Some things I was thinking about that (to me) related to my comments in "fair?" had to do a little more with the law in relation to our rule of law and the law concerning the old testament.
I've been getting much more understanding about what the Bible means when it tells us that the law was given to show us our hearts. I knew the words forever and I knew the explanation you were supposed to give to people, but they were just words with no real understanding, only the simple understanding of "this is what it says, this is what I've been told".
What I see in America is our tendency toward more and more laws. Now I know many arguments will be made that we need those laws because we continue to have people finding more and more ways around them and just plain breaking laws. But what I seem to find is that the more laws we make the more we end up breaking. There's no such thing as commonsense anymore, because we can sue McDonalds for our own bumbling the hot coffee in our lap. We continue to make more laws because people refuse to be responsible for their actions. They want laws to tell them what they can and can't do. But those people are the same stubborn, foolish people that will ignore the commonsense in their heart and heads, and will continue to do so until they have no freedom and eventually, no will left. The government becomes their everything, it makes all their decisions and directs all their efforts-effectively subduing, crushing their own will.
What I think the Old Testament shows us is that the law can't change our hearts. It was only meant to show us the condition of them. God was trying to show us the problem isn't just in our actions, and we can't just regulate our actions with an abudance of laws. We have to get to the root, to the heart that determines the actions, which is something laws can't reach. All of this gives me a great appreciation of God's intention of/for our liberty, and what it really means to be free. Who is the better citizen, the man that obeys the law because it is the law, or for fear of reprisal or the man who obeys the law from his heart, not because he is made to (the law) but because he wants to. God wants us to see His goodness and choose His ways over ours because we WANT to, not because we HAVE to (the law). And it is only when we recognize His goodness, His love, that we even begin to WANT to choose His ways over ours. Until we come to that point individually, that we see Him for who He is, we will struggle with choosing His ways over ours. But even then, it's not over. Everyday we have to deny our own selfish desires and choose His ways. It's a battle, because freedom is a battle. So part of the victory comes from our focus, if we keep Him before us we can press on toward the upward call of Christ.
wow, I am all over the map, but let me know what you think
Thursday, January 29, 2009
fair?
I've been thinking over the years about fairness and now the newly added emphasis on it. First off, I haven't personally talked to anyone that genuinely felt like the simplistic approach of taking from the rich to give to the poor was the right thing to do, (of course most of us at one time or another find an appeal in that passing thought) I apparently know people that know better, but it's stuff I've been thinking about nonetheless.
I have to ask, even though most people have a disdain for the rich, even for those just better off than us, I ask -- how fair is it to the affluent that our government take their money and give it to someone else? It seems that part of our instinct is to think it is fair, at least for the the one receiving, and we seem to think that is what is important. But thank God that He doesn't view us that way. God is concerned with the poor AND the rich.I don't think God is interested in making things "fair", but God IS just. Being just puts everyone on an individual basis with God. Everyone is responsible for themselves and their actions. Being fair always pits one person against another, whether it is by need, or lack or excess. With God being just - it is only between you and Him. It's not you against anyone else, or anyone against you.
How amazing is it that Jesus never took the wealth of the rich to give it to the poor. Instead He asked them to GIVE to the poor and needy. You see it comes down to much more than things, it comes down to matters of the heart. That is where God is most interested, our actions flow from what is in our heart. So those are my thoughts for now, maybe I'll add to them as I continue to think about it.
My note's musical accompaniment: "The Whore's Trophy II" by Symphony In Peril
I have to ask, even though most people have a disdain for the rich, even for those just better off than us, I ask -- how fair is it to the affluent that our government take their money and give it to someone else? It seems that part of our instinct is to think it is fair, at least for the the one receiving, and we seem to think that is what is important. But thank God that He doesn't view us that way. God is concerned with the poor AND the rich.I don't think God is interested in making things "fair", but God IS just. Being just puts everyone on an individual basis with God. Everyone is responsible for themselves and their actions. Being fair always pits one person against another, whether it is by need, or lack or excess. With God being just - it is only between you and Him. It's not you against anyone else, or anyone against you.
How amazing is it that Jesus never took the wealth of the rich to give it to the poor. Instead He asked them to GIVE to the poor and needy. You see it comes down to much more than things, it comes down to matters of the heart. That is where God is most interested, our actions flow from what is in our heart. So those are my thoughts for now, maybe I'll add to them as I continue to think about it.
My note's musical accompaniment: "The Whore's Trophy II" by Symphony In Peril
Monday, January 12, 2009
God, liberty, socialism and the law
My mind is just being melted lately by so many similarities I'm finding in my comparisons of things like liberty, capitalism, the law and socialism.
I've often commented to my friends that we have to be careful on just how much we try to make laws out of our Christian beliefs. It's true we need to defend the defenseless, help the helpless, and love our neighbors, all of which Jesus said to do. But there are times when I think we can try to make laws that overstep the purpose of the gospel. When we try to make all the commandments of Jesus into laws we ruin exactly what God is trying accomplish, we become Pharisees and Saducees, people that are only concerned about the law and not about the heart. It's also what I see a lot of in socialism. Socialism has a lot of good social principles, spreading the wealth, supplies, and work to those that need it. It would seem like a good idea to take from someone who seems to have more than they need (deserve, in other people's eyes) and give it to the less fortunate. But think about it, when you make him, by law, give it away he is more inclined to be bitter toward the law and find ways around it, thus hardening his heart.
But when a man out of his heart gives cheerfully to those less fortunate, he seems more inclined to give, and will often give above what-had he been obliged by law-to give, and his heart is close to the heart of God.
Don't get me wrong capitalism isn't perfect, but what I see in it is God's gift of freedom. I see a metaphore of Him letting us choose to do the right things, and not being held by excessive law that would overburden even the most able. You see, the law is never satisfied, none of us can ever fulfill the law. There are those that would seek to cheat the law, those that would seek to abuse the law. But when there is liberty....freedom, it is on each one of us in a much more personal way (I think). Of course we have cheaters and abusers in capitalism, but in order for socialism to work the government has to become more and more and more in charge of every part of our lives. Every little thing has to be overseen by the gov. which means we would all be drowning in more and more laws and regulations. America has unfortunately been headed this direction for some time, and it saddens me.
Proper capitalism allowed to work the way it was meant to corrects itself with much less intervention of law than socialism. Why we have the problem of greed in America is not because of capitalism, it is because of the condition of our hearts, something that socialism cannot correct, something that the law cannot correct, it is only God that can correct our hearts.
Wow, He is blowing my mind, and I'm such a selfish servant.
I know I make a lot of generalizations, and analogies but try to follow that along and see if you see some of the same things.
Let me know what you think if you like.
The beauty and the danger in capitalism is the same as the liberty that God gives us. We can use it for great things or for terribly selfish things.
*A comment on taking from those better off to give to those less fortunate*--This is really only "fair" to those that are less fortunate (or swindlers, or abusers of goodwill), what about those that work hard for what they have and have been successful? Is it the government's job to take what he has earned and give it to someone else, what reward does he get for his hard work, a penalty from the government-the taking of his prosperity. Or rather, should it be up to the churches to instill in that man a sense of helping out his brother voluntarily, something that has repercussions of a positive nature that far exceed the effects of the government just taking his money from him because of how much he earned.
I've often commented to my friends that we have to be careful on just how much we try to make laws out of our Christian beliefs. It's true we need to defend the defenseless, help the helpless, and love our neighbors, all of which Jesus said to do. But there are times when I think we can try to make laws that overstep the purpose of the gospel. When we try to make all the commandments of Jesus into laws we ruin exactly what God is trying accomplish, we become Pharisees and Saducees, people that are only concerned about the law and not about the heart. It's also what I see a lot of in socialism. Socialism has a lot of good social principles, spreading the wealth, supplies, and work to those that need it. It would seem like a good idea to take from someone who seems to have more than they need (deserve, in other people's eyes) and give it to the less fortunate. But think about it, when you make him, by law, give it away he is more inclined to be bitter toward the law and find ways around it, thus hardening his heart.
But when a man out of his heart gives cheerfully to those less fortunate, he seems more inclined to give, and will often give above what-had he been obliged by law-to give, and his heart is close to the heart of God.
Don't get me wrong capitalism isn't perfect, but what I see in it is God's gift of freedom. I see a metaphore of Him letting us choose to do the right things, and not being held by excessive law that would overburden even the most able. You see, the law is never satisfied, none of us can ever fulfill the law. There are those that would seek to cheat the law, those that would seek to abuse the law. But when there is liberty....freedom, it is on each one of us in a much more personal way (I think). Of course we have cheaters and abusers in capitalism, but in order for socialism to work the government has to become more and more and more in charge of every part of our lives. Every little thing has to be overseen by the gov. which means we would all be drowning in more and more laws and regulations. America has unfortunately been headed this direction for some time, and it saddens me.
Proper capitalism allowed to work the way it was meant to corrects itself with much less intervention of law than socialism. Why we have the problem of greed in America is not because of capitalism, it is because of the condition of our hearts, something that socialism cannot correct, something that the law cannot correct, it is only God that can correct our hearts.
Wow, He is blowing my mind, and I'm such a selfish servant.
I know I make a lot of generalizations, and analogies but try to follow that along and see if you see some of the same things.
Let me know what you think if you like.
The beauty and the danger in capitalism is the same as the liberty that God gives us. We can use it for great things or for terribly selfish things.
*A comment on taking from those better off to give to those less fortunate*--This is really only "fair" to those that are less fortunate (or swindlers, or abusers of goodwill), what about those that work hard for what they have and have been successful? Is it the government's job to take what he has earned and give it to someone else, what reward does he get for his hard work, a penalty from the government-the taking of his prosperity. Or rather, should it be up to the churches to instill in that man a sense of helping out his brother voluntarily, something that has repercussions of a positive nature that far exceed the effects of the government just taking his money from him because of how much he earned.
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