I must confess I grew weary of hearing the Democrats and Republicans trade the same jabs over and over again in the 2011 budget debate. I may have to go on a news fast to get through the debt limit and 2012 budget debates without cracking up. It’s not that I’m inclined to believe or at least see the logic of each argument when I hear it by itself. No! It’s that even taken on their own terms, neither seems to make sense to me. I also readily confess that I have no idea what I would suggest to either party. I don’t think I have any kind of realistic grasp of dollars measured in billions and trillions. I have a hard enough time managing my own budget and debt retirement with ordinary dollars.
I have no intention of entering the partisan fray. As a pastor, that is not my job, nor am I up for it. However, my pastoral vocation does mean calling attention to God in the midst of ordinary life. With the 2011 budget debate still reverberating in the news in anticipation of the debt limit and 2012 budget debates, on Tuesday, April 12 as I was praying through the Psalms (5 a day to get through each month as I have done for over 40 years – that day 12, 42, 72, 102, 132), I was stopped short by Psalm 72. Please read the whole Psalm for yourself, but these verses gave me pause.
“(1)Give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to a king’s son. (2)May he judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice.”
“(4)May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the needy, and crush the oppressor.”
“(12)For he delivers the needy when they call, the poor and those who have no helper. (13)He has pity on the weak and the needy, and saves the lives of the needy. (14)From oppression and violence he redeems their life; and precious is their blood in his sight.”
“(16)May there be abundance of grain in the land; may it wave on the tops of the mountains; may its fruit be like Lebanon; and may people blossom in the cities like the grass of the field.”
I certainly recognize that the ancient, theocratic kingdom of Israel is not equivalent to the contemporary secular, pluralistic democracy of the United States. While different ways of bringing justice to the poor, weak and needy may be legitimately debated, to suggest that caring for the weakest in a society is not the role of government in a biblical or Judeo-Christian worldview is disingenuous at best.
For the first three centuries of the Church’s history, Christians were on the outside of an indifferent if not hostile Roman Empire. The Mosaic Law provided and even mandated many social mechanisms for caring for the poor. Though they were not always followed, they did mean that the Jewish community often provided for poor people better than some of their pagan neighbors, even when under Roman domination in Jesus’ time. Caring for the poor was a high priority in the practical ethic of the early Church. From these roots grew the many charitable Christian endeavors that have persisted through the centuries.
Immediately after Pentecost they pooled their resources to distribute to those in need (Acts 2:44-45). When they had an internal conflict over the distribution of food, they appointed seven spiritual people to oversee it (Acts 6:1-6) When the Apostle Paul reports the results of the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15) to the Galatians he writes that rather than burdening the Gentile Christians with Jewish customs, they were asked only to remember the poor, which Paul writes they were eager to do (Galatians 2:10) Also Paul’s discourse on generous giving that is often used in stewardship teaching (2 Corinthians 8-9) was occasioned by a collection for the churches in Judea who were suffering famine (Acts 11:28-30).
I understand that generosity to the poor in the New Testament was voluntary in the sense that it was not a government tax. However, the early Church clearly considered caring for the poor to be an intrinsic part of Christian discipleship. Paul uses powerful words to motivate the Corinthians to give to the poor Christians in Judea. “I do not say this as a command, but I am testing the genuineness of your love against the earnestness of others. For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.” (2 Corinthians 8:8-9)
Perhaps a healthy way for Christians to approach care for the poor in the United States in the twenty-first century would be to think the way Christians thought about the Roman Empire in the first three centuries of the Church’s history. Since we don’t expect government to make caring for the poor its job, we Christians must work together with massive, aggressive ministries to the all of the weakest of our society. But to suggest that wealthy people have a right to expand, keep and enjoy their resources without concern for those who are in need and suffering is contrary to both the social ethic of the Hebrew Scripture and the clear teaching of Jesus and the New Testament.
In all the current debates about the national deficit and debt of the United States, I have heard little if any coming to terms with what has brought us to this place. Democrats and Republicans blame each other, but I am not hearing anything that would approximate repentance. It is a spiritual axiom that renewal and transformation (conversion of life) begins with repentance that goes much deeper than being sorry we got caught or that our national values and habits have caught up with us. Perhaps a secular democracy cannot have a spiritual repentance, but I would like to hear a spiritual repentance from politicians on both sides of the political aisle, especially those who have made their Christian faith public. Perhaps that is asking for political suicide. It certainly is difficult if not impossible without a profound work of the Holy Spirit. But I would support a politician from either party who would embrace James 5:1-6 as refreshing repentance.
“Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you. Your riches have rotted, and your clothes are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you, and it will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure for the last days. Listen! The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous one, who does not resist you.”
Psalm 72 connects just care for the poor with prosperity for the whole community. That connection is explicitly expanded in Isaiah 58:6-12. Repentance and justice for the poor is not a message of gloom but of glory and hope. I am not suggesting any kind of political agenda here but a call for a spiritual transformation among the people of God. I invite you to participate in the conversation.
“Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?
“Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday. The LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail. Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in.”
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Book Burning
The violent reaction to the burning of the Koran by Florida “pastor” Terry Jones has prompted a whole host of responses. Many U.S. Muslims have publicly condemned the violence, particularly as it is directed against those who were not only not involved but even tried to stop Terry Jones from burning the Koran. Many Christians have publicly condemned not only his intolerance and disrespectful act and attitude, but also the insensitivity to appeals from fellow Americans and Christians. I have nothing to add to that discussion that has not already been said, and I have neither a reputation nor a following that would suggest my comments would be influential anyway. But I do have a couple of observations that I at least want to express, and if it prompts some conversation, so much the better.
We associate book burning with intolerant totalitarianism as a way to squelch ideas they find threatening. Sometimes vigilante groups have sought to burn or ban books they find offensive in schools, libraries and bookshops. Sometimes churches have held book burnings for materials they believed were theologically or ethically dangerous. No particular time or place, nation or religion has a monopoly or is exempt from the impetus to burn or ban books (or artwork or music or drama or film) in the name of protecting the community.
Through the ages some Christians have found a precedent for book burning Acts 19:19 when the converts from occult arts to Jesus Christ in Ephesus burned their magic books. I think it is important to note that this was not an act of political protest or an attempt to offend or humiliate their still pagan neighbors. They had no illusions about making such books unavailable, nor were they trying to protect the community from an invasion of foreign ideas. Rather, this book burning was an expression of a personal change of life direction. People were leaving behind their old lives to begin new lives as disciples of Jesus Christ.
Even so, with the totally different social climate today, I would not suggest that those who convert from Islam to follow Jesus should burn their Korans. In fact, I think Christians today should read the Koran for themselves to see how Jesus (and other biblical characters and ideas) are portrayed differently than in the Bible and to understand the points at which Islam challenges Christianity and explore how to prayerfully and respectfully respond to those differences. I have written elsewhere about how I as a Christian pastor seek to understand and respond to Islam (http://nstolpewriting.blogspot.com/2008/04/pastoral-response-norman-stolpe-may-27.html), so I will not repeat that here. Certainly, burning Korans and insulting Muhammad does not encourage spiritually hungry Muslims to consider trusting Jesus.
The book burning issue is far broader than the distinctions between Christianity and Islam. That is just what has attracted way too much public attention recently. From my days in youth ministry I well remember some churches asking teenagers to bring their records and tapes of rock-n-roll music to be burned at rather odd youth rallies. Some made a point of burning recordings of Christian artists who were thought to have compromised with the world. With current technology I have heard of a few mp3 and i-pod rock music erasing or deleting parties, but they certainly lack the dramatic impact of burning all that plastic.
Though taking things in a little different direction, I feel I must add a bit of information that contrasts the way Muslims view the Koran and the way Christians view the Bible in order to understand the vehemence of some Muslims’ reaction to Terry Jones’ Koran burning.
First, though both Christians and Muslims speak of their Scriptures as the word of God. Christians recognize the Bible as an accumulation of conversations between God and people (especially but not exclusively the Hebrew and Church communities of faith) that came together over many centuries with many writers, reporting both righteousness and disobedience in the community of faith. Muslims believe the Koran is the actual words of God dictated to one person – Muhammad – in a single lifetime devoted to total submission to God.
Second, Christians emphasize that the Bible is the inspired, reliable, authoritative word of God for the community of faith in all times and places, including ours. Thus, translating the Bible into the languages people can understand has always been important. At Jesus’ time the Hebrew Scriptures had been translated into Greek since educated people in the whole Mediterranean Basin spoke Greek. That is also why the New Testament was written in Greek, even though most of its writers spoke Aramaic as their first language. By the fourth century the Bible was translated into Latin, which was the language people were reading throughout the Roman Empire. Since at least the thirteenth century, there has been an accelerating movement to translate the Bible into as many languages read by people as possible.
Islam views the Koran in a sort of a reverse of this pattern. That is, since they understand it as the actual words of God dictated to Muhammad in Arabic, the Koran is for them only the word of God when it is read, especially read aloud, in Arabic. Translations have to be clearly identified as such and not presented as though they were the authentic Koran. Thus, rather than translating the Koran into as many languages as possible, the missionary task (to apply term usually thought of as Christian) of Islam is to teach as many people as possible how to read (aloud) and understand Arabic.
Thus, though Christians might well be offended at someone burning a Bible, they generally do not regard the physical object in and of itself as sacred and would not consider burning it a blasphemous threat to God’s holiness. We would think of it more as a symptom of that person’s deficient faith and character. But for Muslims, since the Koran (especially in Arabic) is regarded as the actual words of God, to burn a Koran is direct blasphemy against God.
The ultimate value of Islam is the total submission of everything in a person’s life to God, including the community and country in which one lives. Thus, everyone in a community is tainted by a blasphemous act on the part of one person. For those of us in western democracies that put a high value on individual freedom, this is very difficult to understand and accept. Nevertheless, this is why some Muslims blame the entire United States for the irreverent act of one person whom most of us consider aberrant.
One final thought that I believe is very important. I make a significant distinction between what I believe and how I act as a Christian, a disciple of Jesus Christ, and what I expect of the United States as a nation, as a society and of its people. While I expect and advocate for religious freedom to practice and proclaim faith in Christ in the United States, I also expect and advocate for the same freedom for all other religions, regardless of how much I may disagree with their teaching or beliefs. That freedom is not without limits, however. It does not tolerate things like cruelty, violence, oppression, slander, deception or coercion by any religion, including those who claim the name of Christian.
Conversely, I do not expect the United States to promote or give favorable status to any religion over any other, including any legal preference to Christianity. As a Christian pastor I must live and articulate my own faith and discipleship with confidence that the Holy Spirit is quite capable of protecting and promoting the Gospel in a neutral and even a hostile environment, and I must lead and teach the people of the congregations I serve to follow Jesus and proclaim the Gospel with similar confidence.
We associate book burning with intolerant totalitarianism as a way to squelch ideas they find threatening. Sometimes vigilante groups have sought to burn or ban books they find offensive in schools, libraries and bookshops. Sometimes churches have held book burnings for materials they believed were theologically or ethically dangerous. No particular time or place, nation or religion has a monopoly or is exempt from the impetus to burn or ban books (or artwork or music or drama or film) in the name of protecting the community.
Through the ages some Christians have found a precedent for book burning Acts 19:19 when the converts from occult arts to Jesus Christ in Ephesus burned their magic books. I think it is important to note that this was not an act of political protest or an attempt to offend or humiliate their still pagan neighbors. They had no illusions about making such books unavailable, nor were they trying to protect the community from an invasion of foreign ideas. Rather, this book burning was an expression of a personal change of life direction. People were leaving behind their old lives to begin new lives as disciples of Jesus Christ.
Even so, with the totally different social climate today, I would not suggest that those who convert from Islam to follow Jesus should burn their Korans. In fact, I think Christians today should read the Koran for themselves to see how Jesus (and other biblical characters and ideas) are portrayed differently than in the Bible and to understand the points at which Islam challenges Christianity and explore how to prayerfully and respectfully respond to those differences. I have written elsewhere about how I as a Christian pastor seek to understand and respond to Islam (http://nstolpewriting.blogspot.com/2008/04/pastoral-response-norman-stolpe-may-27.html), so I will not repeat that here. Certainly, burning Korans and insulting Muhammad does not encourage spiritually hungry Muslims to consider trusting Jesus.
The book burning issue is far broader than the distinctions between Christianity and Islam. That is just what has attracted way too much public attention recently. From my days in youth ministry I well remember some churches asking teenagers to bring their records and tapes of rock-n-roll music to be burned at rather odd youth rallies. Some made a point of burning recordings of Christian artists who were thought to have compromised with the world. With current technology I have heard of a few mp3 and i-pod rock music erasing or deleting parties, but they certainly lack the dramatic impact of burning all that plastic.
Though taking things in a little different direction, I feel I must add a bit of information that contrasts the way Muslims view the Koran and the way Christians view the Bible in order to understand the vehemence of some Muslims’ reaction to Terry Jones’ Koran burning.
First, though both Christians and Muslims speak of their Scriptures as the word of God. Christians recognize the Bible as an accumulation of conversations between God and people (especially but not exclusively the Hebrew and Church communities of faith) that came together over many centuries with many writers, reporting both righteousness and disobedience in the community of faith. Muslims believe the Koran is the actual words of God dictated to one person – Muhammad – in a single lifetime devoted to total submission to God.
Second, Christians emphasize that the Bible is the inspired, reliable, authoritative word of God for the community of faith in all times and places, including ours. Thus, translating the Bible into the languages people can understand has always been important. At Jesus’ time the Hebrew Scriptures had been translated into Greek since educated people in the whole Mediterranean Basin spoke Greek. That is also why the New Testament was written in Greek, even though most of its writers spoke Aramaic as their first language. By the fourth century the Bible was translated into Latin, which was the language people were reading throughout the Roman Empire. Since at least the thirteenth century, there has been an accelerating movement to translate the Bible into as many languages read by people as possible.
Islam views the Koran in a sort of a reverse of this pattern. That is, since they understand it as the actual words of God dictated to Muhammad in Arabic, the Koran is for them only the word of God when it is read, especially read aloud, in Arabic. Translations have to be clearly identified as such and not presented as though they were the authentic Koran. Thus, rather than translating the Koran into as many languages as possible, the missionary task (to apply term usually thought of as Christian) of Islam is to teach as many people as possible how to read (aloud) and understand Arabic.
Thus, though Christians might well be offended at someone burning a Bible, they generally do not regard the physical object in and of itself as sacred and would not consider burning it a blasphemous threat to God’s holiness. We would think of it more as a symptom of that person’s deficient faith and character. But for Muslims, since the Koran (especially in Arabic) is regarded as the actual words of God, to burn a Koran is direct blasphemy against God.
The ultimate value of Islam is the total submission of everything in a person’s life to God, including the community and country in which one lives. Thus, everyone in a community is tainted by a blasphemous act on the part of one person. For those of us in western democracies that put a high value on individual freedom, this is very difficult to understand and accept. Nevertheless, this is why some Muslims blame the entire United States for the irreverent act of one person whom most of us consider aberrant.
One final thought that I believe is very important. I make a significant distinction between what I believe and how I act as a Christian, a disciple of Jesus Christ, and what I expect of the United States as a nation, as a society and of its people. While I expect and advocate for religious freedom to practice and proclaim faith in Christ in the United States, I also expect and advocate for the same freedom for all other religions, regardless of how much I may disagree with their teaching or beliefs. That freedom is not without limits, however. It does not tolerate things like cruelty, violence, oppression, slander, deception or coercion by any religion, including those who claim the name of Christian.
Conversely, I do not expect the United States to promote or give favorable status to any religion over any other, including any legal preference to Christianity. As a Christian pastor I must live and articulate my own faith and discipleship with confidence that the Holy Spirit is quite capable of protecting and promoting the Gospel in a neutral and even a hostile environment, and I must lead and teach the people of the congregations I serve to follow Jesus and proclaim the Gospel with similar confidence.
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