Preaching responsibility
Object:
After talking with my good friend and cowriter, Mark, I have come to several
conclusions. I will try to enumerate them in the order that he has outlined them to me.
First, I want to say that being wealthy, middle class, and poor is spread amongst Republicans and Democrats. We have rich Democrats; some of the richest men and women in the world are Democrats. We have poor Republicans; some of the poorest people in the United States are Republicans. Most of the rich became wealthy either through hard work or by inheritance. Occasionally, someone will win the lottery or sell the forty back acres to a major manufacturing plant or major outlet mall, but they are a small minority.
The real fortune among people is built on imagination and hard work. It is the discovery of a miracle medicine, only after many failures, the technology that transforms us into the electronic world, or the risking of all personal assets to put together a transportation system or media giant.
I like the free enterprise system and I only wish that it were freer. The regulations and taxes invoked by government are a major factor in holding down wages, causing entrepreneurs to be overly cautious and protect themselves against the potential fall. Some of our forefathers did see the role of government as the organization to protect the poor and they did so in certain ways that were at decidedly maintenance levels. The forefathers never gave specific reasons for people not to work or to be uneducated. Instead, they encouraged people to reinvest in the land they purchased or the industries that they imagined and built.
Saint Paul criticized the religious that waited for the second coming on the top of a mountain to return from their waiting and go to work beside the faithful. There was never an expectation that the average man should be fed and clothed by the rest of the people. And while we are talking about the religious, their attempt at collective living was not successful. But we should also remember that it was more for security than equal sharing that brought them together in this collective society.
The redistribution system of wealth has not fared well in any government system. It didn't work for the early Christians and it doesn't work in modern communism or socialism. In every instance, you have a minority that somehow manages to derive all of the benefits while the rest of the people struggle with poverty and a ceiling that allows very few to excel in income or education.
People do not have a perfect economic system. Earth is not heaven. Here we have wants and needs. We have greed in all societies, including capitalism. Is it worse here in the USA or the western world? The differences could be greater but the cause is the same in every society. There are irresponsible people that care only for themselves. There are other people that care only about others. There are a significant number of people that know they should do more and are very conscious of the poor and their needs.
This is why we give to many causes. We give to the United Way; we give to the Heart Fund, the Cancer Society, the March of Dimes, the YMCA, and the YWCA. Some couples are foster parents. Many people find the church as their main source of giving. Some of the most gifted members of society volunteer their service to places like Haiti, New Orleans, or Bombay, India, to lend their support to people in need.
I am amazed at the number of Christians that report daily to organizations in New Orleans and assist the homeless and hungry. I am also amazed at the number of people who left New Orleans and now live in Texas, Illinois, and the other 48 states and have never lifted a finger to help a relative or neighbor from their hometown. Being poor does not mean that you automatically care and share the love of God.
I do think that as Christians we should be taught to be responsible with earned wealth. We should learn that giving does not stop at 10%. We teach a little about giving within the church beyond the budget and the building fund and yet there are millions of people that dedicate themselves to assisting the poor.
Recently, I learned of a congregation, a mainline church, that divides their budget in half. Half of their budget goes to the work of their church in the community and half of it goes to mission work. They want to raise it to 75% for missions in the next couple of years.
I have been privileged to know Mr. Stanley Tam, an entrepreneur who gives away 90% of his income to the work of the church and lives on 10%. He builds churches and equips them around the world. He is thrilled with every dollar he gives but he knows that there are still poor and there always will be the poor. Jesus knew about the poor and in spite of being the recipient of a generous portion of another's wealth he accepted it. He knew that the poor would always be with us.
And about those jobs that keep disappearing from the US and going other places. Most of these jobs that we treasure are being dispensed to countries that have many more poor than the US. Are we talking about increasing the wealth and well-being of only the people that live in the US or is there some good in creating a middle class in other parts of the world? Is this the way to redistribute the wealth in the world? In the last twenty years the economy of the poorest people in the world has risen while our middle class has suffered. The people of China, India, Thailand, the Philippines, Korea, Mexico, and Central America have improved their lifestyle slightly. Is that good or bad?
The question of what the wealthy can do with their earned wealth goes unanswered. Some of them live like the rich man in his mansion while Lazarus is suffering on the steps and begging for a daily handout. Other rich people keep reinvesting in the system, providing new jobs, manufacturing more things, discovering new drugs, and building better systems of communication and transportation. A magnificent few have discovered the joy of being a philanthropist and move around the world to build schools, start hospitals and clinics, and assist the poorest to find new dignity in their living. Philanthropy may be at an all time high and millions will benefit by this kind of giving.
Most of us are envious of the physician who makes a half million dollars each year. Yet, few of us would be willing to be on the floor of the hospital at 6 a.m., get to the office by 9:30, see patients, eat lunch at our desks, see more patients in the afternoon, and then make the rounds at the hospital until 10 or 11 p.m. Why do they work so hard? Is it for the money that they earn?
Some are retiring at fifty years of age with money in the bank. But many of the retired medicine men are working in clinics for the poor without any incomes. Some are in mission fields donating their services for several weeks a year to people they do not know. Doctors are not the only people that do this. The same is true of builders, teachers, engineers, automobile workers, and hundreds of other kinds of workers who were a part of the system.
Our economic system provides the best way for the poorest person in the world to achieve something good for them and for all of us. Is it easy? No, but it does happen and more often than we think it does.
Regarding the ecology and the danger of global warming there is no easy answer. The very jobs that we want to protect, like automobile manufacturing, are the largest polluters ever known. Other environmental dangers are the gases emitted by animals like cows and pigs, yet how many Americans have switched to lettuce and tomatoes for their food sources? I personally want a car that doesn't burn gasoline but the price for one is a deterrent.
We agree that we need to recycle our plastic, protect all of the pristine places on earth, and prevent blacktopping farmland. But we have to be intelligent about our decisions and base them on solid evidence rather than exploiting the American scene for political purposes.
Can you preach capitalism from the pulpit? Can you preach any economic system from the pulpit? I don't think so. But you can preach responsibility, good stewardship, and being generous to the poor. Can you invite the homeless to share your house and use one of your extra bedrooms? Are you willing to sell what you have and share it with the less fortunate while living in the tenements? Can you give a poor child some gloves and a warm coat? You could do these things, but you would do far better by teaching the child to read. You would do far better to teach people to seek regular work. More Christians should be involved in providing business incubators for the poor and unemployed.
Let's be serious about our work with the poor and not move the local congregation every forty years to a new location. Let's stand up and encourage the minorities, the children who have been left behind, and the sick and the elderly who have no family in the area to be a part of our plan and help many earn their way to a better way of life.
That's what I think Jesus would do if he were a part of the system. Certainly he could find things wrong with our system. Would he find problems with the people of pride and injustice? Of course he would. Would he find opportunities for people today that multiplied the gifts given to them a hundredfold? Of course he would.
Let's not blame the system but change it as it was intended to operate. Elect honest people of many opinions. Enact legislation that allows men to be inspired by what they can do for the world and if they grow rich then teach them how to share the wealth but don't expect people to support a state of welfare and like it.
Thanks, Mark, for leading the way. I hope we can continue the debate on issues that affect us all.
Wesley T. Runk is an ordained pastor in the ELCA and the founder of CSS Publishing Company. He is the author of more than thirty books, including "The Giant Book Of Children's Sermons."
First, I want to say that being wealthy, middle class, and poor is spread amongst Republicans and Democrats. We have rich Democrats; some of the richest men and women in the world are Democrats. We have poor Republicans; some of the poorest people in the United States are Republicans. Most of the rich became wealthy either through hard work or by inheritance. Occasionally, someone will win the lottery or sell the forty back acres to a major manufacturing plant or major outlet mall, but they are a small minority.
The real fortune among people is built on imagination and hard work. It is the discovery of a miracle medicine, only after many failures, the technology that transforms us into the electronic world, or the risking of all personal assets to put together a transportation system or media giant.
I like the free enterprise system and I only wish that it were freer. The regulations and taxes invoked by government are a major factor in holding down wages, causing entrepreneurs to be overly cautious and protect themselves against the potential fall. Some of our forefathers did see the role of government as the organization to protect the poor and they did so in certain ways that were at decidedly maintenance levels. The forefathers never gave specific reasons for people not to work or to be uneducated. Instead, they encouraged people to reinvest in the land they purchased or the industries that they imagined and built.
Saint Paul criticized the religious that waited for the second coming on the top of a mountain to return from their waiting and go to work beside the faithful. There was never an expectation that the average man should be fed and clothed by the rest of the people. And while we are talking about the religious, their attempt at collective living was not successful. But we should also remember that it was more for security than equal sharing that brought them together in this collective society.
The redistribution system of wealth has not fared well in any government system. It didn't work for the early Christians and it doesn't work in modern communism or socialism. In every instance, you have a minority that somehow manages to derive all of the benefits while the rest of the people struggle with poverty and a ceiling that allows very few to excel in income or education.
People do not have a perfect economic system. Earth is not heaven. Here we have wants and needs. We have greed in all societies, including capitalism. Is it worse here in the USA or the western world? The differences could be greater but the cause is the same in every society. There are irresponsible people that care only for themselves. There are other people that care only about others. There are a significant number of people that know they should do more and are very conscious of the poor and their needs.
This is why we give to many causes. We give to the United Way; we give to the Heart Fund, the Cancer Society, the March of Dimes, the YMCA, and the YWCA. Some couples are foster parents. Many people find the church as their main source of giving. Some of the most gifted members of society volunteer their service to places like Haiti, New Orleans, or Bombay, India, to lend their support to people in need.
I am amazed at the number of Christians that report daily to organizations in New Orleans and assist the homeless and hungry. I am also amazed at the number of people who left New Orleans and now live in Texas, Illinois, and the other 48 states and have never lifted a finger to help a relative or neighbor from their hometown. Being poor does not mean that you automatically care and share the love of God.
I do think that as Christians we should be taught to be responsible with earned wealth. We should learn that giving does not stop at 10%. We teach a little about giving within the church beyond the budget and the building fund and yet there are millions of people that dedicate themselves to assisting the poor.
Recently, I learned of a congregation, a mainline church, that divides their budget in half. Half of their budget goes to the work of their church in the community and half of it goes to mission work. They want to raise it to 75% for missions in the next couple of years.
I have been privileged to know Mr. Stanley Tam, an entrepreneur who gives away 90% of his income to the work of the church and lives on 10%. He builds churches and equips them around the world. He is thrilled with every dollar he gives but he knows that there are still poor and there always will be the poor. Jesus knew about the poor and in spite of being the recipient of a generous portion of another's wealth he accepted it. He knew that the poor would always be with us.
And about those jobs that keep disappearing from the US and going other places. Most of these jobs that we treasure are being dispensed to countries that have many more poor than the US. Are we talking about increasing the wealth and well-being of only the people that live in the US or is there some good in creating a middle class in other parts of the world? Is this the way to redistribute the wealth in the world? In the last twenty years the economy of the poorest people in the world has risen while our middle class has suffered. The people of China, India, Thailand, the Philippines, Korea, Mexico, and Central America have improved their lifestyle slightly. Is that good or bad?
The question of what the wealthy can do with their earned wealth goes unanswered. Some of them live like the rich man in his mansion while Lazarus is suffering on the steps and begging for a daily handout. Other rich people keep reinvesting in the system, providing new jobs, manufacturing more things, discovering new drugs, and building better systems of communication and transportation. A magnificent few have discovered the joy of being a philanthropist and move around the world to build schools, start hospitals and clinics, and assist the poorest to find new dignity in their living. Philanthropy may be at an all time high and millions will benefit by this kind of giving.
Most of us are envious of the physician who makes a half million dollars each year. Yet, few of us would be willing to be on the floor of the hospital at 6 a.m., get to the office by 9:30, see patients, eat lunch at our desks, see more patients in the afternoon, and then make the rounds at the hospital until 10 or 11 p.m. Why do they work so hard? Is it for the money that they earn?
Some are retiring at fifty years of age with money in the bank. But many of the retired medicine men are working in clinics for the poor without any incomes. Some are in mission fields donating their services for several weeks a year to people they do not know. Doctors are not the only people that do this. The same is true of builders, teachers, engineers, automobile workers, and hundreds of other kinds of workers who were a part of the system.
Our economic system provides the best way for the poorest person in the world to achieve something good for them and for all of us. Is it easy? No, but it does happen and more often than we think it does.
Regarding the ecology and the danger of global warming there is no easy answer. The very jobs that we want to protect, like automobile manufacturing, are the largest polluters ever known. Other environmental dangers are the gases emitted by animals like cows and pigs, yet how many Americans have switched to lettuce and tomatoes for their food sources? I personally want a car that doesn't burn gasoline but the price for one is a deterrent.
We agree that we need to recycle our plastic, protect all of the pristine places on earth, and prevent blacktopping farmland. But we have to be intelligent about our decisions and base them on solid evidence rather than exploiting the American scene for political purposes.
Can you preach capitalism from the pulpit? Can you preach any economic system from the pulpit? I don't think so. But you can preach responsibility, good stewardship, and being generous to the poor. Can you invite the homeless to share your house and use one of your extra bedrooms? Are you willing to sell what you have and share it with the less fortunate while living in the tenements? Can you give a poor child some gloves and a warm coat? You could do these things, but you would do far better by teaching the child to read. You would do far better to teach people to seek regular work. More Christians should be involved in providing business incubators for the poor and unemployed.
Let's be serious about our work with the poor and not move the local congregation every forty years to a new location. Let's stand up and encourage the minorities, the children who have been left behind, and the sick and the elderly who have no family in the area to be a part of our plan and help many earn their way to a better way of life.
That's what I think Jesus would do if he were a part of the system. Certainly he could find things wrong with our system. Would he find problems with the people of pride and injustice? Of course he would. Would he find opportunities for people today that multiplied the gifts given to them a hundredfold? Of course he would.
Let's not blame the system but change it as it was intended to operate. Elect honest people of many opinions. Enact legislation that allows men to be inspired by what they can do for the world and if they grow rich then teach them how to share the wealth but don't expect people to support a state of welfare and like it.
Thanks, Mark, for leading the way. I hope we can continue the debate on issues that affect us all.
Wesley T. Runk is an ordained pastor in the ELCA and the founder of CSS Publishing Company. He is the author of more than thirty books, including "The Giant Book Of Children's Sermons."
