Tag: Christianity

My Favorite Economic System

I’m sure some of you thought I was crazy when I posted last week that I think capitalism, socialism and communism are all fine economic systems, depending upon the moral fabric of the people engaged in them.

Some of you think capitalism is the only way. Others think it is the ruin of the world. Most of us consider communism to be untenable, while a few believe that it is the only way to fairness for everyone. Socialism, somewhere in the middle of the two, also has proponents and adversaries.

My favorite economic system is what I would call, compassionate capitalism. Here’s where I get it from. The Bible says that people need to work to eat and that workers should be paid fair wages. The Bible says that each family must work to provide for itself, but that farmers should not harvest all of their fields, but leave some food behind for those less fortunate.

The Bible asks people to give a tenth of what they make to the church, who then is to distribute some of that to those who are truly in need. The Bible says to set up a roll for those who are in need, but only those who are truly unable to work are allowed on the list.

The New Testament Christians lived somewhat communistically, having everything in common. But it was done as one wished, not required.

The Bible repeatedly decries laziness, but also continually admonishes those who have to share with those who are poor.

A recent example in my life is this. I work about 24 hours a week, and decided to use some of that money to go to a conference several weeks ago. Unfortunately, that conference ended up being canceled due to severe weather. I did cancel my airline tickets in hopes of using them another day. However, I told the hotel, the person I was renting my car from, and the conference host organization that they could keep the money that I had already paid them, as I knew that they were suffering greatly because of the destruction the weather wrought.

That is compassionate capitalism. I work hard and get paid fair wages (sometimes a little on the low side, but that is because my husband makes plenty of money to keep our family afloat, so I can afford to get paid a little less as a way to bless those I am working for). I then spend my money to support others who are working hard. And when tragedy strikes, I am able to bless them with money that I had already planned to spend, even though I will no longer reap the benefit, sort of like the farmer who leaves behind some of the harvest for those less fortunate. I also do donate to organizations who help people during natural and human-made catastrophes.

Let us truly love our neighbors as we love ourselves. We love ourselves plenty most of the time.

If we work and spend as a way of loving others, the perfect economic system will naturally form.

Bible Defies Human Description

The past several Sundays our pastors have tried to teach us what the Bible is and where it gets its authority. And basically, I have come away with the understanding that, as humans, it is not possible to do that beyond stating the obvious – God wrote it through people and we are to obey what it says.

And I guess that makes sense. Since it was written by God’s Spirit through people, it, as an entity, is above our understanding. Yet, its teachings are simple enough that even the youngest child among us is able to understand it.

God says that His ways are higher than ours and His thoughts are higher than ours. And God asks us to become like little children to follow Him. So it makes sense that the Bible is above definition, yet is useful for teaching, rebuking and instructing in all righteousness.

It, as always, comes down to faith. Do you believe it? Do you plan to follow it?

As the old song goes, “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.”

The American Dream works because American Dreamers work

I was musing this morning about how so many of us dream of getting rich quick and then taking it easy. We complain about being so tired in our 30s and 40s and wished that we could just be done working. I was one of those, dreaming about retirement.

Now, as retirement looms closer, I am realizing how much I actually enjoy working and how much I will miss it when I truly am too tired to do it.

Both Plymouth Colony and Virginia Colony started out as communes. Plymouth Colony was supposed to be a Utopian Commune with everyone holding everything in common. The Virginia Colony was supposed to encourage capitalism, but everyone was first indentured so lived communistically until their indenture had been paid.

Both colonies had a hard time flourishing, because those that could work hard had no incentive to when they received the same recompense as those that could not work hard. So three years in, Governor Bradford of Plymouth Colony decided to shift to capitalism. Within the year the colony was on excellent footing. About that same year, Puritans took over Virginia Colony and also gave colonists their own land to take care of, even though their indentures were not yet through. This also saved Virginia Colony.

There are some people who inherit money. There are some people who work extremely hard their whole life and barely scrape by. There are people who do run into horrible obstacles such as racism, ageism, disabilities not of their own making, and many other things. But in general, if you are willing to work, there is a dream to be had here. You may not have the grandest house, the fastest car, the fanciest clothes, the most lavish food or the most impressive vacations, but you can live a good life that includes sharing that goodness with others.

The Bible gives us many instructions on how to live a successful life. One of the first is in the very first few chapters. Exodus 20:9-10 tells us that we should labor for six days and rest on the seventh.

One of my ancestors, John Quincy Adams, worked toward his dream of having a country free of slavery, dying before he saw the dream, but dying trying. He had been a Senator, then the 6th President and finally, died working as a member of the House of Representatives. He did not let status get in the way of working for what he dreamed of. And because of his efforts, and the effort of many others, slavery was abolished just 15 years later.

Here’s to dreamers and the work it takes to realize those dreams!

Lots of Opposites

I had never really paid attention to the fact that the Holy Spirit in Christianity is also referred to by very opposite-seeming symbols in the Bible.

Jesus, of course, is famously referred to as both a lion and a lamb.

God, the Father, is referred to as a mother hen who wants to gather her chicks under her wing, and also the Great Judge who will condemn to hell those who choose not to follow His Son.

But I hadn’t picked up on, until this past Pentecost Sunday, that the Holy Spirit is referred to both as a dove when Jesus is baptized, and a tongue of fire when He comes to fill the disciples after Jesus went back to heaven.

We serve a complex God who is able to be who He needs to be to help us in all situations.

Now I get it!

When I would read the Bible passage about leaving the weeds in the field with the good grain, I have to admit that I kind of wondered about it. The explanation given is that if the weeds are pulled up, the wheat amongst which the weeds are growing may also be uprooted.

(See the Bible passage, Matthew 13:24-30, here)

But if the gardeners went really slowly and were really careful, shouldn’t it be possible to uproot the weeds without pulling up the wanted plants. I’m not saying that it would be easy, but shouldn’t it be doable?

Fast forward not quite 2000 years to today.

I have been working in my garden this spring to uproot a particularly aggressive ground cover that not only likes to cover the ground, but grow over and choke out everything else in its path.

For those who know me well, I can be considered rather slow at whatever I accomplish. I like to be careful and thorough. Things often turn out well, but I have been known to be told that I am as slow as molasses in January. My response to that – I was born in January, so I guess there isn’t much I can do about it! I have learned to pick up the pace when necessary, but it is not me preferred way of operation.

So, in my usual slow, methodical way I have been carefully eradicating the beautiful but destructive ground cover from my front flower bed. And even as slow and careful as I am trying to be, I cannot even begin to tell you how many plants that were supposed to stay planted have also come out of the ground with the unwanted pest.

Now I get it!

Thank you, God, for your gentleness and patience, even when it means that you must endure weeds in your garden.

Oh, and the good news of the Gospel is that if we happen to be a weed, we can easily ask Jesus to make us into the wanted wheat simply by admitting we are a weed and accepting that he makes us wheat through his death and resurrection.