What About The Poor?

Posted by Larry Miller on October 5, 2009 under How | Be the First to Comment

I read an article this weekend about one man’s struggles to come to a truly “Christian” perspective to public life, welfare and government. There are people calling themselves Christians who have fallen right in line with the President and are pushing him to turn our health care system into a government run operation as they believe it is the fairest way to make sure everyone gets the care they need. Others, equally sincere are fighting this expansion of government tooth and nail. Who is right… and why would I come to that conclusion?

There is no easy answer to this question and to come to either conclusion without serious soul searching, investigation and prayer is to short change the gravity of the decisions implications. The ripples emanating from this choice extend to all areas of our lives. Do we treat our fellow men as physical or spiritual beings… when there are aspects of both in our total existence.

Many Catholic priests ventured into South American countries and saw the poverty of the peasants and the various injustices inflicted on them by the wealthy landowners. They thought they could eradicate poverty by eradicating sin… primarily the sin of the capitalists exploiting the poor. Forsaking their mandate to meet the spiritual needs of the people in their charge, they undertook to bring about a change in the social structure through a philosophy that came to be known as liberation theology. Many variations stemmed from this school of thought, including the black liberation theology espoused by Barack Obama’s pastor and spiritual advisor Jeremiah Wright.

They took the teachings of Jesus that he came to bring, not peace, but a sword, as justification for fomenting social unrest. The irony is that the basis of this theology/philosophy was the teaching of atheist Karl Marx.

Having graduated from a school with a faculty populated by the likes of Ron Sider and Tony Campolo, I heard various aspects of a variation of this teaching called the social gospel, which also put greater emphasis on the here and now over the by and by. They are both good men and the school is a fine place to learn, but there was something that didn’t seem right. What I found when looking into the thinking of people who find this teaching tickling their ears was a rejection of concepts such as inerrancy and infallibility of the scripture, which actually reflects on the reliability of the scripture. Much more was thrown open to interpretation. Instead of using the scripture to measure and judge their actions, they sit in judgment of what is properly included or interpreted.

I remember sitting in a theology class when the professor was explaining how he believed in the “progressive revelation”, but rejected the commonly held belief in a triune God consisting of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. I raised my hand to ask how he came to this conclusion since his understanding of the diety was aligned with earlier portions of the Bible. The answer was one I remember to this day, “You aren’t going to like the answer, but you just sort of have to pick and choose what seems right to you.” He was right, I did not like the answer, but this is what many are doing today when they select scripture to support atheistic and humanistic philosophies.

It is when we start reading what we want to read and make the rules that we want to make that we go off in directions that were never intended for us that we get ourselves in trouble. It’s when we forget that Jesus told us many things… among them “The poor you will always have with you” when responding to critics of Mary Magdelene anointing him with expensive perfume (Matthew 26:11), indicating the futility of eradicating poverty through human means and the existence of higher priorities. He followed this up by telling his followers “Go and make disciples” (Matthew 28:19), indicating the task he valued most for them.

Using the class warfare paradigm of their Marxist forefathers, the Christians who promote “social change” self-righteously accuse others with a more spiritual view of scriptures of not caring for the plight of the poor. If they were to follow up this judgment with significant contributions from their own resources, their arguments would be carry more weight and credibility. But most don’t do this. They look to the taxing power of the government to confiscate resources of everyone to bring their vision of justice into fruition.

If they are really doing this to follow religious convictions, they deny others the freedom to practice their religion as they see fit – a right guaranteed under the First Amendment. That is, of course, the Marxist approach, not the Christian.

Although often repeated, the accusation of lack of concern just does not hold water if one looks at evangelical and Catholic charities with an honest eye. Many years ago, the man liberals, Christian and otherwise, love to hate, Pat Robertson, began a program called Operation Blessing (http://www.ob.org). Operation Blessing provides orphan care, disaster and hunger relief, medical services as well as well drilling in impoverished areas in the US and around the world. Millions of dollars are raised each year from people who believe in sharing God’s love by meeting physical needs… which places the emphasis exactly where it belongs as we find in entire book of James. Operation Blessing is just one of many organizations seeking to spread Christian teaching by meeting physical needs. Check out groups like Samaritan’s Purse, World Vision and others listed by the Evangelical Council for Financial accountability who provide personal and medical care to those who cannot afford them while maintaining open and honest books for their contributors.

When we look at the public financial statements of some of the most well known advocates of government assistance for the downtrodden, we find little if any personal investment in their fellow man. On the other hand, those baring the brunt of public abuse for neglecting the plight of he poor are the ones giving to make the many charitable programs work. Where is the public outrage, where is the reporting by our guardians of truth in the media? The answer is that the story is spiked along with any other that does not fit their template of what the public should know and think. You know the truth and I know the truth. It’s up to us to spread the word and not give in to baseless accusations and propaganda.