I'm well aware that December 25 was not likely the birth of Jesus. But that fact does not change the fact that it is the date many Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus. That and the upcoming New Year make it an appropriate time for reflection and planning for the upcoming year.
For those of you who are not familiar with my Hobo's Listblog, I spent my Christmas Eve and Christmas Day feeding Amarillo's homeless without the permit the city requires for such action.
Christmas Eve went off with nary a hitch (I had to bail at 3, though, leaving Rusty Tomlinson and Joseph Hayes to man the feeding table (Joseph went all 8 hours both days!). But Christmas Day was different. The snow began in earnest shortly after we set up and continued on until just before we were finishing up, at times limiting visibility to less than 500 feet. As the snow melted on the cuff of my pants it numbed my skin, and late in the day despite taking breaks to the van to warm up, I was beginning to fear the possibility of frostbite.
The snow was, in all honesty, probably the best Christmas present I could have received. Not only did it give me pause to reflect on the reality of homelessness, but equal pause to reflect on what it truly means to be a Christian.
I wish I could say I made the connection immediately, but it wasn't until later in the week, lulled by the hum of my van's engine as I drove the width of the Texas Panhandle, that I began to think about the significance of the storm in relation to my faith.
Before Jesus was crucified, not only did he endure the taunts of the crowd, but 39 lashes, literally to the edge of death. On that fateful day when he was burdened with the load of the cross, this once strong carpenter was weakened and humiliated to a point of exhaustion...yet even in His weakened state, He still had to carry the cross to the point of His execution.
Not only did He bear this burden but He instructed us in Matthew 16:24 to follow His example, to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him. The implication was that WE had a burden to bear and a price to pay if we count ourselves as Jesus' followers.
In Deitrich Bonhoeffer's book, The Cost of Discipleship, Bonhoeffer makes mention of "cheap grace". He describes it as follows:
Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession.... Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate
Somewhere along the way, we've allowed cheap grace to dominate our doctrine. "Checkbook charity" has replaced personal investment, and grace has been reduced to little more than a shiny bauble obtained by a walk up the aisle during the longest playing of "Just as I Am" ever played. We've missed the commands to heal the sick, feed the poor visit those in prison, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. In fact, if we even KNOW our neighbor, we are a rarity.
In the late hours of our Christmas feeding, the reality of what it means to truly serve Christ was once again impressed on me. I had certainly understood it before, but there is something about enduring beyond where you thought you could that puts an indelible stamp on it.
As the New Year approaches, I would like to encourage everyone to seek out opportunities to live their faith in ways that truly demonstrate the presence of Christ in your lives. Do hard things, push yourselves beyond your comfort zone and live your faith out loud. It is, I believe, what the world needs most right now.
Friday, December 30, 2011
Monday, November 21, 2011
Why Don't More People Believe in Jesus?
This is a hotbed issue for me. We live in an age where many people openly question (or outright deny) the existence of God and/or the existence of Jesus. Oddly enough, pastors in the pulpits have been scratching their heads for years trying to figure out why.
For some inexplicable reason, some folks seem to be figuring that there aren't enough latte bars in the churches. So they build coffeeshops. Or maybe professional multimedia presentations. So they invest in a production crew, using money raised from tithes (which were intended as a "storehouse" for the poor and needy) to pay the crew and to produce fancy films explaining away the plan of salvation.
It's nothing new; in fact if I say that the moneychangers are taking over the temple, I will get nods of agreement even in these same circles.
I am reminded on a regular basis, though, that people are ALWAYS drawn to sincere, heartfelt expressions of Christian faith. Recently, when driving in to get some supplies from a local store, I passed a woman outside with a sign that simply said "Out of Gas". Now, having tried to do things for the poor and the homeless for many years, I am ALWAYS skeptical when I see people in that situation. I'm no fool, and I've seen every con job there is. And so I thought long and hard about whether I should stop and help. She was not in a place where I could stop and learn her story, and besides, even getting someone's story is not the best tell. The people who are experts at gaming the system have the best stories, and the people who truly need help are often so embarrased at having to ask that their apprehension could very easily be mistaken for dishonesty.
So (not to my credit, but to God's), I decided to help her without knowing more of the backstory. It's God's money anyways, and I figure if someone "takes advantage" of what I give them, it was never my money in the first place, and thus it is not my place to be offended. I did, for a moment, wonder if it was the wisest thing.
I didn't have to wait long for an answer. Her tears and gratitude gave me all of the answer I needed.
We live in a world where it's easy to be callous. We've been gamed so many times, we've had people take advantage of our good nature (and, to my own discredit, I have at times sadly taken advantage of others' good natures), that we've become cynics. We want to help, but we want to know that we're helping and not enabling. In other words (and this stings as much to type as it likely does to read), we often attach strings to our "generosity".
The truth is, if we attach strings, it's not generosity, it's a transaction.
The reason more people don't believe in Jesus is because they don't SEE Jesus. We TALK about trusting God, but we make sure to pay up our insurance premiums. We use pithy platitudes like "God will provide", yet we keep our pantries full even when the local food bank is asking us what we can give. We hold back our blessings because we believe WE provided the blessings, not God. We have a form of Godliness, but deny its power, something we are warned against in 2 Timothy 3:1-5.
I believe that if more people SAW Jesus in a church willing to serve, they would believe, and they would follow.
Now, when I presented the story I came across the other day, I deliberately left off "the rest of the story" because, the truth is, this article was written more about the conviction in my own heart than it is the conviction I see in other people's lives. Here is the rest of the story:
I had spent the weekend in Dallas to represent Hobo's List and participate in the Occupy Dallas march. On the way down, I passed two guys walking on the side of the road. But I was on a schedule and stopping seemed rather inconvenient. On the way back, I passed at least one, but I was seriously wanting to get home. My rationalizations for passing them are irrelevant; the fact is that I did. The way back was also compounded with concerns about how much money was left for the remainder of the month. I had taken down a decent load of ewaste for recycling, but not enough to profit off of my trip. And, as always during this time of year, there was the impending fear of the approaching holidays.
But shortly before I pulled in to the store, I had called home to check in. My oldest daughter mentioned a rather generous holiday gift from some friends, one that certainly didn't take away the normal concerns about money, but did make some of those questions a little easier to answer.
In other words, I must reluctantly confess that I did not give out of my need, as with the widow's mite, but out of my excess.
If we want to change the way the church is perceived, perhaps the best way to do so is to change the way WE behave. If people see Christians as self absorbed materialists who talk a good game but have difficulty living it, that will affect how they respond. But if they see us as willing to give EVERYTHING to ensure the comforts of those who are less privileged than ourselves, then maybe, just maybe, they will see a church worth joining.
For some inexplicable reason, some folks seem to be figuring that there aren't enough latte bars in the churches. So they build coffeeshops. Or maybe professional multimedia presentations. So they invest in a production crew, using money raised from tithes (which were intended as a "storehouse" for the poor and needy) to pay the crew and to produce fancy films explaining away the plan of salvation.
It's nothing new; in fact if I say that the moneychangers are taking over the temple, I will get nods of agreement even in these same circles.
I am reminded on a regular basis, though, that people are ALWAYS drawn to sincere, heartfelt expressions of Christian faith. Recently, when driving in to get some supplies from a local store, I passed a woman outside with a sign that simply said "Out of Gas". Now, having tried to do things for the poor and the homeless for many years, I am ALWAYS skeptical when I see people in that situation. I'm no fool, and I've seen every con job there is. And so I thought long and hard about whether I should stop and help. She was not in a place where I could stop and learn her story, and besides, even getting someone's story is not the best tell. The people who are experts at gaming the system have the best stories, and the people who truly need help are often so embarrased at having to ask that their apprehension could very easily be mistaken for dishonesty.
So (not to my credit, but to God's), I decided to help her without knowing more of the backstory. It's God's money anyways, and I figure if someone "takes advantage" of what I give them, it was never my money in the first place, and thus it is not my place to be offended. I did, for a moment, wonder if it was the wisest thing.
I didn't have to wait long for an answer. Her tears and gratitude gave me all of the answer I needed.
We live in a world where it's easy to be callous. We've been gamed so many times, we've had people take advantage of our good nature (and, to my own discredit, I have at times sadly taken advantage of others' good natures), that we've become cynics. We want to help, but we want to know that we're helping and not enabling. In other words (and this stings as much to type as it likely does to read), we often attach strings to our "generosity".
The truth is, if we attach strings, it's not generosity, it's a transaction.
The reason more people don't believe in Jesus is because they don't SEE Jesus. We TALK about trusting God, but we make sure to pay up our insurance premiums. We use pithy platitudes like "God will provide", yet we keep our pantries full even when the local food bank is asking us what we can give. We hold back our blessings because we believe WE provided the blessings, not God. We have a form of Godliness, but deny its power, something we are warned against in 2 Timothy 3:1-5.
I believe that if more people SAW Jesus in a church willing to serve, they would believe, and they would follow.
Now, when I presented the story I came across the other day, I deliberately left off "the rest of the story" because, the truth is, this article was written more about the conviction in my own heart than it is the conviction I see in other people's lives. Here is the rest of the story:
I had spent the weekend in Dallas to represent Hobo's List and participate in the Occupy Dallas march. On the way down, I passed two guys walking on the side of the road. But I was on a schedule and stopping seemed rather inconvenient. On the way back, I passed at least one, but I was seriously wanting to get home. My rationalizations for passing them are irrelevant; the fact is that I did. The way back was also compounded with concerns about how much money was left for the remainder of the month. I had taken down a decent load of ewaste for recycling, but not enough to profit off of my trip. And, as always during this time of year, there was the impending fear of the approaching holidays.
But shortly before I pulled in to the store, I had called home to check in. My oldest daughter mentioned a rather generous holiday gift from some friends, one that certainly didn't take away the normal concerns about money, but did make some of those questions a little easier to answer.
In other words, I must reluctantly confess that I did not give out of my need, as with the widow's mite, but out of my excess.
If we want to change the way the church is perceived, perhaps the best way to do so is to change the way WE behave. If people see Christians as self absorbed materialists who talk a good game but have difficulty living it, that will affect how they respond. But if they see us as willing to give EVERYTHING to ensure the comforts of those who are less privileged than ourselves, then maybe, just maybe, they will see a church worth joining.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
The War on Christmas
As the Christmas season draws nearer, we will soon see the endless parade of pundits who will declare the "war on Christmas". And they'll be compelling. They'll show you department store Santas out of a job, they'll show you clerks who are told to use generic holiday greetings...anything they can to convince you that Christmas has been crushed under the grinding wheels of political correctness.
The truth is, they are partly right and partly wrong. There IS a war on Christmas. But it's not being waged by the people we think.
Let me take you back to Christmas 1981. I was an 11 year old boy, and I knew we wouldn't have much for Christmas. We had moved over 1000 miles to our new home in our old station wagon, and were starting over: me, my sister, and three brothers, one of them four months old at the time. Our main concern was getting through the winter with what we had on hand.
We were new to the area, so we didn't know anybody, really. New school, new community, and we lived on such limited means that I doubt most folks in today's America could survive. We went to bed on Christmas Eve with a scattering of homemade presents underneath the remarkably dated aluminum foil Christmas tree that my mother had goten at a discount from working at a department store.
About midnight, we were awakened by a knock on the door. My mother opened it, and a guy in a cheap Santa suit came in with what seemed to us like a million presents, as well as food for the next day. One of those presents I still remember vividly: an Atari 2600, the "dream gift" for us. The Christmas we wouldn't have was saved by people from the church who didn't care that they didn't know us that well, al they cared was that we have a good Christmas.
One of my favorite Christmas songs is the Longfellow poem "Christmas Bells". I've always identified with the next to last verse:
And in despair I bowed my head/"There is no peace on earth", I said/"For hate is strong and mocks the song/Of Peace on Earth goodwill to men".
As Christians, we have a distinct duty to serve God by serving our fellow-man. Every time we put our own greeds above the needs of others in our community, we wage a war on Christmas. Every time we rationalize away our responsibility to the poor, we are waging a war on Christmas. Every night a child goes to bed hungry in this, the richest country in the world, we are waging a war on Christmas.
A "war on Christmas" can't be won by displacing the department store Santas. Christmas was never about Santa, or fancy gifts or conspicuous consumption. While Christmas means many things to many different cultures, in the Christian tradition, at least, it is about the Advent, the coming of Jesus Christ, a man who taught us to see others as higher than ourselves, and to serve "the least of these". When we as a society turn our backs on the poor and serve ourselves, we are waging the cruelest, bloodiest war on Christmas that can be waged. And the casualties can be seen underneath the freeway overpasses, in the back alleys, on the park benches, and in the slums and hovels of our inner cities. If you're looking for Jesus in the toy aisle at Target, you are definitely, most definitely looking in the wrong place.
If this Christmas, Christians would look to fulfill the instructions of Christ and to live in service to their fellow man not only on December 25 but also throughout the year, the war on Christmas will have been won. And suddenly we won't be so concerned about the presence or absence of the department store Santa. .
The truth is, they are partly right and partly wrong. There IS a war on Christmas. But it's not being waged by the people we think.
Let me take you back to Christmas 1981. I was an 11 year old boy, and I knew we wouldn't have much for Christmas. We had moved over 1000 miles to our new home in our old station wagon, and were starting over: me, my sister, and three brothers, one of them four months old at the time. Our main concern was getting through the winter with what we had on hand.
We were new to the area, so we didn't know anybody, really. New school, new community, and we lived on such limited means that I doubt most folks in today's America could survive. We went to bed on Christmas Eve with a scattering of homemade presents underneath the remarkably dated aluminum foil Christmas tree that my mother had goten at a discount from working at a department store.
About midnight, we were awakened by a knock on the door. My mother opened it, and a guy in a cheap Santa suit came in with what seemed to us like a million presents, as well as food for the next day. One of those presents I still remember vividly: an Atari 2600, the "dream gift" for us. The Christmas we wouldn't have was saved by people from the church who didn't care that they didn't know us that well, al they cared was that we have a good Christmas.
One of my favorite Christmas songs is the Longfellow poem "Christmas Bells". I've always identified with the next to last verse:
And in despair I bowed my head/"There is no peace on earth", I said/"For hate is strong and mocks the song/Of Peace on Earth goodwill to men".
As Christians, we have a distinct duty to serve God by serving our fellow-man. Every time we put our own greeds above the needs of others in our community, we wage a war on Christmas. Every time we rationalize away our responsibility to the poor, we are waging a war on Christmas. Every night a child goes to bed hungry in this, the richest country in the world, we are waging a war on Christmas.
A "war on Christmas" can't be won by displacing the department store Santas. Christmas was never about Santa, or fancy gifts or conspicuous consumption. While Christmas means many things to many different cultures, in the Christian tradition, at least, it is about the Advent, the coming of Jesus Christ, a man who taught us to see others as higher than ourselves, and to serve "the least of these". When we as a society turn our backs on the poor and serve ourselves, we are waging the cruelest, bloodiest war on Christmas that can be waged. And the casualties can be seen underneath the freeway overpasses, in the back alleys, on the park benches, and in the slums and hovels of our inner cities. If you're looking for Jesus in the toy aisle at Target, you are definitely, most definitely looking in the wrong place.
If this Christmas, Christians would look to fulfill the instructions of Christ and to live in service to their fellow man not only on December 25 but also throughout the year, the war on Christmas will have been won. And suddenly we won't be so concerned about the presence or absence of the department store Santa. .
Monday, October 31, 2011
Where is the Church?
Warning: I'm about to get a bit personal here.
There are days that I sit back and woner where the church is? Today is one of those days.
Many, many years ago (a bit over 22), I came into a felt relationship with Christ. I saw that I needed hope and deliverance from the life I was leading.
At the time, I had a vibrant faith community. These were truly incredible, truly awesome people with a deep and abiding love for God. They tried in so many way to reach out to me, but I losed myself off and away from them.
As the years went by, I went through various churches and began to develop an awareness of the fellowship I was missing. To this date, I have never found it again, and I can't help but marvel at the irony that when I didn't want the help, it was there; when I needed it, it was nowhere to be found.
I've tried to steer that need, tried to channel it into a ministry of my own, but I can't. There are aspects of it that I can't do, where I am ill equipped. And in the meantime, I've punched the clock on job after job that might mean something to someone else, but means very little to me.
I am exhausted. I am sick, tired, and fed up.
And yet, in all of this, I have to ask: WHERE IS THE CHURCH? God set a very specific plan in place, and charged His people with feeding His flock. Feeding the hungry, healing the sick, housing the homeless, befriending the lonely...all...ALL of it fits under God's plan. Yet we'd rather fill ourselves with pithy feel good stories, show up on Sunday and put our money in the plate and all it good.
A few years ago, a famous author put out a book called "The Prayer of Jabez". It was a bestseller. Unfortunately, it was as misguided as it was popular. See, the author thought that Jabez was simply looking to get wealthy and that God rewarded him. Wrong; Jabez' prayer was that he would no longer cause pain to those around him.
I know that prayer because I've prayed it myself many times over. And I know that others know that prayer because you can see it expressed in the song "Hurt", recorded by Nine Inch Nails and later Johnny Cash.
We live in a world where we think "stuff" eases pain. Where is we create enough noise, perhaps we cannot hear the cry of our conscience when we see a hungry child, or a homeless man walking the streets asking us to spare just a pittance of the wealth with which we have been blessed.
We can do better. We MUST do better. Now is the time for the church to act. Never have we been more needed. Please take the time to reach out to your friends and family, to love them as Jesus loved them, and to just listen. You will give them more than you know.
There are days that I sit back and woner where the church is? Today is one of those days.
Many, many years ago (a bit over 22), I came into a felt relationship with Christ. I saw that I needed hope and deliverance from the life I was leading.
At the time, I had a vibrant faith community. These were truly incredible, truly awesome people with a deep and abiding love for God. They tried in so many way to reach out to me, but I losed myself off and away from them.
As the years went by, I went through various churches and began to develop an awareness of the fellowship I was missing. To this date, I have never found it again, and I can't help but marvel at the irony that when I didn't want the help, it was there; when I needed it, it was nowhere to be found.
I've tried to steer that need, tried to channel it into a ministry of my own, but I can't. There are aspects of it that I can't do, where I am ill equipped. And in the meantime, I've punched the clock on job after job that might mean something to someone else, but means very little to me.
I am exhausted. I am sick, tired, and fed up.
And yet, in all of this, I have to ask: WHERE IS THE CHURCH? God set a very specific plan in place, and charged His people with feeding His flock. Feeding the hungry, healing the sick, housing the homeless, befriending the lonely...all...ALL of it fits under God's plan. Yet we'd rather fill ourselves with pithy feel good stories, show up on Sunday and put our money in the plate and all it good.
A few years ago, a famous author put out a book called "The Prayer of Jabez". It was a bestseller. Unfortunately, it was as misguided as it was popular. See, the author thought that Jabez was simply looking to get wealthy and that God rewarded him. Wrong; Jabez' prayer was that he would no longer cause pain to those around him.
I know that prayer because I've prayed it myself many times over. And I know that others know that prayer because you can see it expressed in the song "Hurt", recorded by Nine Inch Nails and later Johnny Cash.
We live in a world where we think "stuff" eases pain. Where is we create enough noise, perhaps we cannot hear the cry of our conscience when we see a hungry child, or a homeless man walking the streets asking us to spare just a pittance of the wealth with which we have been blessed.
We can do better. We MUST do better. Now is the time for the church to act. Never have we been more needed. Please take the time to reach out to your friends and family, to love them as Jesus loved them, and to just listen. You will give them more than you know.
Friday, October 21, 2011
The Square Peg in a round hole
why do I call myself a misfit Christian? A question with a pretty easy answer, really.
See, I've been a Christian since 1988. I went to a small independent Baptist congregation then. A wonderful congregation of people and one I dearly miss. Through them I received a solid foundation of Biblical instruction.
Over the years, though, I've found myself in congregations of various flavors, loving something about each of them, but never quite finding a home. Many I would find wee very strong on the word of God and on giving a Godly life, but weak on outreach and with a very little tolerance to the outcasts on society. There seemed to be a prevailing belief that because they brought much of their pain on as a consequence of their action, they were undeserving of the love and grace of God. I believe that much of our suffering is a natural consequence, but that we have to get through the surface and know and love the person. In other words, worry more about our own salvation and less about others.
Still other congregations were strong on the social gospel; they helped these folks, but Christ was never mentioned. I found myself caught in between, believing that faith should be mentioned, but it shouldn't be used as currency in how and to whom assistance is applied.
Some years ago, feeling bitter about never fitting in, I found a little gem by accident. I was contemplating moving to the middle of Alaska and living off the land, and i was studying nailless construction. In studying, I noticed something interesting. The book advised you to drill the holes in the timber and then cut the pegs square because a round peg will slip out; a square peg will not.
AHA! The origin of "square eg in a round hole", a saying we've used so often that it has no meaning. I began thinking about it and about myself, the ULTIMATE square peg in a round hole. And I realized something: That square peg may be a misfit, but it holds the building together.
Immediately, Psalm 118:22 came to mind ("the stone the building rejected has become the capstone"). For the first time in my life, I realized that being a misfit might be a productive thing and just the sort of person God wanted me to be.
See, I've been a Christian since 1988. I went to a small independent Baptist congregation then. A wonderful congregation of people and one I dearly miss. Through them I received a solid foundation of Biblical instruction.
Over the years, though, I've found myself in congregations of various flavors, loving something about each of them, but never quite finding a home. Many I would find wee very strong on the word of God and on giving a Godly life, but weak on outreach and with a very little tolerance to the outcasts on society. There seemed to be a prevailing belief that because they brought much of their pain on as a consequence of their action, they were undeserving of the love and grace of God. I believe that much of our suffering is a natural consequence, but that we have to get through the surface and know and love the person. In other words, worry more about our own salvation and less about others.
Still other congregations were strong on the social gospel; they helped these folks, but Christ was never mentioned. I found myself caught in between, believing that faith should be mentioned, but it shouldn't be used as currency in how and to whom assistance is applied.
Some years ago, feeling bitter about never fitting in, I found a little gem by accident. I was contemplating moving to the middle of Alaska and living off the land, and i was studying nailless construction. In studying, I noticed something interesting. The book advised you to drill the holes in the timber and then cut the pegs square because a round peg will slip out; a square peg will not.
AHA! The origin of "square eg in a round hole", a saying we've used so often that it has no meaning. I began thinking about it and about myself, the ULTIMATE square peg in a round hole. And I realized something: That square peg may be a misfit, but it holds the building together.
Immediately, Psalm 118:22 came to mind ("the stone the building rejected has become the capstone"). For the first time in my life, I realized that being a misfit might be a productive thing and just the sort of person God wanted me to be.
Imperialism, the Original Ponzi Scheme
For those who are not Christian, I want to warn you I am writing from a Christian perspective. Feel free to disagree with my position, if you must, but not to attack my faith:
There’s been a fair amount of talk in Republican debates about whether Social Security is a Ponzi scheme. To put it bluntly, as it currently stands, it basically is.
In defense of Social Security, though, while it certainly qualifies, it is not history’s newest, nor history’s largest. That honor belongs to imperialism, the idea of building empires that has existed through the ages and evolved into modern American economic structure.
Throughout history, most generations have had the luxury of living near large unclaimed pieces of land. If they didn’t want to follow the rules of a certain society, they could either migrate to another city or strike off in the wilderness and start their own. In fact, when Paul’s admonition in 2 Thessalonian 2:10 that “if a man does not work, neither let him eat” was penned, this was largely true; a person COULD strike out on their own.
Following cultures had that option, and our nation was founded on that option. Following our nation’s independence, and even long after the Louisiana Purchase, there was still more land unsettled than settled, and in the 1800’s, the Homesteading era ensured that anyone who was willing to brave the wilderness could stake their own claim to a piece of land and make their own way.
Gradually, settlement succumbed to greed and homesteading lands were sold to corporate mining interests, and industrious successful homesteaders bought the land off of those who couldn’t make a go of it. And they bought cheap. As a result, they soon controlled thousands of acres.
But land is finite, and the opportunities presented our ancestors don’t exist today. As a result, the power balance changes less and less, as those who control land and wealth are not inclined to surrender it willingly. Basically, the Ponzi scheme of imperialism paid off to thousands of generations of investors, but reached the point some time back where it could no longer pay out to the existing population.
So there’s the problem, what is the solution?
Ironically enough, a nation that prides itself on being a “Christian nation” must turn to the supposedly secular world for Biblical answers. I say “supposedly”, because while secularists hold this viewpoint, there are also a good number of Christians who do as well. Christians that Glenn Beck has demonized, yet whose philosophy is pulled straight from the pages of Scripture.
First, our nation should observe the Jubilee. I’m sure even many liberal scholars will disagree with me on this statement, but I firmly believe that had we followed the Bible’s economy (up to and including the Jubilee), we would probably not have the cycles of boom and recession that have led to so much deep hurt. I hate to say it, but in this instance, I do believe that the economic hardships we are going through are a direct result of our own sin and refusal to follow God’s law.
Jubilee was the year when slaves were to be returned to their family, but more importantly, it was the date when land was to revert to its original owner and debts were to be cancelled. In America today, while there certainly are millionaires who have come from next to nothing, the vast majority inherited some land and title. While the industrious did increase it, they nonetheless began in a better position than many who did not have the luxury of such inheritance.
Leviticus 25:23 advises the believer: “The land must not be sold permanently, for the land belongs to me. You are only foreigners, my tenant farmers.” This would indicate, then, that a society following God’s instructions, particularly one where a strong plurality consider the US to be a “Christian nation”, would be inclined to allow the land to revert back so that someone else could own it. History has shown us that is not the case.
In addition to observing the Year of Jubilee, we should do away with corporate ownership of land. Isaiah 5:8 tells us: “Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!”. We can take from this what we will, but it is a pretty strong rebuke to the idea of corporate ownership.
There are a lot of further steps we could/should take, but if we want to address the immediate problems before moving forward, these two would be the place to start. Ending corporate ownership of land ensures that land will be resold. If an individual holds onto a sinking asset, eventually they want to rid themselves of that asset, and they will sell it. The property taxes as well make the idea of holding on to thousands of acres without getting a return an untenable solution. But when a corporation is involved and individuals are shielded from the risk of poor investment, these become a tax write off and are no longer a consideration.
As to the Year of Jubilee, it has long been called for among the circle that Glenn Beck detests, and it is past time. We ARE our brother’s keeper, and it is time to begin making things right. Such isn’t socialism, it is in fact the very core of Christian teaching
There’s been a fair amount of talk in Republican debates about whether Social Security is a Ponzi scheme. To put it bluntly, as it currently stands, it basically is.
In defense of Social Security, though, while it certainly qualifies, it is not history’s newest, nor history’s largest. That honor belongs to imperialism, the idea of building empires that has existed through the ages and evolved into modern American economic structure.
Throughout history, most generations have had the luxury of living near large unclaimed pieces of land. If they didn’t want to follow the rules of a certain society, they could either migrate to another city or strike off in the wilderness and start their own. In fact, when Paul’s admonition in 2 Thessalonian 2:10 that “if a man does not work, neither let him eat” was penned, this was largely true; a person COULD strike out on their own.
Following cultures had that option, and our nation was founded on that option. Following our nation’s independence, and even long after the Louisiana Purchase, there was still more land unsettled than settled, and in the 1800’s, the Homesteading era ensured that anyone who was willing to brave the wilderness could stake their own claim to a piece of land and make their own way.
Gradually, settlement succumbed to greed and homesteading lands were sold to corporate mining interests, and industrious successful homesteaders bought the land off of those who couldn’t make a go of it. And they bought cheap. As a result, they soon controlled thousands of acres.
But land is finite, and the opportunities presented our ancestors don’t exist today. As a result, the power balance changes less and less, as those who control land and wealth are not inclined to surrender it willingly. Basically, the Ponzi scheme of imperialism paid off to thousands of generations of investors, but reached the point some time back where it could no longer pay out to the existing population.
So there’s the problem, what is the solution?
Ironically enough, a nation that prides itself on being a “Christian nation” must turn to the supposedly secular world for Biblical answers. I say “supposedly”, because while secularists hold this viewpoint, there are also a good number of Christians who do as well. Christians that Glenn Beck has demonized, yet whose philosophy is pulled straight from the pages of Scripture.
First, our nation should observe the Jubilee. I’m sure even many liberal scholars will disagree with me on this statement, but I firmly believe that had we followed the Bible’s economy (up to and including the Jubilee), we would probably not have the cycles of boom and recession that have led to so much deep hurt. I hate to say it, but in this instance, I do believe that the economic hardships we are going through are a direct result of our own sin and refusal to follow God’s law.
Jubilee was the year when slaves were to be returned to their family, but more importantly, it was the date when land was to revert to its original owner and debts were to be cancelled. In America today, while there certainly are millionaires who have come from next to nothing, the vast majority inherited some land and title. While the industrious did increase it, they nonetheless began in a better position than many who did not have the luxury of such inheritance.
Leviticus 25:23 advises the believer: “The land must not be sold permanently, for the land belongs to me. You are only foreigners, my tenant farmers.” This would indicate, then, that a society following God’s instructions, particularly one where a strong plurality consider the US to be a “Christian nation”, would be inclined to allow the land to revert back so that someone else could own it. History has shown us that is not the case.
In addition to observing the Year of Jubilee, we should do away with corporate ownership of land. Isaiah 5:8 tells us: “Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!”. We can take from this what we will, but it is a pretty strong rebuke to the idea of corporate ownership.
There are a lot of further steps we could/should take, but if we want to address the immediate problems before moving forward, these two would be the place to start. Ending corporate ownership of land ensures that land will be resold. If an individual holds onto a sinking asset, eventually they want to rid themselves of that asset, and they will sell it. The property taxes as well make the idea of holding on to thousands of acres without getting a return an untenable solution. But when a corporation is involved and individuals are shielded from the risk of poor investment, these become a tax write off and are no longer a consideration.
As to the Year of Jubilee, it has long been called for among the circle that Glenn Beck detests, and it is past time. We ARE our brother’s keeper, and it is time to begin making things right. Such isn’t socialism, it is in fact the very core of Christian teaching
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