Humanism, Christianity, and the Poor

A pre-note comment: I don't expect too many people here to agree with me. I expect to be misunderstood, and maybe even disliked for what I am about to say, because it isn't popular with all of the humanism prevalent in the church nowadays. I expect to be called selfish, burgeoise, someone trying to justify the flesh. But I'm going to let this one fly...because I feel it is the right thing to do. My God tells me to be bold...so that's what I'm going to be.

On with the note.


I walked away this Friday incredibly disappointed. It's amazing how I spent literally 90% of the time not even there at IV large group, on the couch in the lounge down the hall. I read Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Philipians (though I read Philipians rather quickly), and was starting to read Hebrews/Titus before I went and took a peek at what was going on inside. The point of that last sentence not serving to glorify me in some way for doing what every Christian should (read scripture) but just to let people in on what I had just come from doing when I showed up at large group towards the end.

Just going in to see things for a few minutes brought me down. It was some movie/interview of the author of some book called the Irresistible Revolution...I forget his name...anyway, they were talking about the poor and such. It got me mad- but not in maybe the way most would expect. I didn't rage against injustice, or want to tear my leather jacket apart in disgust- I got mad because I feel like there is this continual effort to shame people who are white, or people who have more than others, or people who are more educated. I remain unrepentant for being white, getting a college education and not serving in a soup kitchen every weekend, and that makes me a bad guy. There's a lot of reasons why I'm unrepentant, however. The little snippet of the movie I watched gave me plenty of reasons not to submit myself to this guy's message.

The first thing that was talked about was statistics...I hate statistics. They are almost invariably twisted to be seen in an extreme way. One of the ones raised directly by the author himself was that 86% of Christians believe Jesus spent a lot of time with the poor and yet less than 1% of Christians actually do...where the did they get that statistic from? How many Christians in America who call themselves such actually act on their faith anyway? Did they bother to interview any non-American Christians (you know, like the ones in poor countries around the world)? What about poor Christians? Did they interview those? How did you define "Christian" when you interviewed/questionnaired people? What kind of Christians did they interview? Where was the area of people that you interviewed? All of the Christians with phones to call or something, who also happen to live in America, the richest country in the world, where the line between "rich" and "poor" is incredibly hazy? There's another statistic that got brought up in the fall (or maybe I got it from somewhere else)- If I recall it correctly, it says that if you own a car you're in the top 5% richest in the world. I know a lot of desperate people in this country who own cars.

How would I have been able to answer that question? I would consider myself to be poor. Others would consider me to be rich. Unfortunately, I'm just rich enough to have a roof over my head and to be in college and just poor enough that I start to sweat and pray at the end of the month when rent money is due (or when the University starts asking for tuition money while holding my registration hostage). Just rich enough to be accused of inaction and insensitivity and just poor enough to feel ticked about it. How do you ask a person like me "if I have ever been around poor people" when I consider myself to be one?

The thing that made my gut turn was when this author guy goes and dumps loose change on Wall Street for the beggars to pick up, saying "this money belongs to them." If I were going to give a man money, I wouldn't make him crawl on the ground and scrounge for it, that's the most sick thing I've ever seen. Last I checked, most soup kitchens serve people at a table with silverware, they don't make them slurp it off of the floor. I would serve him quietly and humbly as I have served homeless people in the past when I lacked boldness to talk to them (which, I will admit, is my failure). I would rather pray for that man than blast a megaphone at deaf ears and dump change on the ground and do empty righteous things hiding behind the name of Love. The man marched around and had people stand with signs that say "love" on them but where is the "IN CHRIST" at the end?

But since we are Christians and should base our tantrums and "opinions" in scripture, I might as well go through the scripture and gospels systematically. The first thing I ran into was the Beatitudes. In their continuation in Matthew chapter 6, Christ says:

"Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward before your father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets [that megaphone sure looked like a trumpet], as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."

When justifying himself to John who was in chains, among other things Christ said "and the good news is preached to the poor." He did NOT say "and the poor have become comfortable and well-adjusted." The good news is preached to the poor to give them hope in their poverty. He was speaking straight to the poor when he said, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:25-34)

When Christ fed the five thousand men and the four thousand men and their families, he fed them because he was responsible and had brought them into a wild place where they could not get food (most notably in the second instance). Also note that Christ used a miracle to feed these people- he used it as an opportunity to display God's almighty power.

In the movie, they talk about the really uneven distribution of wealth in the world...what the in the Lord's name does that have to do with Christ. Christ never went to a beggar and said "here's a dime" or "rejoice, for the rich will surely give you some of their wealth". He went to beggars and said "Your sins are forgiven" and "Your faith has made you well" and "You are healed" and "Get up and walk". I hate how people harp on the rich and say all of this stuff about rich people, camels, and the eyes of needles. Here's a little statistic for you: If 2% of the world is rich and 98% of the world is poor like the statistics say, why are we browbeating the rich so much when the other 98% aren't getting the message they need, hmm? Someone must minister to the rich and urge them towards Christ so that they are then driven to compassion for the less fortunate by the Holy Spirit. The problem is in the way that the rich are addressed. When you evangelize, you meet people where they are. It would make more sense to me if the now incredibly rich author of “The Purpose Driven Life” were to come to me talking about altruism and acted on it, not somebody pretending to be poor.

What Jesus said is true. It IS easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. What people forget is that this also applies to EVERYONE. If that were not true, then Jesus would have been handing out money to the poor, not salvation and grace. We are all equally guilty. Christ had it right; he centered his ministry on the things that mattered: People's physical health (to display the power of God) and mental health (also to display the power of God by driving out demons), and the condition of their hearts, their state before the Judge, which are eternally important things. Not their comforts.

Christ was not addressing the rich man's richness for the poor man's sake when he told the rich man to get rid of his possessions. He was addressing the rich man's richness for the rich man's sake, for the rich man to be saved! Hopefully somebody is following me on this. In the books of the New Testament, in 1 Timothy Paul charges Timothy to be careful about what widows he supports in their poverty and what ones he does not. In the same letter, Paul tells Timothy that the women should not dress richly (2:9-10) and later says that men in the church should not be "lovers of money" (3:3). Paul says in 2 Timothy that there will be people in the end times who, "have a form of godliness but denying its power" (3:5). THAT is Humanism, my dear brothers and sisters. Be wary of doing righteous acts but denying the power of God and the Holy Spirit by not following them FIRST. Otherwise, we become hollow and everything we do is meaningless in the end. Don't be driven by the desire to do good; be driven by your love for God and out of a compulsion to conform yourselves to our Lord Jesus Christ. Repent of Humanistic attitudes and remember who has the power in your life, and who drives you towards salvation.

Here’s another Biblical curveball: In Matthew 26:6-13 a woman pours a bottle of pure nard, worth an immense amount of money (over a year’s worth of wages) on Christ’s head. Some chasten her, saying it is a waste, that the money from selling that bottle could have gone to the poor. Then Christ says something surprising: “The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me.” Wow. What a selfish jerk that Jesus guy was for letting a $21,000 bottle of oil (the average layman’s yearly wage in the US, according to yesterday’s movie) be dumped on his head instead of giving the money to the poor.

What I am saying in all of this is:

Care for the poor. Do not flaunt your wealth if you have it. Give cheerfully, and generously. Do not give preferential treatment to the rich (James 2:1-13). Do not be hard on the poor under you and oppress them (James 5:4-6). And, finally, if you have not done these things DO NOT CONDEMN YOURSELF FOR SOMETHING YOU HAVE NOT DONE, AND DO NOT ACCEPT CONDEMNATION FROM ANY MAN FOR IT. Conviction serves to lift you up and set you firm in Christ. Condemnation serves to cripple you with shame and force you to become a giver, a slave to the law, regardless of the condition of your heart.

When Christ admonishes the rich church of Laodicea in Revelations, he does not chasten them for their richness, but their ATTITUDE in their richness: "You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' " Christ later tells them "I counsel you to buy gold refined in the fire, so that you can become rich; white clothes to wear so that you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes so you can see."

Therefore, we are not meant to be ashamed of wealth, but ashamed of a bad attitude developed in wealth. We must be tested- "But He knows the way I take; when he has tested me I will come forth as gold" (Job 23:10). We must put on righteousness- "Rather, clothe yourselves in Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature" (Rom 13:14). We must have our eyes opened to scripture and to what God is doing, through prayer and the Holy Spirit. This is what the rich must do. Coincidentally, these things are things which all believers, rich and poor, must do in Christ.

Here is another verse about what we have: “Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him—for this is his lot. Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work—this is a gift of God. He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart.” (Ecclesiastes 5:18-20)

Let me bring up another verse that will blow your mind after listening to that guy last night. Paul writes in 1 Timothy:

"But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs."

Did Paul and the writer of Ecclesiastes (Solomon?) just tell me that my (relatively) comfortable life is OK as long as I don't abandon my pursuit of Christ for gratuitous and unnecessary riches?! OH, SNAP!

Some people will say that some of the things I have said here are excuses for greed. They are not. They are the truth. The scripture and the meaning of it is all right there. In the same way people tell partial truths or mix lies with it to create shame and force people to act, people often use the truth to justify their greed, and there is nothing that you or I can do about that- but that does not mean that we obscure the truth. It does not mean that we deny the truth.

But what do I know...I'm just another upper lower class/lower middle class college attending white kid clinging desperately to his iPod and trying to justify his 3 pairs of sneakers, right?

Now it's your turn. Open fire. Or don't...if you dare to agree with me.