by DC
As much as I love debating whether God (indirectly) commands us to work to change government policy to help the poor, the fact is that the government is involved in helping the poor. So the question is, what are we going to do to help?
Or, if you're obstinately on the other side of the debate, I'll put it to you a different way: Whether the government helps the poor or not, God still told us to help the poor. What are you going to do to follow that command?
I don't want to hear about the abstract and theoretical things we should be doing, I want to hear concrete actual things that you are going to commit to doing tomorrow, or 3 days next week, or once a month for the next year. Jesus certainly never told his followers to go sit around, debate, and hypothesize. You care enough to read this. What else do you care enough to do?
I want to see people put a commitment in a comment here and then come back in a reasonable amount of time and tell us how it's going (or how it went). Accountability is an important thing in any Christian community. Are you willing to be accountable for something you think is important?
I'll give you a couple examples to get you started:
1) [easy, political] "I'm going to write to my congressman and say that I care about people in this country having enough to eat and a place to sleep and I'm willing to pay more taxes to make that happen"
2) [medium, non-political] "For the next year, I'm going to commit to volunteering 1 day a week at a local place that benefits the poor."
3) [hard, political] "I'm going to run for local government office and then do everything I can to shift our local policies in ways that will help the poor"
If you're already doing something, I encourage you to sign up for something that's one step more commitment. And hey, if you shoot high, try hard, and screw it up, God'll still be happy about it - and so will we.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
"Give to God what is God's"
I haven't visited this site for several days now, and this is in part going to be a response to the latest post. There are a few ideas I'd like to address, God help me, concisely.
- Before the main point: There still is this idea of looking at our democratic government as this etherial, alien being. The truth of the matter is that what we as a group do does have much relevance in how the government is run. Many of us are turned off by what "they" do in politics and therefore do not participate; this is a big mistake in my opinion. All governments, even though democratic, fall under the influence of the wealthiest and the most (worldly) powerful people who look to amass even more fortune for themselves. We as Christians, I think, would not agree with this. But many of us turn away and withdraw (cut & run?) because, honestly speaking, it doesn't affect many of us individually. Whom it affects the most, actually, and continues to affect them from one era to the next are the hungry and the poor. Thus in a way, for us to disengage from politics is like turning our backs (again) to the poor. I know some might think that this can be done in private sector or individually or as small grass root groups, but such resistance is really no match when it comes to having to go up against unfair laws of the government. Really, I think we need to look at these things at more of a collective level than an individual levels as we are so inclined.
- Now the main point. Stemming from the Matt 22:21 verse (and really, you gotta look at what's been going on in the passage as a whole, right?):
Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. "Teacher," they said, "we know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren't swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are. Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?" But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, "You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? Show me the coin used for paying the tax." They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, "Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?" "Caesar's," they replied. Then he said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's." When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.
This was Jesus' response to Pharisees trying to trick him into saying something wrong. Well, apparently the answer was not wrong, since apparently it struck a chord of truth and they went away. So what happened here?
First of all, look at the question. Its point isn't to debate the relevance of government in ministry, but rather to induce Jesus to say something unpopular to the Jews who hated the Roman government and turn the crowd on him. So this isn't a conversation about the role of the government to begin with.
Secondly, it seems like a statement that puts money and possession in its place. Jesus was essentially saying, "it's only money, not treasure in heaven, so just pay." This isn't the same as saying you shouldn't care about what goes on in politics. If anything, it's suggesting that we should keep engaged in the affairs of the government rather than withdraw altogether and stop paying taxes.
Third and most importantly, the latter part of that verse strikes me: "Give to God what is God's." That brings up the obvious question: what is God's? An obvious accompanying question would be, what is NOT God's? But it seems that while we may focus too much on the latter question, trying to distinguish what isn't God's and avoid engaging in them, that we forget to look for the answer to the original question, what IS God's?
Well the answer is everything, right? EVERYTHING is God's, and rightfully so. There is nothing we own that isn't also God's. And while he gives to many of us generously, that doesn't mean we are the sole owner of that which we have. Otherwise, Job should sue God for like a gazillion dollars for taking away his property (temporarily), giving him a disease (for a while) and causing significant psychological trauma (hopefully alleviated at the end). I hope we are in agreement that as Christians, we do not count the things we have on earth as solely our own.
God explicitly asks for ALL aspects of our lives. All our hearts, minds and even physical strength and abilities. He doesn't just focus on one type of sacrifice, like giving away money/paying taxes, but he wants our all. So while we still pay taxes, we do more. We take care of our immediate neighbors. But we also seek to take care of our not-so-immediate neighbors, and there is basically no better way that is done (or is actually done at all) than to change how our taxes are spent (this because there is a huge difference between having a bunch of families doing their own thing to help the poor vs. having a large group of people doing it together economically; it's a very practical thing).
- Now about the laws. I'll start with God's laws, the laws of the Old Testament. The way I see God, in a way, isn't so mystical. That's because things that he commands aren't completely incomprehensible all the time. If you put it to the test in real world--let's say the Ten Commandments--God's laws make so much sense for building a better community and nation. And before I go any further, that's what we have to be careful about: these laws aren't targeted at us individually, but at the group of us, myself and the neighbors. In historical context, these were laws being given to the Israeli NATION, not just for each Israeli to somehow make their lives own lives better. Often God's way of blessing us individually is to bless the community in which we belong.
So the law is perfectly relevant to us, whether we are saved by faith or not. In fact, we through grace we have been given the true freedom to follow the laws, because following the law would no longer be a statement about how good of a person each of us are. In the context of grace, we understand that we are fallen no matter what and nothing we can do (including following the law) would solve that problem, and that we have been saved through the sacrifice of Christ already so we don't even need to worry about all this.
So two things can get in the way of obeying the law in freedom. One is to think of law as having to do with our own individual sanctification rather than the rules by which we, as a community, can be more loving to one another (already covered above). The other has to do with how we respond to God's enormous love: by loving him back, or by trying to take advantage of it? I guess if you are doing the latter, theoretically you haven't truly experienced the pure love of God, since you couldn't help but love him back (there's one mystical part there). So if we do love him in return, then we wouldn't abuse his grace.
I'll give you an example to elucidate this point. Let's say that you have a friend whom you love dearly. One day you do something to hurt that friend, and you realize that you are at fault. Then you ask for forgiveness, and the friend forgives you. Now, if you really were friends with that person (meaning, you love the friend), then you would hope not to repeat the infraction you committed before. You might slip up once in a while, but you'd try to change (i.e., repent). But if you didn't love this friend (meaning, you're not really friends), then you might try to find ways to get away with committing the same trespasses again and again, essentially abusing the grace the friend showed in forgiving you.
So being forgiven, loving God in response (the only way we truly love), and understanding the purpose of the laws are all necessary to obey and abide by the laws in true freedom.
Furthermore, God's laws and the laws of our society aren't mutually exclusive. There are many laws in our world that are concordant, if not verbatim, with God's laws. Which brings us to the next topic...
- Should we force people to abide by certain laws? Well, why not? We do it now. For example, every society has the rule/law prohibiting murder. Anybody want to argue against this? It's a good law that benefits everyone and improves the community, so why wouldn't we want to force this law on the whole society? Maybe it's ths Asian side of me, but I don't really have such objection to being dictated to, despite my own rebellious personality. If it's good, why fight against it?
Well I'm tired of writing now. And as shocking as it might be to some of you to read my saying I'm tired of expressing my opinions, let me just leave you with a passage in the Bible:
"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
- Before the main point: There still is this idea of looking at our democratic government as this etherial, alien being. The truth of the matter is that what we as a group do does have much relevance in how the government is run. Many of us are turned off by what "they" do in politics and therefore do not participate; this is a big mistake in my opinion. All governments, even though democratic, fall under the influence of the wealthiest and the most (worldly) powerful people who look to amass even more fortune for themselves. We as Christians, I think, would not agree with this. But many of us turn away and withdraw (cut & run?) because, honestly speaking, it doesn't affect many of us individually. Whom it affects the most, actually, and continues to affect them from one era to the next are the hungry and the poor. Thus in a way, for us to disengage from politics is like turning our backs (again) to the poor. I know some might think that this can be done in private sector or individually or as small grass root groups, but such resistance is really no match when it comes to having to go up against unfair laws of the government. Really, I think we need to look at these things at more of a collective level than an individual levels as we are so inclined.
- Now the main point. Stemming from the Matt 22:21 verse (and really, you gotta look at what's been going on in the passage as a whole, right?):
Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. "Teacher," they said, "we know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren't swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are. Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?" But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, "You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? Show me the coin used for paying the tax." They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, "Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?" "Caesar's," they replied. Then he said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's." When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.
This was Jesus' response to Pharisees trying to trick him into saying something wrong. Well, apparently the answer was not wrong, since apparently it struck a chord of truth and they went away. So what happened here?
First of all, look at the question. Its point isn't to debate the relevance of government in ministry, but rather to induce Jesus to say something unpopular to the Jews who hated the Roman government and turn the crowd on him. So this isn't a conversation about the role of the government to begin with.
Secondly, it seems like a statement that puts money and possession in its place. Jesus was essentially saying, "it's only money, not treasure in heaven, so just pay." This isn't the same as saying you shouldn't care about what goes on in politics. If anything, it's suggesting that we should keep engaged in the affairs of the government rather than withdraw altogether and stop paying taxes.
Third and most importantly, the latter part of that verse strikes me: "Give to God what is God's." That brings up the obvious question: what is God's? An obvious accompanying question would be, what is NOT God's? But it seems that while we may focus too much on the latter question, trying to distinguish what isn't God's and avoid engaging in them, that we forget to look for the answer to the original question, what IS God's?
Well the answer is everything, right? EVERYTHING is God's, and rightfully so. There is nothing we own that isn't also God's. And while he gives to many of us generously, that doesn't mean we are the sole owner of that which we have. Otherwise, Job should sue God for like a gazillion dollars for taking away his property (temporarily), giving him a disease (for a while) and causing significant psychological trauma (hopefully alleviated at the end). I hope we are in agreement that as Christians, we do not count the things we have on earth as solely our own.
God explicitly asks for ALL aspects of our lives. All our hearts, minds and even physical strength and abilities. He doesn't just focus on one type of sacrifice, like giving away money/paying taxes, but he wants our all. So while we still pay taxes, we do more. We take care of our immediate neighbors. But we also seek to take care of our not-so-immediate neighbors, and there is basically no better way that is done (or is actually done at all) than to change how our taxes are spent (this because there is a huge difference between having a bunch of families doing their own thing to help the poor vs. having a large group of people doing it together economically; it's a very practical thing).
- Now about the laws. I'll start with God's laws, the laws of the Old Testament. The way I see God, in a way, isn't so mystical. That's because things that he commands aren't completely incomprehensible all the time. If you put it to the test in real world--let's say the Ten Commandments--God's laws make so much sense for building a better community and nation. And before I go any further, that's what we have to be careful about: these laws aren't targeted at us individually, but at the group of us, myself and the neighbors. In historical context, these were laws being given to the Israeli NATION, not just for each Israeli to somehow make their lives own lives better. Often God's way of blessing us individually is to bless the community in which we belong.
So the law is perfectly relevant to us, whether we are saved by faith or not. In fact, we through grace we have been given the true freedom to follow the laws, because following the law would no longer be a statement about how good of a person each of us are. In the context of grace, we understand that we are fallen no matter what and nothing we can do (including following the law) would solve that problem, and that we have been saved through the sacrifice of Christ already so we don't even need to worry about all this.
So two things can get in the way of obeying the law in freedom. One is to think of law as having to do with our own individual sanctification rather than the rules by which we, as a community, can be more loving to one another (already covered above). The other has to do with how we respond to God's enormous love: by loving him back, or by trying to take advantage of it? I guess if you are doing the latter, theoretically you haven't truly experienced the pure love of God, since you couldn't help but love him back (there's one mystical part there). So if we do love him in return, then we wouldn't abuse his grace.
I'll give you an example to elucidate this point. Let's say that you have a friend whom you love dearly. One day you do something to hurt that friend, and you realize that you are at fault. Then you ask for forgiveness, and the friend forgives you. Now, if you really were friends with that person (meaning, you love the friend), then you would hope not to repeat the infraction you committed before. You might slip up once in a while, but you'd try to change (i.e., repent). But if you didn't love this friend (meaning, you're not really friends), then you might try to find ways to get away with committing the same trespasses again and again, essentially abusing the grace the friend showed in forgiving you.
So being forgiven, loving God in response (the only way we truly love), and understanding the purpose of the laws are all necessary to obey and abide by the laws in true freedom.
Furthermore, God's laws and the laws of our society aren't mutually exclusive. There are many laws in our world that are concordant, if not verbatim, with God's laws. Which brings us to the next topic...
- Should we force people to abide by certain laws? Well, why not? We do it now. For example, every society has the rule/law prohibiting murder. Anybody want to argue against this? It's a good law that benefits everyone and improves the community, so why wouldn't we want to force this law on the whole society? Maybe it's ths Asian side of me, but I don't really have such objection to being dictated to, despite my own rebellious personality. If it's good, why fight against it?
Well I'm tired of writing now. And as shocking as it might be to some of you to read my saying I'm tired of expressing my opinions, let me just leave you with a passage in the Bible:
"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'
"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'
"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'
"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
Monday, July 2, 2007
An Opinion Piece
by DC
I'm working on a different post that actually has something to do with capitalism, but I'll briefly continue the recent trend of posting generally about Christianity and Politics. I promise I'll come up with something more "on-topic"(?) next.
Years ago, I remember sitting at Fazoli's with Eric the Red debating this very topic: As Christians, how should we be involved in politics? It is clear that in a democracy we should vote our conscience and that as Christians our conscience should be in accordance with the spirit of God. Things become murkier when it comes to more than that. Should we be campaigning for candidates that we think uphold Christian ideals? Should we be lobbying for laws that are in accordance with God's commands for our lives? I don't think that Eric and I came to a conclusion that day, but the questions have lingered in my mind since then.
I don't claim to be an expert on how the scriptures relate to this topic, but I have come across a few things that I'll share and let you respond to. I think it would be great if you could provide specific biblical support in your responses. I'll see if I can do the same in this post.
For now, I'm ignoring the old testament because I was unable to find anything that related to how the common man should interact with the government. There were lots of things that leaders could take away, but that's not the question I'm looking at*. Instead, I will turn to the new testament.
There's a famous quote from Jesus: Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's (Matthew 22:21). We could discuss and debate the nuances of the exchange for days, but one thing is clear: Jesus differentiates between what we should do for our government and what we should do for God. But that still doesn't tell us whether we should make use of the government to do things for God, just that there is some difference between obeying the law and obeying God.
The new testament is filled with verses like this: To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. (1 Corinthians 9:21) I'm referring to the middle part that differentiates "the law" from "God's law". Here's another one: Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law. (Galatians 3:25) This one refers to the old testament rather than "the law of the land", but I think the analogy holds that following a set of rules is not what God really wants.
This second point doesn't directly address the question of how Christianity and government should fit together, but it does cause me to question whether writing a set of rules that we must follow is really what God wants from us. Clearly we should be doing good things, but should those good things be forced on us? These verses seem to indicate that this may not be what God has in mind.
I'm also struck by a third sub-question: Does God want us to dictate what other people do? Clearly we need to be aware of what other Christians are up to so that we can support them in living a Godly lifestyle. There are instructions in the bible about how to approach fellow believers that are sinning and so forth. One place that talks about this is 1 Corinthians. When reading it, I came across this verse: What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. (1 Corinthians 5:12-13a) Though the context deals with other Christians, it is clear that God isn't calling us to make everyone conform to "Godly policies". He'll take care of that.
I won't dwell on this one, but it is clear that Jesus spent at least some amount of time helping the poor, but it was not a primary part of his ministry. Unfortunately, I don't think we can generalize from what he did. I think Jesus saying things like the poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me (Mark 14:7) show what I mean.
Although there is certainly wiggle room in what I've presented, these verses seem to back up the idea that we should not be turning our religious convictions into laws, but instead they should rule our individual and group (church) lives.
I know that Joe's response to this would be "That's great, but I only care that the poor get medical care, not whether God is explicitly calling Christians to get that legislation passed. The poor will only get the medical care if the legislation is passed. Clearly God cares about the poor and wants us to care about the poor too." To pre-respond, I'll suggest that this could certainly be the case, but it ceases to be a question of what God wants all Christians to do (help those in need) and instead becomes a political question that has nothing** to do with God (how do we best balance the various needs and goals of the country?).
I'll end with a link to an article that's on the same topic, but from a different perspective.
*Please note that I didn't do much in-depth thinking on the lessons we can take from the old testament and I would love to hear what Nina or some other old testament enthusiast would bring to our attention. Probably enough there for another whole post - if only I had spent the time to research it.
**Yes, yes, everything has something to do with God. You know what I mean.
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