Caring for the Poor (4) - Families

The primarily responsibility for supporting those who become poor belongs within families.

If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially
for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an
unbeliever (1 Tim 5:8).

Families should provide financial support for each other. The first port of call when someone gets in financial difficulty will be other family members. Family members are in the best position to provide help. They will know the person well, so they will understand their situation. Family members will quickly identify anyone who does not deserve help because they are just being lazy. The recipient may also have opportunities to provide assistance in the future, so help tends to be more reciprocal.

The responsibility to provide care extends to children and grandchildren.

But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God (1 Tim 5:4).

Caring for the Poor (3) - Work

This may seem obvious, but responsibility for providing our material needs is our own personal responsibility. Paul stated this quite bluntly when he said that those who will not work should not eat.

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone's food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you…. For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: "If a man will not work, he shall not eat (2 Thes
5:6-8,10).

Each person has a responsibility to provide for there own needs. This will generally mean working to earn enough money to pay for all that we need.

Personal provision includes saving enough to deal with the small emergencies that will arise from time to time (Prov 21:20). We do not know the future, but we can be certain that troubles will come; so a wise person will put a little aside to prepare for the unexpected.

Other methods of support only kick in when some unique circumstances prevent a person from providing for himself. For example, sickness or some other impairment may prevent a person from working. They will need support from others by one of the methods described in the Bible.

Caring for the Poor (2) - Tax

The common preference is to help the poor by taxing the rich. The scriptures do not give responsibility for caring for the poor to rich people of society. Rich people are urged not to trust in their wealth. They are warned that their wealth may quickly disappear. They are warned that they may die before they have a chance to enjoy their wealth. However, the Bible is realistic and does not expect the rich to do good to the poor (if they are not Christians).

Furthermore, Jesus is not in the business of forcing rich people to be generous. The modern approach to poverty is to tax the rich and give their money to the poor. The implicit argument goes like this. Rich people are not as good as the rest of us, so they cannot be trusted to be generous of their own accord. They should be forced to be generous. We should tax the rich more, so the money can be used for the poor.

The problem with this approach is that Jesus never forced people be good. He would never force the rich to be generous. The Bible gives responsibility for the poor to Christians, not the rich. Christians who want to tax the rich to bless the poor are passing the buck.

Caring for the Poor (1) - Key Issue

Poverty is a central issue for Christians. To be credible, we must provide proposals for the cure of poverty.

Many Christians advocate a reduction in taxes and welfare benefits. These things will eventually happen, but we should not even think about these policies, until we have alternative solutions in place and working. Compassion demands nothing less.

In this series of posts, I will outline several biblical methods for dealing with poverty.

Money

The sixth commandment states that theft is a crime punishable by the civil courts. If there is no concept or convention of private property, there is no need for money, because someone who wants something can just take it, regardless of who has produced it. If there were an abundance of everything this might work. However, as scarcity is a fact of life in a fallen world, this is not practical. The outcome would be determined by force. The strong would have plenty and the weak would get nothing. This would result in a different concept of property; one where everything is controlled by the strongest, regardless of who produced it.

A concept of property is really inescapable. The important issue is whose property the law will protect. Biblical property laws protect those who have produced goods and services.

If a system of private property is to function efficiently, there must be a process for the exchange for goods and services. It is not practical for each person to produce everything that they need. Most people will produce more than they need of what they are best at and exchange it for other things that they need. This division of labour allows people to be more productive and the economy to be more efficient.

For the division of labour to work, there must be a way for people to freely and confidently exchange the goods and services which they produce and own. Money allows the people of a society to exchange goods and services easily.

More here.

My Home is in Heaven?

Many Christians believe their true home is in heaven and they cannot wait to get there. However, this is not completely true. Our current home is on the earth. Paul had dual citizenship. He was a Jewish citizen and a Roman citizen. He had rights in both places.

We are dual citizens as well. We are citizens of both earth and heaven, having rights in both places. We should not become so focused on heaven that we forget our role on earth. Earth belongs to God and we are his stewards. He needs us to complete his work here.

Pivotal Time

The kingdom of man is currently building up to collapse. It has been building up its power to enormous heights, but has been unable to deliver what it has promised and is cracking at the seams. When it collapses there will be an enormous power vacuum. The group that is ready with an alternative vision will receive a great welcome. The Christian community should be getting ready for this challenge.

Dawkins on God

Bill Bonner has a great take on Richard Dawkin's latest book called the God Delusion.

Heaven doesn't exist, says Richard Dawkins; it is a 'delusion," quoth he in the Times and in his current best seller. Dawkins, of course, knows no more about whether God exists than we do. But he lacks our modesty; perhaps he was short gold from '80 to '99. Maybe he went long stocks in 2002. Or maybe he is just naturally an arrogant jackass. But the man seems to think that if God were to exist he would have to reveal himself to modern, skeptical scientists. This is the sum of Dawkins' argument - that God must exist in a way that Richard Dawkins can understand.

"God is dead," said Friedrich Nietzsche. "God never existed," says Dawkins. "God can do whatever he wants," says Bill Bonner.

The Great Brain Robbery

This doctrine that Jesus will return to establish the Kingdom, is Satan’s greatest lie. He has used this lie to successfully cripple the church, but it is not true

The common view that Jesus will personally come back and establish the Kingdom of God is not true. The Bible teaches that Jesus will return to receive the kingdom from the church, so that he can hand it back to the Father (1 Cor 15:24,25).

Jesus taught about the Kingdom of God incessantly. His gospel was a gospel of the kingdom. It was not a gospel of Kingdom at the end of age. It was a gospel of the Kingdom of God at hand, now. He commissioned the church to establish the kingdom, now.

This seems strange to us. Jesus' view of the Kingdom is different from the view of most Christians. The reason is that many Christians have unwittingly accepted a lie from Satan. He has fooled us into believing that Jesus will establish the Kingdom when he returns. He has fooled us into believing that we don’t have to do it, because Jesus will do it for us. The problem with this is that he has robbed us of our inheritance.

When we read the Scriptures, we tend to shift the passages that promise victory to after the Second Coming. The Scriptures that promise hard times are assigned to the current age. This is part of the lie that Satan has sold us. The reality is that most of the passages about victory are meant for this age. We have been robbed of these promises of hope.

A corporate mental stronghold is a false idea that takes hold in a culture so that it is wisely accepted. The belief that Jesus will build the Kingdom of God when he returns is a corporate mental stronghold that has crippled the Church

Power in Weakness

From Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Sermon on 2 Corinthians 12:9:

Christianity stands or falls with its revolutionary protest against violence, arbitrariness and pride of power and with its plea for the weak. Christians are doing too little to make these points clear rather than too much. Christendom adjusts itself far too easily to the worship of power. Christians should give more offense, shock the world far more, than they are doing now. Christians should take a stronger stand in favor of the weak rather than considering first the possible right of the strong."

Comments

Several readers have been unable to make comments.
I have reloaded the template, so comments should not be operating.

I still have some tidying up to do, but comments seems to be working. Go for it Gene.

Totally Different

Greg Boyd said,

Jesus did not come to give us a new and improved version of the kingdom of the world, He came to bring us a Kingdom not of this world (Jn. 18:36).

The kingdom of God is not the most "Christian" party winning power in the nation, but all political parties dying.

The kingdom of God is not a Christian nation, but all nations dying.

Mary's Prophecy

In the Magnificat, Mary prophesied what God would do through Jesus.

He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty (Luke 1:51-53).

Mary did not prophesy that kings would be replaced by constitutional democracies. She did not say that Herod would establish a department of social welfare or start providing food stamps. She warned that rulers would be brought down from their thrones and the ordinary people would be able to govern themselves. She said that the poor would be able to provide themselves with food through God’s blessings on their own endeavours.

If kings are brought down from their thrones, kingdoms must go too. They do not get replaced by nation states or parliaments, but by communities networked in the Kingdom of God.

God kept his word and destroyed Herod’s power in AD 70. Then he destroyed the Roman Empire. The Church missed the point, and tried to prop up the Roman empire, by establishing the Holy Roman empire.

The Church has been trying to maintain the power of the state ever since. We have been fighting against Mary’s prophecy, because we do not understand the Kingdom of God. If Jesus is King, then parliament is not.

When Jesus is enthroned,
human governments are dethroned.

Role of Civil Government (8)

As the Kingdom of God expands, human governments will be transformed. God will shake them, so they collapse. Christians must be prepare to share the gospel when this happens. We must also be ready to explain how God’s government works.

Civil government will shrink. Authority will be pushed down and diffused among many people.

Role of Civil Government (7)

Justice is limited to theft and violence. The punishment of theft is limited to restitution. The penalty for violence is generally limited to restitution. The death penalty is allowed, but only for really horrendous crimes that have been witnessed by two or more independent witnesses.

Role of Civil Government (6)

Defence is limited to rare situations, where an army is invading, and there is a possibility of defeating it with a part-time militia that has allowed everyone who is afraid or has domestic commitments to go home. Defence really is a last resort.

Role of Civil Government (5)

The role of the state is limited to defence and justice.

Role of Civil Government (4)

Many human governments, perhaps most, are part of Satan’s kingdom. This happens when people in power use their power to do evil, or for purposes that go against or beyond God’s will.

Role of Civil Government (3)

The incarnation, cross resurrection and ascension established Jesus as king of kings, lord of lords and government of governments. All kings and governments must submit to him.

Role of Civil Government (2)

Civil Government is only legitimate if submitted to God.

No argument.

Righteous judges applying God's law to disputes is the only system of government that has God's blessing. God will only give his authorisation to governments that apply his law. A government that wants to make its own law is in rebellion against God.