What in this miserable and corrupt world is fair? Was the industrial revolution fair to the Third-World? Did the top 2% of the richest people obtain their money fairly? Surly it’s not from the perspective of those living in extreme poverty. We steal resources from the impoverished countries, such as those in Africa. It’s time justice is served and severe poverty gets eliminated, even if it costs the well-to-do some of their riches. In considering what is fair and just, remember that there are 9,500 children who die of starvation every day.
Please, I ask you, is it fair?
LOVE!
However old the world is, that’s how long “unfairness” has gone on. Our beloved Lord said Himself, “the poor you have with you always”. It is not for man to end poverty. From a spiritual standpoint, for all we know, poverty is the Willie Wonka gold ticket to heaven. That’s what I glean from the Gospel anyway. But besides the seeming Christian assurance and hope for the poor, this doesn’t mean that man isn’t supposed to comfort the poor. (Whenever you fed, housed, clothed, visited, etc. the least of these…you did it to me). So, there is a moral, ethical and even spiritual imperative to love one’s neighbor. That is you and me, as individual persons, should do all we can to assist those less fortunate than ourselves. And if we ARE less fortunate than most, to be gracious and grateful for the assistance offered by our brothers and sisters as well. This is what the world terms charity. That is from caritas, which is latin for agape which is selfless giving love of neighbor, (from the heart).
When you bring up the concept of a state MAKING things fair, or the popular “Redistribution of wealth”, then the state is taking on the roll that belongs with the individual. It is communism. It destroys the incentive of the industrious to achieve wealth so that there IS anything to give. It imposes the giving. The poor are still poor, and so is everyone else. And none of it was choices emanating from the heart. None of it was love.
In the West, I’ve noticed a lot of group guilt about the poor. And so we turn to the state to do something about it out of a sense of “justice”. What is right. What is fair. The Government in the United States of America for instance has done enormous things for the less fortunate. Perhaps more than any other country on earth. Ever. And not just for our own citizens, but for people abroad, as well. The poor haven’t stopped coming. But the government has done MORE than it’s bit.
In my humble opinion, it is more in the realm of the church to help the poor than the state. And the church is not going to be re-distributing wealth. We just feed people when they’re hungry. Give them a safe place to sleep, and perhaps some ideas about how they themselves might turn things around FOR themselves. (this last part is where the churches are perhaps slacking a little). But the biggie isn’t even the churches. It’s you and me. Brothers and sisters in Christ. We are the ones who should be out there at all times and in every way feeding, housing, clothing and visiting to the best of ability. All of us. From every walk of life. From every income strata, Not enforced by the Government. Just direct action of the loving Christian (Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Mormon, Witness, etc.), giving from not only our surplus, but having the faith to give from our own poverty as well.
The worst thing that could possibly happen in the west is the same old stuff which has been tried before, and failed miserably, of forcing a redistribution of wealth. It does nothing to end poverty or greed. It actually stimulates hatred, resentment, and violence. Not only that, but it creates an expectation that the government (state) is responsible for everything, and those who NOW do things out of love, and in the name of Jesus Christ tend to be stifled. The state, if they are the decider on wealth, wants no competition. The first thing to go is the churches. Then the religions themselves. Then the individual people who still “resist” the state.
Meanwhile, you major corporations, CEO’s, and uber-rich class of gone off to the next place where they can continue to rake in money without state interference, so there IS no wealth to be re-distributed within the state anyway. The wealth all flies the coop at the first sign of state control of the the economy.
So…nice words. I know your feelings. Your heart is in the right place. If you want to feel the joy of Christ in this matter, just don’t think so macro level on the subject. Just make a sandwhich, and buy a bottle of water, a sweater, and some shoes, and take them to a poor person. Or better yet, buy some things for them, and give them a few bucks, but most importantly, spend some of your time with them. Hear their story. Find out what went wrong. See how YOU can help them. Not the state. It’s not the state that will be in front of Jesus at the end of time. It is you and me. We’re not accountable for what the state did and didn’t do. We’re accountable for what WE ourselves did or didn’t do.
Re-distribution of wealth is a spectacularly bad idea. But I get a sense it was put forth with honest feelings of love for the poor. If every Christian just did their part, and not worry about the Government and what they may or may not do, the world would be a much happier place for the impoverished.
Agape,
Steve
Now our government, in its ignorance, has eliminated those deductions.
Don’t blame the rich if charitable contributions are down.
Are any of you truly as selfless as you say you are when you condemn the one who has ceased sharing? When you deny him/her friendship because of their own ‘selfish’ behavior?