Psalm 41:1 (A psalm by David for the music leader.) You, LORD God, bless everyone who cares for the poor, and you rescue those people in times of trouble.
There
are so many Christians that object to social justice and call it socialism
disguised; They say that it is merely a term for taking wealth from people and
giving it to others. They claim that anyone who emphasizes social justice mis-quotes
and mis-interprets the scripture. They insist that Jesus was not an advocate
for social justice. Are they correct? In two words, absolutely not!
Social
justice was not *just a theme* that Jesus promoted. The truth is that it is one
of the over-riding themes of the Old Testament also. When God found fault with
Israel for their corporate national sins, often times it was greed and the
mis-treatment of the poor. Read Amos chapter five. Let’s look specifically at
verse 11-12. (Amos 5:11-12) “you abuse the poor and demand heavy taxes
from them. You have built expensive homes, but you won't enjoy them; you have
planted vineyards, but you will get no wine.
(12) I am the LORD, and I know
your terrible sins. You cheat honest people and take bribes; you rob the poor
of justice.” This could be an
indictment of Wall Street and the global corporations today. They over tax the
poor and pay little or no tax themselves.
When
you search the word *poor* in the bible you find that there are over 170 verses
that deal with the treatment of the poor by the wealthy. It is a VERY IMPORTANT
concept with God. It was not just Amos. Isaiah also found fault with corporate,
national Israel for the treatment of the poor. (Isaiah 3:14-15) “He
will even judge you rulers and leaders of his own nation. You destroyed his
vineyard and filled your houses by robbing the poor. (15)
The LORD All-Powerful says, "You have crushed my people and rubbed
in the dirt the faces of the poor." The idea that Christians should not
want nations to care for the poor is unbelievable, and it would be repugnant if
it were not done from ignorance.
While
the church judges drug addicts, drunks and sexually addicted individuals… they
support people that rob the poor to increase their own wealth and ignore social
justice. If the church would spend even half of the time on social justice that
it does on condemning people the lot of the poor would be increased immeasurably.
Now there are those in the church who care for the poor, but they are the
minority; especially in Euro/American-protestant denominations. I find it
amazing that those who take such a literal stance on the bible ignore the
social justice themes of scripture. This is especially true in view of Matthew
25:31-46. It is a warning of judgment and the sole criteria for judgment is
social justice.
I
have often said, that if church folk would just rest in redemption by the grace
of God, and then begin working hard at social justice issues, they would find
that they are too tired to sin so much ;-).
Joe, these articles continue to intrigue me with meaning that you couldn't possibly know. I have indeed seen a large number of Christians (including myself) who are far more concerned about personal holiness rather than the heart of Jesus' message about holiness-- caring for others.
ReplyDeleteMy understanding is that Jesus says "I took care of all your sins; it's not going to be a problem on Judgement day. Now go and help, feed, care, love those around you."
I find your point scattered throughout the entire Bible, for example:
1) The main sin of Sodom was to ignore the poor and needy (Ezekiel 16:49-51)
2) The way to be perfect, according to Jesus, is to sell your possessions and give to the poor (Matthew 19:20-22)
3) The only religion that God accepts as pure and faultless is to help the needy without being polluted by the world (James 1:27)
Your comment is spot on and it blesses me to read it. Yes, you are exactly right, we have been set free to love.
DeleteAll the verses you quoted refer to the spirit rather than the flesh. Jesus said the words he spoke were spirit. Natural man sees the things of God through natural eyes and so forms Churchianity. The actual poor are those who are poor in spirit. These are the ones Jesus came to heal, not the poor in the flesh. Jesus came to open blind eyes, that is, man's eyes that are blind to God. Jesus came to heal the broken hearted, etc., etc. Obviously it is natural for man who is of the flesh to think only of himself because he doesn't have the love of God controlling him. The real sheep to be fed are those who are of God. "My sheep hear my voice and they follow me but the voice of strangers they will not follow." "My sheep" are the ones who eat spiritual food, that is the words of God. "Give us this day our daily bread."....refers to the words of God, not natural food. God's kingdom is " NOT OF THIS WORLD!"
ReplyDeleteReally? Because it seems to me that Jesus did an awful lot of "non-spiritual" healing while he was here. Were those just parlor tricks to bait in the non-believers? I don't think so. It saddens me to hear people who think that the only thing that matters is to show others the error of their ways. I seem to remember Jesus turning a few fish into enough to feed thousands of hungry, poor people. Maybe it's just me but I think this analysis is spot on. I mean Jesus himself said if we give shelter to someone on the street, a jacket to someone cold, food to a hungry person, we are giving that to him. I sure hope the next hungry poor person you meet and tell to get a job and repent isn't Jesus. Just sayin....
DeleteSorry Rusticcharlie but you really should study the Bible without a bias of this sort. Your view actually gets very close to the ancient heresy of gnosticism if you are not extremely careful. BrianK's response is right on in contrast.
ReplyDelete