This Is Our City

PS, another fantastic book is "Envy: A theory of social behavior" by Helmut Schoeck. Schoeck wrote that the genius of Christianity in the 17th century was its ability to restrain the debilitating effects of envy which has afflicted all people on earth since the creation. Envy does enormous damage and keeps poor people very poor.

I got into economics after several mission trips overseas and observing the desperate poverty of the people. It has taken me a decade of intense study of poverty and theory to understand why some nations are poor and others so unbelievably rich. I could recommend several books, but if you read only one on the subject I would recommend Acemoglu and Robinson’s “Why Nations Fail.” The authors show that escaping poverty and crime requires that a nation build certain types of institutions. What they don’t show is that those institutions first appeared in Christian nations of Western Europe and are based on Biblical principles of government, law and economics.

So when did the risk involved become a measure of spirituality? Where is that criterion in the Bible? I fear some Christians have become adrenalin junkies. Zeal is great! But as Paul wrote, zeal without knowledge is waste. Most of the things Rachel mentions as ways to “make a difference” won’t make any difference at all. Much of the world suffers from crime, poverty and oppression is because they refuse to accept Christ as their savior and are in active rebellion against the true God. Their suffering is the direct consequence of that rebellion. God allows such suffering as a merciful attempt to get them to end their rebellion. The only way to relieve that suffering is for them to end their rebellion against the true God.

I echo both Esther and J Thomas's comments on the "authentic challenge" in this essay as well as the importance of recognizing today's brand of social justice for what it often appears. I am weary - so.weary of blogs and a western church that holds to a particular brand of western Christianity. I know that sounds judgmental and I don't want it too yet it must be said that we have so few voices that give the global picture of the Church and so many voices that give a westerncentric picture complete with an evangelical lexicon of social justice and all the vocabulary and action that goes with that. I feel Rachel is particularly gifted with seeing both sides and calling us out ... I've shared the article and it's already been shared many times by people who have lived both sides of the globe and are weary of responding to the status quo.

"Social Justice" in itself provides a barrier to truer devotion and a more honest expression of service. It's a contrived term for institutionalized assistance. Those institutions themselves become the veil between us and God. They provide us with the feeling of service with very little of the sacrifice. The worst part about "Social Justice" is that it removes from us the spiritual blessings that come from worship expressed as individual service.