Well, I didn't lie. I didn't know it'd be a lie when I wrote it.
I wasn't planning on writing any blog entries this week, since I basically have only a three-day workweek to work with.
But that was before this.
And perhaps I shouldn't be writing, because what Franklin Graham says in that CNN article sent me oozing into an absolute fury.
But holy ****, I want to scream right now. But I'm in my office, so I won't.
Look.
I absolutely believe that people have a right to think what they want. Even if it repulses me, it's your God-given right to think that the world is flat, or that one gender is inherently inferior to another, or that the Kansas Jayhawks won't win the NCAA tournament this year (kidding on this one).
But those views should cause you to take a long, hard look in the mirror.
And what Franklin Graham says here, in part, is so at odds with what I believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ to be that I honestly am wondering where God is in Graham's ministry:
Graham thinks preachers should speak out on social issues like abortion or gay marriage, but not on economic ones. “When it comes to the taxes - whether you should tax the wealthy more or the poor more, I’m not into that,” he said. “Let the politicians worry about that.”
There are a lot of issues I have with this statement, but there are two HUGE ones.
Let's start with that last bit--the "let the politicians worry about that" part.
That is something that should probably never come out of a pastor's mouth. Why?
It isn't because politicians are distrustful or double-minded or deceitful or any of those things--some surely are, but some also definitely are not.
It's that saying certain things belong only to the political leaders usually doesn't end well.
In Jesus' time, the politicians--such as they were--were the Pharisees, the legal experts who not-so-secretly colluded with the Roman empire to subjugate the Israelite people.
And Jesus' ministry was all about challenging the things that were previously left for the "politicians" to worry about--things like how to interpret the law, how to offer sacrifice, and ultimately, how to have a right relationship with God.
Jesus changed the world precisely because He didn't let the politicians of His day "worry about that."
But the other issue I have is that a Christian MUST be "into" how we treat the rich vis-a-vis the poor.
The Gospels--indeed, the entire Bible--is full to the point of overflowing on what society should do for the poor and expect from the wealthy. To offer but a few examples:
"Oppressing the poor to get rich and giving to the wealthy leads only to poverty." -Proverbs 22:16
"Doom to those who pronounce wicked decrees and keep writing harmful laws to deprive the needy of their rights and to rob the poor among my people of justice; to make widows their loot and to steal from orphans." -Isaiah 10:1-2
"The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me. He has sent me to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to liberate the oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." -Luke 4:18-19
"Tell people who are rich at this time not to become egotistical and not to place their hope on their finances, which are uncertain. Instead, they need to hope in God, who richly provides everything for our enjoyment. Tell them to do good, to be rich in the good things they do, to be generous, and to share with others." -1 Timothy 6:17-18
"Imagine a brother or sister who is naked and never has enough food to eat. What if one of you said, "Go in peace! Stay warm! Have a nice meal!"? What good is it if you don't actually give them what their body needs?" -James 2:15-16
(All quotes are from the Common English Bible translation.)
The above assortment of Scripture was not chosen haphazardly by me. I selected from two different genres of Old Testament Scripture--the "wisdom" literature (Proverbs, Psalms, Ecclesiastes, etc) and the "prophetic" literature (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, etc). I selected from the Gospels, from Paul, and from a New Testament letter not by Paul.
And I did this to make a point: good news for the poor is not the mission of a few renegade writers of the Bible. It is the mission of the Bible itself.
And it hurts me in a major, major way to see fellow Christians undercut that mission by saying, in effect, "my job is not to worry about those people."
My call, for as long as God wills it, is to worry for the poor--the poor in spiritual resources as well as the poor in economic resources.
And the day I reduce that mission to an either-or proposition rather than a both-and proposition is the day I need to hang up my alb for good.
Yours in Christ,
Eric
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