Fear, Compassion, and the Present Crisis
A few days back I asked the question: "Is Capitalism Christian?" That post garnered a number of comments and quite a bit of attention. The reality is that every human political and economic system is flawed, whether it's capitalism or socialism, democracy or monarchy.
Peter Gomes, writing in his compelling study of Jesus, The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus, (HarperOne, 2007), makes this point:
We're living at a most perilous time, not just that the financial markets are in turmoil, but that people are highly agitated and easily manipulated. Remember the 1930s, when demagogues in Europe riled the people up with fascism on one hand or Stalinism on the other, leading to disastrous effects in Europe and in Asia. With that in mind, I think that this last phrase in Gomes' paragraph needs to be attended to: "we cannot be ruled by our fears but only by our hopes." Fear is our greatest enemy, and as Gomes goes on to say, the opposite of fear is not courage, but is instead compassion (p. 107).
Peter Gomes, writing in his compelling study of Jesus, The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus, (HarperOne, 2007), makes this point:
There is, however, no system so perfect that no one will need to be good. Our little systems have their day, and yet even our system of Christian capitalism is inadequate. The rising tide does not lift all boats without putting some people at risk, and because we are not yet good enough to share, we devise reasons why it is somehow God's will that the poor get poorer and the rich get richer. When we're tempted to correct this on the grounds of Christian equality in the political realm, the proponents of change are told not to mix politics with religion unless religion is used to support the status quo of the political order. Goodness has everything to do with it, and I am convinced that not only will there always be outer turmoil, but inner peace will always be compromised until we recognize and affirm that we cannot be ruled by our fears but only by our hopes. (p. 101).
We're living at a most perilous time, not just that the financial markets are in turmoil, but that people are highly agitated and easily manipulated. Remember the 1930s, when demagogues in Europe riled the people up with fascism on one hand or Stalinism on the other, leading to disastrous effects in Europe and in Asia. With that in mind, I think that this last phrase in Gomes' paragraph needs to be attended to: "we cannot be ruled by our fears but only by our hopes." Fear is our greatest enemy, and as Gomes goes on to say, the opposite of fear is not courage, but is instead compassion (p. 107).
Comments
Please don't read this as some overly urgent post... my simple point is we must all remain calm during this time. I wish both candidates would talk of the sacrifice americans MUST make.. particularly around using credit and spending too much. However, all I hear about are more entitlements, write more checks to people, and bailing out the problems.
Its a scary time in america.. and I pray Christians rise up and say.. we believe more in a political party, more than a country, our happiness is not determined by the amount of "stuff", and maybe.. just maybe.. as the world panic, they will see Christians being content and wonder "why they have the hope they do". Its idealistic.. but we serve a far bigger God than the stuff and people around us.
It is hard for a candidate to call for sacrifice -- it's not a winning strategy. But whoever wins, may have a short period of a honeymoon to speak clearly about just that need for sacrifice.
We will see how this transpires over the next few weeks and months. But we must not walk in fear -- that's a message that we as Christians need to preach.
As you well know, I am not voting for Obama however I am no great fan of McCain either. Personally, getting nothing done can be a blessing. We seem to be spending like there is no tomorrow right now and I am scared what the final bill will look like for my children. I see Pelosi plans to call in Congress after Obama wins to pass food stamps, unemployment, ANOTHER stimulus package (the last one worked so well didn't it?).
For whats its worth, I will share why I disagree with some of Obama's thoughts. First, I don't believe we can tax our way to prosperity. Going after the rich is an easy target, but lets be honest, they took the biggest beating after this past week. Also, I asked a doctor friend of mine who makes over $250k what he plans to do. He said his office already has a plan, the staff currently has great benefits, they will cut them back to modest benefits to cover the taxes.
My fear is the pre-Reagan days of high taxes on the rich and a large welfare population. Remember the welfare mom's driving Cadillacs? Also, I would challenge anyone to point to an effective government program. Ethanol- drove up food prices, cost more, and bad for environment-- BUST! Stimulus checks -- BUST! Social Security - it will soon bust thanks to politicians borrowing from the fund to pay for other projects.
As a Christian, scripture has no passages about appealing to the state for support of the poor. In fact there is a model that says families need to take care of their own first before burdening the church. (1 tim 5) I think there are cultures that do this VERY well, but in the US, we are too independent for this.
For what its worth..
I don't think we'll be going back to the pre-Reagan years. More likely we'll go back to the Clinton years. Health care will have to be looked at because costs are skyrocketing.
Hopefully we can weather this and come out stronger in the end. But ultimately the rich have been getting richer and the poor have been getting poorer, and in many places the Middle Class no longer exists -- such as in Southern California.