POVERTY & POWERLESSNESS

I can remember a number of people who grew up during the Depression who characterized their experiences by saying something like “We didn't have much, but we didn’t even realize that we were poor.”

This observation goes along with what I’ve been reading in a book about poverty. The book is God of the Empty-Handed, & it is written by an Asian Indian from an Evangelical Christian perspective. He sees poverty not so much as a lack of things, but as a condition of powerlessness. 

Unfortunately, almost all secular programs & many Christian ones that address poverty seem to be limited to this view.

Poverty results in part because political, economic, & legal power are concentrated in a small group of people, the elites. They see themselves as smarter, abler, better educated, etc. than the general population, the masses. The masses are inept & unable to direct their own lives; they need the elitist class to do that for them. Legislation, the judicial system, & even religious beliefs & cultural mores enforce this view of the 2 separate classes. The ultimate result of this complex of factors perpetuates poverty & guarantees permanent dependence of the masses on the goodwill of the elites.

This condition is not what the Founders of the United States envisioned. It is actually what they strove to avoid. They desired to insure that political, economic, & legal power are distributed as broadly among as many people as possible.

In this coming year, may many people be newly empowered by a renewing of our beloved nation. May that empowering not be limited to their political, economic, & legal condition. May it especially be true of their spiritual life as they come to know Christ & grow in their relationship with Him.

SOME THOUGHTS ON “FINISHING WELL”

We hear this term a lot, especially as we get older.

One temptation of those involved in ministry, working for Christian employer, or living in a Christian family, is to think that somehow that setting is more ideal & that they are less likely to experience the negative side of human behavior.

When we find out that Christian people are still imperfect, & when they fail to measure up to how we believe they should live, there is a big tendency to get cynical.

This temptation of skepticism usually grows over time. To finish well, we must learn to balance the ideal we desire with the reality we face every day. If we don’t, we will finish badly. We will expect the worst from people & will allow that cynicism to poison our relationships with people whom God has called us to influence toward His good purpose for their lives.

Actually, this on-going battle with cynicism can have a number of important benefits. 

First, it helps us to see ourselves & our own sins (grouchiness & impatience, for example) more clearly, showing us how dependent we are on God’s grace.

Second, it encourages us to pray for & encourage those who may be younger in the faith than we are.

Third, it can motivate us to believe that God is still at work in those He has in His wisdom & sovereignty brought into our lives.

Let's make it our goal to finish the year well, & to finish our lives well!

THOUGHTS ON THE SYRIANS

I have to be honest – As a disciple of Christ, one of the most distressing things to me personally about the Syrian refugee situation is how some have interpreted & applied Scripture to it. They have managed, either intentionally or in ignorance, to misapply the biblical teaching about individual & corporate Christian treatment of “strangers.”

They have then used that teaching to say that civil government must prioritize this over its responsibility to insure as much as possible the physical safety of its citizens.

At the same time, God can use what we believe to be foolish, irresponsible, even evil actions of people & governments to bring about His redemptive plan. THIS this is where the biblical mandate for caring for strangers applies.

I know of a number of congregations who are doing just that. They are befriending & building relationships with the refugees. Does this mean that they agree with the policy? Not necessarily. Does it mean that they are fulfilling the biblical mandate about “strangers” as the Lord intended? I believe it does.

Another question comes to mind.  After misusing Scripture to push and open border policy, will they then encourage or discourage active outreach to these “strangers” in order to make Christ known to them? I hope that, to be at least a little consistent, they would encourage it.

You see, the best defensive weapon (& maybe the best offensive weapon also) against Islamic terrorism & its terrible fruit is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

HOW CAN I HELP?

I’m re-reading another helpful book that has given me important insights for our ministry here. 

Here’s a quote from it: “When carefully looking at the definitions and attributes of compassion, it is seen as something that is not done from one to another as much as something done together. It implies an entering in to another person’s situation, gaining perspective of what that situation really is from that person’s or group’s point of view, and then proceeding together to figure out what the solution might be. This is often not how compassionate acts of kindness are carried out because it is a very time-consuming, long-term way of being kind and most of us would rather be in a hurry. Our nature, our culture, and our system is geared toward quick fix, high visibility solutions that get people out of their misery as fast and as efficiently as possible, often leaving the very recipients of the solution out of the process” (Joann Butrin).

While that was written in the context of social ministry outside the US, it can teach us something about why our country is in the shape it’s in now. You see, a lot of unrest is because people who are supposedly being helped by our secular, government-based social welfare system aren’t involved in the process; they’re just faceless, nameless, numbered recipients.

That’s one of the tragic results when we start with the assumption that government is compassionate, efficient, & flexible enough to do what the church & the local community have done in the past, & should by all rights be allowed to continue to do.

It’s also the result of another seriously mistaken assumption – that poverty is the lack of things. If that is so, all that is needed to alleviate poverty is to provide things. We can see how well that’s working.

Poverty is not a simple thing. But part of the answer to individuals, families, & communities in poverty includes listening to their perceived needs; seeing them as whole, integrated persons (with spiritual & emotional parts, & not just economic consumers); & giving them the dignity of helping create solutions for their situation.

That’s a big reason why we have a lot of really angry people on our streets. They will continue to be angry until things change, & control comes back to our local communities.

WHAT’S LIBERATION THEOLOGY GOT TO DO WITH ME?

I’ve been re-reading an excellent little book (just under 200 pages). It argues that true liberation theology is the Gospel of Christ, not the artificial blending of Marxism & nominal Christianity that sought to “revolutionize” Latin America throughout the 1960s-90s.

Here’s a quote from it: “Capitalism is quite simply the most moral system, the most effective system, & the most equitable system of economic exchange. When capitalism, the system of free economic exchange, is described fairly, there can be no question that it comes closer than socialism or interventionism to matching the demands of the biblical ethic” (page 110).

Another outstanding aspect of the book is Nash & Belli’s explanation of the 3 dominant, competing views of economics today (page 95ff). They are capitalism, socialism, & interventionism, which is a combination of the first 2. This section clarifies the idea that what many understand today as “capitalism” is not capitalism; it is actually interventionism.

There’s not space here to describe why I believe that that these writers are absolutely right in their assessment of economics & what system most effectively fulfills the biblical ideal. But I encourage you to get a copy & read it for yourself.