Categories: uncategorized
Date: 24 July 2007 15:15:12
I've tried to put together some thoughts on this subject a few times, but never seem to get them in an adequately coherant fashion. I'll try again.
If you read a few Christian websites, particularly of a more left-leaning persuasion, you are likely to hear a lot of talk about The Poor. How God is biased towards Them. How We should be helping Them. How They are blessed by God, but suffering as a result of greed.
In some ways, all of this is true. I certainly think that God has a problem when others suffer because of the greed of powerful people. I certainly think that God wants us to work to redress the balance, so that all share the fruits of the earth he has given us.
However, I often find this talk very patronising. Who precisely do we identify as 'The Poor'? And do they really want to be referred to that way? The majority of people in this world don't materially have very much, and many others are dispossessed, even starving. But all have an innate measure of dignity, and in my experience tend to view those from outside who 'help' with mixed feelings, unless the helper actually gets to know and share in their experiences. As Christ did.
And for us comfortably off western Christians, talk of God being biased towards The Poor creates a false guilt. We feel that in contrast to 'the poor', we are 'the rich', and we damn well feel guilty about it. We even start numbering ourselves among the goats rather than the sheep in the great cosmic judgement. Listen to Wood's cry of 'well, that's me stuffed then'.
So what do we do? Either wallow in our guilt, or fall back into a works theology to try to get ourselves back amongst the sheep. We do the Right Things, particularly the things that make us look good. ('Do you want to come round for a cup of Fair Trade tea?' [no, I want to see you and have a cup of tea, you self righteous _]). And usually, we do the things to help The Poor that don't actually involve making any contact with The Poor. They are different to us, after all.
Congratulations! You have just joined the Pharisee club. Go shake hands with your comrades in the right-hand corner.
My point is that God loves us all individually and equally, no matter what our circumstances. That he loves a rich man as well as he loves a poor man; that he loves the oppressor as well as the oppressed. Christianity is a religion of relationships, not issues. The route away from Pharisaism isn't condemning greed or self-righteousness, it's loving individuals.
If we do things to redress the economic balance, let's make sure it's because of a genuine care for individuals and communities, not because of some points scoring righteousness exercise. And more than anything, let's not lose sight of the fact that God does love us, forgive us and count us as his children.