I'll start by once again stating that I don't support the state distribution of wealth.
I do however support government involvement in economic issues to protect the disadvantaged and mitigate against the worst excesses of Capitalism.
More on the Year of Jubilee
The aim of the jubilee, therefore, is to preserve unimpaired the essential character of the theocracy, to the end that there be no poor among the people of God (Deut. 15:4).
• It would prevent the accumulation of land on the part of a few to the detriment of the community at large.
• It would render it impossible for any one to be born to absolute poverty, since every one had his hereditary land.
• It would preclude those inequalities which are produced by extremes of riches and poverty, and which make one man domineer over another.
• It would utterly do away with slavery.
• It would afford a fresh opportunity to those who were reduced by adverse circumstances to begin again their career of industry, in the patrimony which they had temporarily forfeited.
• It would periodically rectify the disorders which creep into the state in the course of time, preclude the division of the people into nobles and plebeians, and preserve the theocracy inviolate.
- The Catholic Encyclopaedia
Deu 15:4 '
However, there should not be any poor among you, for the LORD will surely bless you in the land that he is giving you as an inheritance.'
We can chuck Bible verses around all day and either force them to make a point or hide behind them.
There are basic principles however:
Lev 19:18 You must not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the children of your people, but you must love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.
- We feed ourselves junk food and furnish our houses with expensive consumer goods while our neighbour starves to death.
How is that faithful to the command to 'love your neighbour as yourself'?
Worldwide about 30,000 children die every day because of poverty-related causes — such as lack of immunisation.
Capitalism leads to - a European cow gets more in subsidies than what 1.2 billion people have to live on.
The example of Jesus is that he forsook his privileges, lived among the marginalized and oppressed, died a violent death on the cross as an alleged criminal, and was vindicated by God at his resurrection. His life of identification and solidarity with the poor is the antidote against the blind spots of the modern Christian that supports a system [capitalism] that brings a massive disparity in resources and creates mega-rich at the expense of the dying poor.
It seems that scripture has a less than glowing impression of wealth:
Pro 11:28 The one who trusts in his riches will fall,
but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf.
Jer 9:23 Rich people should not boast that they are rich.
Jer 9:24 If people want to boast, they should boast about this:
They should boast that they understand and know me.
They should boast that they know and understand
that I, the LORD, act out of faithfulness, fairness, and justice in the earth
and that I desire people to do these things,"
says the LORD.
1Ti 6:17 Command those who are rich in this world's goods not to be haughty or to set their hope on riches, which are uncertain, but on God who richly provides us with all things for our enjoyment.
1Ti 6:18 Tell them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, to be generous givers, sharing with others.
Jam 1:11 For the sun rises with its heat and dries up the meadow; the petal of the flower falls off and its beauty is lost forever. So also the rich person in the midst of his pursuits will wither away.
Jam 5:5 You have lived indulgently
and luxuriously on the earth. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.3
Pro 30:8 Remove falsehood and lies far from me;
do not give me poverty or riches,
feed me with my allotted portion of bread,
Pro 30:9 lest I become satisfied and act deceptively
and say, "Who is the LORD?"
Or lest I become poor and steal
and demean the name of my God.
Hos 13:6 When they were fed, they became satisfied;
when they were satisfied, they became proud;
as a result, they forgot me!
Ecc 5:10 The one who loves money will never be satisfied with money,
he who loves wealth will never be satisfied with his income.
This also is futile.
Ecc 5:11 When someone's prosperity increases, those who consume it also increase;
so what does its owner gain, except that he gets to see it with his eyes?
Ecc 5:12 The sleep of the laborer is pleasant — whether he eats little or much —
but the wealth of the rich will not allow him to sleep.
Pro 28:11 A rich person is wise in his own eyes,
The great equality of capitalism?
The pre-eminent challenge to the human family today is the increasingly unequal distribution of wealth and power. Since statistics are wearisome, a few must suffice to capture this drift. The United Nations reported in 1992 that income disparities between the world's richest and poorest have doubled since 1960. Today the wealthiest 20 percent of the world's population receives almost 83 percent of the world's income, while the poorest 20 percent receive less than 2 percent! In 1965, the average U.S. worker made $7.52 per hour, while the person running the company made $330.38 per hour; today, the average worker makes $7.39 per hour, the average CEO $1,566.68 per hour—212 times more!
- Kerby Anderson - president of Probe Ministries International.
This is your beloved capitalism that you so admire, in all its unrestrained beauty.
Any theology that refuses to reckon with these realities is both cruel and irrelevant. We Christians must talk about economics, and talk about it in light of the gospel. "Churches," asserts Cornel West, "may be the last places left in our culture that can engage the public conversation with non-market values." Yet those who would challenge postmodern capitalism and its self-reflexive market discourses are struggling to find an alternative language and practice, particularly with the apparent discrediting of state socialism. This ideological vacuum offers a unique opportunity for the church to rediscover a radically different vision of economic and social practice—and one that lies right at the heart of its scriptures.
- Kerby Anderson - president of Probe Ministries International.
Economic principles glimpsed in Manna from heaven
First, every family is told to gather just enough bread for their needs (Exodus 16:16-18 ). In contrast to Israel's Egyptian condition of oppression and need, here everyone has enough: "Those who gathered more had no surplus, and those who gathered less had no shortage." In God's economy there is such a thing as "too much" and "too little." (This contrasts radically with modern capitalism's infinite tolerance for wealth and poverty.) Exodus 16's "theology of enough" is underlined by the (probably later) version of the manna story in Numbers 11, in which the people's persistent "cravings" are punished with a plague of "too much" (Numbers 11:33-34; see Psalm 78:20-31, 106:13-15).
And back to the Year of Jubilee…
THE FULLEST EXPRESSION of Sabbath logic is the Levitical "Jubilee": a comprehensive remission to take place every "Sabbath's Sabbath," or 49th-50th year (Leviticus 25). The Jubilee (named after the jovel, a ram's horn that sounded to herald the remission) aimed to dismantle structures of social-economic inequality by: releasing each community member from debt (Leviticus 25:35-42) ; returning encumbered or forfeited land to its original owners (25:13, 25-28 ) ; freeing slaves (25:47-55). The rationale for this unilateral restructuring of the community's assets was to remind Israel that the land belongs to God (25:23) and that they are an Exodus people who must never return to a system of slavery (25:42).
JAC - As for me, I'm a capitalist to the bone. I reject ALL forms of socialism, even down to public education. It's a terrible thing. It is not the government's job to take care of the poor--any of them. Sorry, I believe in personal responsibility. If you don't work, you don't eat. Sorry if that doesn't sound "compassionate." I'm not a compassionate conservative. Politically, I'm as conservative as they get. If I want to help the poor, it's up to me to do it, which I would and do. However, it is NOT up to the government to steal from me and my family and give my income to someone else.
If you don't work — you don't eat?
Four types of poverty
1. Poverty of oppression or fraud — people oppressed by governments or powerful individuals.
2. Misfortune, persecution or judgement.
3. Idleness — laziness — gluttony.
4. Culture of poverty — Proverbs 'The ruin of the poor is their poverty'. Unable to break the cycle of poverty.
While government should not have to shoulder the entire responsibility for caring for the poor, it must take seriously the statements in Leviticus and Proverbs about defending the poor and fighting oppression. Government must not shirk its God-given responsibility to defend the poor from injustice. If government will not do this, or if the oppression is coming from the government itself, then Christians must exercise their prophetic voice and speak out against governmental abuse and misuse of power.
- Kerby Anderson - president of Probe Ministries International.
Fat chance of the modern capitalism loving consumer Christian shouting out about anything with a mouth too full of Big Macs.
JAC - However, it is NOT up to the government to steal from me and my family and give my income to someone else.
But I presume you are happy for them to take money from you and spend it on national defence to preserve you from foreign aggressors?
But it is only stealing when the government wants to recognise that we all belong to an inter-dependent community and tries to support the poor.
I agree — those who can work, but refuse to, should not eat. But the poor is comprised of people who are in that position for a number of different reasons. It is disingenuous to lump them all together and call them lazyand think that resolves you or the government of responsibility.
And to say that the government does not have a responsibility to 'thieve' from you because you are capable of helping the poor yourself is problematic to say the least because at the moment both the government and individuals are helping the poor and yet the gap between the 'haves' and 'have-nots' is growing phenomenally. And you want to further erode that support system by stopping the government redistributing some of your wealth and leave it all down to selfish individuals?
Despite the 'massive and unjust' tax burden you Americans have to suffer, you still manage to find $14 billion to spend on porn every year.
“The Internet accounted for US $2.5 billion of the adult industry's $14 billion in U.S. revenues in 2004.”
- National Coalition for the Protection of Children and Families.
Yes, I see the American consumer is so hard done by.
And American Christians support this monstrous system.
JAC - As for me, I'm a capitalist to the bone.
JAC - It is not the government's job to take care of the poor--any of them.
JAC - However, it is NOT up to the government to steal from me and my family and give my income to someone else.
Blacknad.
