Liberals and Poverty

What bothers me about liberals is how "compassionate" they think they are and at the same time just how judgmental they are of other people who do not share their views. You often hear them talking about how their hearts break for the downtrodden and outcast and then in the very next breath accusing Americans of being "greedy" and uncaring. They are quick to talk about how we need to "spread" the wealth around to those less fortunate, but just who's wealth are they talking about? Very rarely is it their own. I am not doubting that they are sincere in their caring, what I do question are their solutions and the judgmental way they treat those who do not agree with them. All too often liberal solution seems to involve villainizing the "wealthy" and forcing "greedy" Americans to pay for their social programs, either through higher taxes or outright confiscation of wealth. Rarely do I see them taking personal responsibility for the problems and reaching into their own pockets to help out. If they truly believe in helping others as passionately as they claim to, why don't they fund the programs on their own? Why not give till it hurts out of their own pockets? Why sit in judgment on those who very well might be quietly doing more for the down trodden then they could ever imagine. There is real poverty in this world and we as Americans can do a much better job of finding solutions for it, however, forcing people to pay for solutions does not get at the root of the problem. The root of the problem is that we live in a society that no longer values life, a society that has walked away from God, a society very much created by these same bleeding heart liberals. If liberals truly believe they have the right answers and that the rest of us are just greedy and self centered, let's see them start by redistributing some of their own wealth first. But no, that won't happen because it is much easier to spend someone else's money than to have to sacrifice yourself and spend some of your own.

Treasure

As I sit here watching this county's economy continue to slide and in particular the financial markets, I can't help but wonder, where is my treasure? To be certain, a good deal of my families assets are in our home and the stock market, and my manufacturing business is certainly affected by the economy, so I am not immune to the normal human worries about financial safety. But if I am to take my relationship with Christ seriously and if I am to take God at His word, my treasure should be in heaven and everything I own here on earth should belong to God. God is not losing money because the financial markets are in decline, He is not worried about it, nor is He surprised by any of it. If I am truly His servant here on earth, I should not be either. This does not take away my responsibility to be a good steward of what He has entrusted to me, it does however change my perspective on it.

Modern Christianity

I have been reading through the book of Acts recently, mostly because it is the book we are reading as part of our prayer group at work. I chose the book of Acts because more than any other book in the New Testament it shows what life was like for the early Church Fathers and believers. Every time I read Acts I cannot help but reflect on how different life was for them, the persecution, the beatings, even death, all for the name of Jesus. The amazing thing is that it was not a surprise to them and it wasn't something they feared, in fact, they actually rejoiced in it. It makes me wonder whether our idea of Christianity is all wrong. We live a very soft, very comfortable Christian life, particularly here in the US, and we seem to seek churches with a message that this comfortable life is ok. That in fact this comfortable life is better than ok, that it is actually a sign of God's blessing on us. If this were true, what are we to make of the early Christians? Better yet what are we to make of Christians in China or Darfur, who are being persecuted and killed even as I write this? Is their persecution a sign of God's displeasure with them? I think not, I rather think our whole notion of what Christianity is and what God's blessing is, is distorted and just plain wrong. Much of the Gospel preached in this country is designed more to "tickle" our ears and increase donations and attendance then it is to teach real Christianity. God does not care about physical comfort and possessions in this life. That is not what His blessing is about. God cares about people who are willing to sacrifice their will, their desire, and their comfort, even their very lives for His sake and for His purposes. We American Christians need to wake up to that fact and start living lives that reflect true Christianity, only then will we begin to live lives of true blessing.

Outreach and Private Business Part 3

It is easy to say that our outreach as Christians is ineffective and needs to change, but how do we begin to approach that change in the real world? How do we recreate our outreach and "welfare" model in a way that truly lifts people out of their circumstances? More importantly, how do we do it in a way that attracts people to Christ? Because ultimately what will truly change people's lives is a right relationship with Christ, in the end, life circumstances do not matter, what matters is our relationship with God. I believe the real future of outreach lies not in the various governmental programs, not in Christian outreach institutions, not in churches or even radio ministries, although there is a place for all of them. I believe the future of Christian outreach lies in private industry. Specifically private industry owned or run by Christians. Private industry both modeling and funding outreach thru internally generated cash flow, perhaps even employing their own "missionaries" to go out in to the field on a local and global basis to set up indigenous programs that will in time lift people from their life of spiritual and physical poverty into a self sustaining life of physical and spiritual growth, growth that leads them to Jesus Christ. I believe the solution to these problems rests on the people of God taking personal responsibility for leading lives that are honoring to God. The people of God need to rise up and take on the responsibility of leading the world to Jesus Christ through their actions and their words. That means taking Christ seriously not just on Sunday, not just with your Christian friends, but bringing it right into the work place. It means encouraging businesses, in particular private businesses, run or owned by Christians to step up and run their business in a Christ honoring way. It means taking the notion of outreach and Christian service seriously. The economic engine of this country, even in this down turn, could truly change the world, if Christians would just start living their faith. There is a big movement among progressive "Christians" and "Christian" Universities towards "Social Justice", many have made this their primary focus. But "social justice" without a right relationship with Christ is useless and can often border more on socialism then true Christianity. Unfortunately this movement often villainizes and condemns the very economic engine and people who could truly lead us to a more effective way to help those in need. Instead of villainizing them we should be encouraging them to live lives that are honoring to Christ. Capitalism is not evil; in fact capitalism is much more closely aligned with Biblical truths then socialism. The Bible preaches personal responsibility and in fact suggests that the people of God should work for what they get, not expect the government or others to provide for them, and that we as individuals should be looking out for our neighbors.

Outreach and Private Business Part 2

My personal opinion is that the way we view outreach, whether it is done through nonprofits, missions work or governmental programs, needs to change. All these organizations tend to become like companies, companies with employees, executives and boards, and even thought they may start out with all the best intentions, they eventually become more interested in the survival of the entity than in the mission they were originally founded for. Even the way most local churches do their outreach is ineffective and perhaps even counterproductive to their cause. All these organizations, nonprofits, local churches, radio ministries and in a way even the government are competing for the same dollars, reaching out to many of the same people in a way that makes all of them ineffective and in a very real sense makes them almost seem to be greedy for money and notoriety, more interested in promoting what they are doing then really having an impact. There seems to be little or no coordination between any of the organizations. In addition we are training a generation of young people who tend to look at the "mission field" as a career. A career funded by generous well meaning people's donations. What happened to Paul's concept of actually working for what you get? What happened to his concept of not being a "burden" to anyone? I am not saying there isn't a place for the people of God to support God's work financially; I believe there is and that it is an important component of Christian growth. What I am saying is that we as Christians need to look long and hard at what we are doing with our outreach resources and why. If you step back for a minute and try to listen to and reflect on what message is being given, whether it is "missionaries" going door to door looking for support, or radio ministries constantly in need of addition funds, or churches with huge budgets always looking for more, far to often the message seems to be, we know what is best and we need your money to do it. The message of how desperately the world needs Jesus Christ almost gets lost. It is why I believe our whole concept of what outreach is needs to change. The question is, how do we change it?