charles Davidson, Pastoral Counselor & Psychotherapist, Blue Ridge Pastoral Counseling and Consultation; Editor, Lifeturnings.com
Fran, thanks for your comments and questions! So, I will answer your question with a question as well. Do you think Jesus made fine distinctions between those who are poor for whatever reason they are deemed poor? Is the state of deep mental anguish any worse than the state of severe physical famine, such as the difference in states of mind and body between the Gerasene Demoniac and the hungry mouths awaiting the feeding of the 5,000? It seems from the Gospel stories that Jesus offered life to both, as he did to the rich young ruler who turned and walked away simply because the price placed upon his salvation was too much for him to bear. There is one great advantage to being among the destitute of the Earth. Nothing stands between them and the gracious mercy of God. But for the possessors of great mammon, the mammon itself is a bulwark against salvation. Blessings to you.
Robert Dallmann
Director at ChristLife, Inc.
Top Contributor
1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 - "and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to WORK WITH YOUR HANDS, as we instructed you, (12) so that you may walk properly before outsiders and BE DEPENDENT ON NO ONE."
Charles Davidson, Pastoral Counselor & Psychotherapist, Blue Ridge Pastoral Counseling and Consultation; Editor, Lifeturnings.com
Top Contributor
Oh, John, how magnificent are your words of advocacy. They have the fire in the belly of Jesus in them. And then you even call dearly beloved Soren Kierkegaard into the fray--that prophetic critic of both church and culture who slices through the mustard, calling the hand of all of us who engage in even the least bit of self-justifying theological gnat-swatting. Indeed, Jesus is perfectly clear about what he means regarding the poor, without obfuscation. It is only we who prefer to remain in the dark. Kierkegaard is right. How easy it is for us quibbling followers of the Galilean to devise weighty doctrinal trappings consisting of so much theological hogwash so as to defend ourselves against the life-giving summons of our Lord coming too close for comfort. Jesus' detractors and enemies knew precisely what he was advocating with respect to the divine reversal of their vested interest in retaining the wide divide between rich and poor. And that's why, when Jesus pronounced that the meek would inherit the Earth and the poor the Kingdom of Heaven (meaning both Earth and Heaven would belong to the meek-poor), they who disparaged such a wild scheme proceeded to string him up for dead, for good, forever--until God stepped into the picture yet once again on Easter morning and reversed the course of death and sin. And so we, through no righteousness of our own, become rich in him who became poor for us. Luke's beatitudes are blistering, and we, among the very richest of people on the Earth, are the ones so blistered. As Kierkegaard said, the disciple at first hand has no advantage over the disciple at second hand. Both are subject to the same decision. And so, as I ponder the parable of the Rich Man and Poor Lazarus, I ask myself which one of the two I am. Just so with the Workers in the Vineyard, some who come early in the day, and others who come late, both belonging to the same Lord and both receiving the same wage. Can we imagine how infuriated were the bank-rolled members of the aristocracy of Jesus' day, to be confronted with the fact that even for a single day, much less for eternity, the last should become first and the first last? If that isn't cause for rejoicing on the part of the oppressed whose heads are ground into the dust of history by the machinations of the oppressor, then nothing is. And as for the fate of the oppressor, it is simply too frightening to say. We can only imagine the conversation between Jesus and Zacchaeus, as to what Jesus said to him within the privacy of the tax collector's home to convince him that it would be in his best interest to restore fourfold what he had unjustly extorted from the poor on behalf of Caesar. And the same saga of complexity continues today, which is why Marilyn McEntyre's self-appraisal in light of the gospel is worth every inch of the "digital paper" it is printed on. Thank you, Marilyn, for not letting us off the hook any more than you spared yourself!
Robert Dallmann, Director at ChristLife, Inc.
Proverbs 20:4 - "The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing."
John Deacon, VP at Deacon Insurance Agencies Limited
Dear Robert D:
There are over 2000 verses in the Bible concerning the poor and most of them in the context of how God cares for them and expects the same of us.
Not to say that poor people aren't exempt from the same human nature that makes some of us greedy, others perpetually self-serving and others dishonest, etc...
For the many poor people I know, their 3 wants are typically:
Dignity - to be welcomed and embraced as fully human, worthy of respect in keeping with being loved by Jesus and in community with others who know them by name;
Shelter - a place of their own, protected space where they are not as vulnerable to the harshness of street life i.e. theft, violence, addiction and prostitution and
Employment - sufficient to meet their needs for food, clothing and shelter, to give them purpose and self-reliance and enable them to help others - which from my experience makes our generosity look so meagre and inconsequential, it puts us to shame (remember the widow's mite)
There are many Proverbs about the poor - my two favourites being Proverbs 14:31 and Proverbs 31:8,9 but here are some others you may not be as familiar with:
A person who oppresses the poor is like a pounding rain that destroys the crops - 28:3
Evil people don't understand justice but those who follow the Lord understand it completely - 28:5
Better to be poor and honest than to be dishonest and rich - 28:6
Income from charging high interest rates will end up in the pocket of someone who is kind to the poor - 28:8
Rich people may think they are wise, but a poor person with discernment can see right through them - 28:11
A wicked ruler is as dangerous to the poor as a roaring lion or an attacking bear - 28:15
Whoever gives to the poor will lack nothing, but those who close their eyes to poverty will be cursed - 28:27
The godly care about the rights of the poor; the wicked don't care at all - 29:7
The poor and oppressor have this in common - the Lord gives sight to the eyes of both - 29:13
If a king judges the poor fairly, his throne will last forever - 29:14
Many seek the ruler's favour, but justice comes from the Lord - 29:26
Robert Dallmann, Director at ChristLife, Inc.
Proverbs 13:4 - "The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat."
I have NO PROBLEM helping the poor. By national standards, I am slightly above the poverty line.
The fact that the Bible tells the rich and powerful how to behave properly, DOES NOT INVALIDATE the fact that the Bible tells the poor how to behave properly as well.
Sorry, John... but God's ways are NOT our ways... His are SO MUCH HIGHER!
________________
Why didn't Jesus applaud the GENEROUS wealthy people throwing lots of money into the treasury... they were DOING what you bemoan that the church does NOT do.
No! Jesus APPLAUDS for all eternity... the POOR WIDOW who trusted God and gave Him her ALL!
John Deacon, VP at Deacon Insurance Agencies Limited
Dear Robert:
If you are just above the poverty line in the US, you are a member of the world's wealthiest 10%. If your net annual income after taxes exceeds $45,000, you're in the wealthiest 1%.
"Again, I observed all the oppression that takes place under the sun. I saw the tears of the oppressed, with no one to comfort them. The oppressors have great power, and their victims are helpless." Ecclesiastes 4:1,2
Solomon was wealthier than either of us and wise enough to know where injustice truly lies. He even knew how powerless the truly poor are to change their circumstances.
Whatever the struggle is: marital strain, confusion about sexual identity, abortion, mental health issues, severe physical disability, unemployment, lack of education, troubles with the law etc. etc. - add poverty to the mix and the complications increase exponentially.
If I suddenly found myself without a dime, my possessions gone and without employment - within a day I find someone who would give me a meal, find another who would take me in within the week and probably find employment within a month.
Why? Because I'm resourceful? No - but because of all the friends I have which are not lost to me even if I lose everything I have.
Poverty - dire poverty - is to be without those connections of resource. One of the great tragedies of poverty - emphasized throughout the Bible, is that it isolates, deprives you of friends, and has you out in the street like Lazarus (Luke 16) so desperate for company that you long for dogs to lick your wounds. Even if, like the prodigal (Luke 15) you get employment, it's not enough for adequate food or shelter.
All of this, I could have read in a book. But by God's grace, I did one better - poor people have become my friends. As they are to be to everyone who claims to be Christ's - the great lesson of Matthew 25:31-46 - and emphasized repeatedly through passages like Isaiah 58 and most poignantly by the Lord's own words: 'theirs is the kingdom of God.'
Just as Paul as a 'Pharisee of the Pharisees' would be Christianity's greatest spokesperson against our becoming Pharisaical; so we too are challenged to speak against the very thing which represents our greatest obstacle to serving Christ.
There's no challenge in my decrying abortion, or homosexuality, as though they are the issues that obstruct my relationship with Christ. There is no victory to be claimed over the sins that don't tempt me.
But wealth, power, influence, prosperity, social status, possessions, privilege - these are the things that war against my soul and simultaneously oppress the poor. It means on one level, biting the hand that feeds me, but from God's vantage point it is 'becoming poor' which Christ requires of everyone with wealth.
Hence the driving force in my life includes these two verses:
"Those who oppress the poor insult their Maker,
but helping the poor honours him." Proverbs 14:31
"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves;
ensure justice for those being crushed.
Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless,
and see that they get justice." Proverbs 31:8,9
Robert, I fully understand that the driving passion of your life may be something other than the poor. But I think 'solidarity with the poor' is something all Christians should aspire to:
"Listen to me, dear brothers and sisters. Hasn’t God chosen the poor in this world to be rich in faith? Aren’t they the ones who will inherit the Kingdom he promised to those who love him? But you dishonour the poor! Isn’t it the rich who oppress you and drag you into court? Aren’t they the ones who slander Jesus Christ, whose noble name you bear?" James 2:5-7
Robert Dallmann, Director at ChristLife, Inc.
LOL!!!! John Deacon
You said quote: "Dear Robert: If you are just above the poverty line in the US, you are a member of the world's wealthiest 10%. If your net annual income after taxes exceeds $45,000, you're in the wealthiest 1%."
My response: WOW! I was wrong... I must be WELL below the poverty line!
________________
Mark 16:15 - "And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature."
The driving force in my life is PLEASING GOD and preaching His Gospel to EVERYONE I meet.
If you WANT to REJECT the numerous Scriptures I have already quoted (and many others) because it is contrary to your AGENDA... go ahead and REJECT.
________________
I have asked you a few times now (each has been ignored)...
Why didn't Jesus applaud the wealthy who were being VERY GEREROUS when He sat by the treasury and watched people throwing in their donations?
These wealthy were doing exactly what you WHINE that we should be doing.
Why did Jesus make a big deal about the POOR WIDOW and her two mites?
She did exactly what you say she SHOULDN'T be doing?
________________
Keep thinking with your humanistic mind... you will NOT find God's ways!
Fran Pultro, Senior Pastor at Calvary Chapel King's Highway
Charles, I believe we (you & I) are in agreement regarding how we should care for the poor, even though we might disagree about the meaning of some Scriptures (I see subtle differences in meaning between Matt 5 & Luke 6, due to the use of different words in those verses).
My entire ministry (35+ years) has been to those very low on the socioeconomic "ladder." That's not to boast. Just sayin' that I hear what you are saying, having lived it, felt it & seen it up close & personal.
The Word of God is true, those with earthly riches tend to trust in those riches & not in the Lord & His provision, whether that provision is material or spiritual.
Robert Dallmann, Director at ChristLife, Inc.
For me, I too have spent much time and money in ministry to the poor. Four years in New York City prisons, homeless, trouble street kids, soup kitchens, AIDS hospital, etc. etc. etc.
In no way do I deny any aspect of the Bible, including those that instruct generosity.
However, I will not sit by while the agenda driven attempt to blot out of the Bible (or just ignore them) the MANY verses that call for accountability of the poor as well as the rich.
The Bible is NOT silent in these areas... neither will I be.
John Deacon, VP at Deacon Insurance Agencies Limited
Robert:
I appreciate that your ministry includes engaging with the poor.
My only issue, where we might - and I say that reservedly - be disagreed, is on the matter of accountability.
I think the primary issue in our time pertaining to accountability is not welfare fraud, or social assistance theft, or the scales of justice being slanted to favour poor people.
It is accountability of those of us who are wealthy to care, to seek solidarity with those without voice or influence, an oppressive indifference which justifies excessive incomes at the expense of poor people, justice systems which reinforce their oppression and dire circumstance and the common mistake the wealthy of confusing charity with justice. Salvation coming to Zacchaeus' house came in part because of his willingness to make amends for his robbing the poor. So often we hear of billionaires giving millions to causes helping poor and vulnerable people but rarely in the recognition that they are making restitution. Zacchaeus got that which was evidence enough that his repentance was genuine and life changing.
I like what Shane Claiborne says about the wealthy is his book - 'An Irresistible Revolution'.
'It's not that the rich don't care for the poor,' he writes, 'but that they don't know the poor well enough to care.'
If we as preachers, pastors, prophets and God's people to encourage the wealthy we are in fellowship with to make friends with the poor so they have some feeling for their plight, thereby gaining the inspiration to engage themselves in the essential biblical work of restitution - the advance it would mean to God's kingdom cannot be understated.
John Deacon, VP at Deacon Insurance Agencies Limited
"We often see poverty as an economic and social issue, but we must have a deeper understanding. In the ultimate analysis, poverty is death. It is unjust and early death. It is the destruction of persons, of people, and nations.
Poverty is not fate, it is a condition; it is not a misfortune, it is an injustice. It is the result of social structures and mental and cultural categories, it is linked to the way in which society has been built, in its various manifestations."
Gustavo Gutierrez
The backside of poverty is not pretty. It is impersonal, inhumane, faceless, a statistic of loss that somehow even the most caring of us can become immune to. It is a social evil we’ve lost the will to resist, an indifference we succumb to even though it leaves people in the cold, clutching at scraps, their dignity trampled at every turn.
We walk quickly past, hoping that the briefest of glances on our part excuses us from our being held accountable. We blow off the question of being our sister's keeper.
But the issue changes when we confront her face to face. Though overwhelmed, we begin digging for resources beyond what our wallets can hold.
A life of prayer can begin with one homeless face. So too the pursuit for justice, compassion and restitution. God gets in our steps.
Seeing this woman's face, she is beautiful, the stuff of poetry and romance. But in hearing her hoarse whisper the allusion that poverty is beautiful shatters. To befriend her will mean sacrifice, much being misunderstood. 'Patience' we'll insist and she laments she has already waited too long.
She will persevere, but will we?
Or will we treat her as though a hobby to visit whenever we're not clutching at scraps, lest she wound us so deeply we cry out 'NO MORE!'
(see - http://www.homelessguide.com/2010/10/two-sides-of-poverty.html)
Robert Dallmann, Director at ChristLife, Inc.
My primary concern is in the health and well being of people's eternities!
If I could make all the poor rich, and none of them got saved...
or...
I could lead just one of the poor to Jesus...
I would do the second option.
Just like the rich man and Lazarus... his full belly on earth served no purpose in eternity.
I am writing a book on NT giving and EVERY EXAMPLE from the poorest of the poor to the richest of the rich is an example of EXTREME GENEROSITY!
I will NOT preach a message that robs the poor of the blessings of God found in faithful giving.
Fran Pultro, Senior Pastor at Calvary Chapel King's Highway
Top Contributor
John Deacon, I greatly appreciate your remarks. Yet I do not believe "the primary issue in our time pertaining to accountability is" those who have as opposed to those who have not.
It certainly is huge, & it is personal. It ought to come from the heart (or at least a sense of conscience), & not be legislated.
Since it IS a matter of the heart, the primary issue is still Christ, Who alone can change hearts.
Sadly, it plays out on a social level. But it cannot be addressed without addressing the accountability of the poor who are poor due to laziness or a sense/attitude of entitlement.
Both sides of this "coin" are critical to a society that functions to the benefit of all.
Dr. John Boyd, Board Chairman at Calling All the Nations
Being poor in spirit is the quality in a person that opens heaven's door. It describes one who recognizes his need of grace. He recognizes that without the grace of God he will remain forever poor in spirit. His recognition of his undone posture before the Lord is what appeals to the Lord. He is not proud, but rather, humble...poor in spirit...needy of the grace that he recognizes as God's great gift through Jesus Christ. "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time." "You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.
Those He exalts will reign with Him in the millennial kingdom to come. Theirs is the kingdom of God.
John Deacon, VP at Deacon Insurance Agencies Limited
Dr. John:
How true your statement is - but who in blazes is poor in spirit? It's kinda like "Who is humble?" The moment I say 'I am" I'm lying. Pride deceives entirely. It is the one sin which by definition we can never know the measure of - especially in ourselves.
That's why I like Luke's take on 'blessed are the poor' - without the 'in spirit' part. We know who the poor are. The ones who have to pray for daily bread because they've got none.
Unfortunately the 'poor in spirit' qualification has many Christians interpreting 'blessed are the poor' as though it means 'blessed are the deserving poor.'
No such qualifier exists, anymore than there is for any of us a qualifier to receive God's grace, mercy and forgiveness.
'When I was naked, you clothed me...' The 'why' explaining how he became naked is never given. He may be naked because he was robbed; he may be naked because he gambled all his possessions away; he may be naked because in a drunken stupor, he took off all his clothes.
The point is - not how it was that he was naked, but that someone cared enough to clothe him, whom Jesus calls 'blessed.' That's all that really matters!
Dr. John Boyd, Board Chairman at Calling All the Nations
John, are you Reformed in your theology (Sorry, but I don't know how else to ask!)?
Charles Davidson, Pastoral Counselor & Psychotherapist, Blue Ridge Pastoral Counseling and Consultation; Editor, Lifeturnings.com
Yes, to both Johns, yes.
John Deacon, VP at Deacon Insurance Agencies Limited
Dear Dr. John:
I am glad Charles has answered for me. I honestly don't know.
My favourite theologians are Bonhoeffer, Aquinas and John Howard Yoder if that helps.
Karl Goodfellow, CEO at Safety Net Prayer Ministry
Three months ago I started praying and writing E-Prayer to a few friends, those few friends have evolved to close to 200, and the list keeps growing. Every morning I know they are waiting to receive my prayers and read their E-Prayer. In a recent conversation I quoted a statistic I heard a long time ago that 75% of our prayer, journaling time deals with our own personal problems, struggles, ups and downs. Because I communicate with people I am praying for I know what is happening in their lives. Using the E-Prayer and my prayer board my problems seem smaller, and in spite of the problems not going away, I realize how rich my life is.
Try it you might like it
karl
Robert Dallmann, Director at ChristLife, Inc.
2 Corinthians 8:1-5
"(1) Now, brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia, (2) that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality. (3) For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord, (4) begging us with much urging for the favor of participation in the support of the saints, (5) and this, not as we had [d]expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God."
This is an example of how God views things... definitely different than those who limit Him to moving within the confines of our limited human understanding.
John Deacon, VP at Deacon Insurance Agencies Limited
I think we're missing the point of Ms. McEntyre's article.
The issue isn't about the poor per se. It isn't directed at the poor. It is about injustice - one injustice in particular and how we as 'Christians in the Age of Hunger' should be responding.
Quoting from her article, the injustice she focuses on is:
Exploiting the Poor to Benefit the Rich
She writes: "When we begin to read about how we get our food, for instance, it doesn’t take long to encounter the sobering truth that the people who plant and harvest much of the food we obtain through vast networks of chain stores are often underpaid for long hours of backbreaking labor and have no health benefits. Nor does it take long, if we bother to inquire, to find out which companies are subjecting workers in poor countries to substandard working conditions, including squalid housing, no job security or direct abuse, in order to provide inexpensive clothing to North American consumers and large profits to stockholders."
The point she is making is as old as the prophet Amos and very much in evidence in the first generation of the church. The Apostle James writes:
"The treasure you have accumulated will stand as evidence against you on the day of judgment. For listen! Hear the cries of the field workers whom you have cheated of their pay. The wages you held back cry out against you. James 5:3b,4
The article GENTLY takes aim at those 'holding back' (i.e. people of whom she is one) - content to see people work in deplorable work situations, receiving inadequate pay, confined to squalid living situations eating food not fit for dogs.
I say GENTLY because Ms. McEntyre is gracious enough to assume that the wealthy are exploiting the poor unknowingly. That once aware of our transgression, we'll buck up and change.
But then the question becomes: 'How do we change?' - to which the remainder of her article is devoted.
She writes: "Learning for the first time about injustices we hadn’t been aware of can be a little like throwing a new chip in a kaleidoscope: one new chip changes the whole design. And one new fact can sometimes change our whole understanding of, say, the “American way of life,” or of what’s “normal” or “harmless,” or of how we understand what it means to be a person of faith. We will likely find that some of our most basic assumptions may need to be reevaluated."
As much as we're inclined whenever the subject of poverty comes up, to get sidetracked with issues like welfare fraud and the indolent poor, and the waste of government sponsored social programs, that's not her point. The article like most prophecy doesn't allow us 'to get off the hook.' 'You da man' was what the prophet Nathan said to King David. And because David wouldn't let himself off the hook, he truly changed.
Same lesson here. 'We da ones' or at least rich Christians like I am are.
So what are we going to do about it?
Blaming the poor doesn't count.
