Today in class we talked a bit
about social justice for the starving and extorted and powerless, talking
through Nehemiah 5 and the situation there. Quick summary: the Israelites are
extorting their own countrymen, and these countrymen complain to Nehemiah that
they no longer have money for food and so are forced into mortgage and slavery.
Nehemiah rebukes the nobles and officials, asks them to throw out their usurious
ways, and then sets the example by feeding his fellow men and not taking the
taxes and food he is due as the governor.
There’s
the example the bible sets—feed the hungry, redeem the enslaved, set a good
example for everyone. This picture I pulled off a friend’s facebook page
(someone I would consider a deep and sincere lover of the Lord) says something
entirely different. If we feed the hungry, they’ll become dependent on us. I
know this picture is only meant to be sort of funny, but it sends a powerful
message that the Christians liking and reblogging can’t really mean, and yet we
espouse all the time. I hear it from my parents, my home church, peers at
Whitworth. We believe that everyone is offered the same opportunities and those
who are poor simply didn’t take advantage of those—so it’s their fault they’re
starving, suffering, powerless. It’s a completely American attitude, and yet
we’ve pulled it in and started expressing it as part of our political views
despite the way it contradicts everything our Bible teaches us.
I’m
looking at Nehemiah this way: we are the governors, the noblemen and the
officials. Right now we’re Nehemiah, looking at the people and saying “you
didn’t save enough grain to feed yourself. You made bad financial choices, went
with the wrong mortgage, didn’t raise your kids properly. And if we feed you,
redeem your children from slavery, and give you power in place of
powerlessness, you’ll only become dependent on us and rely on our free handouts.”
I’m
exaggerating. Even the people who would trash food stamps and welfare programs
help out at a homeless shelter from time to time, do laundry for the clothing
bank. But in some sense we look at these things as beneath us—and therefore,
the people who utilize the ministry as beneath us too. That needs to change. We
need to become the biblical Nehemiah.
Anna
I wouldn’t be able to write this if I totally hadn’t thought this way too unconsciously, and had to consciously yank it out into the open and nail it down. thanks to God for convicting me of being a total idiot.
thanks zach! that article’s pretty great–I’m going to look up the book it’s summarizing.
I would agree. so many aid organizations are doing more harm than good–here in the US or overseas, and our generation tends to believe the organization with the best social networking skills, not the best aid plan (TOMS, anyone?). I think, though, this still ties back in with my point in a different way: often we look down on poorer people and think we know what’s best (white savior attitude). we don’t take the time to engage and relate to them, because obviously (since we’re rich) we’ve got it all figured out, and then we give them worthless aid and feel better about ourselves. it’s only by integrating with the community, whether here or overseas, that we’re going to understand how we can help.
bit of a soapbox for me here, ha. I would recommend reading the backlog of articles at http://goodintents.org/ though, as she says things much better than I can.
Personally, Anna, this was good for me because your last statements about working at those ministries and those who partake of them being below us is a mindset I realized I held. Not because I actually feel that way, but yea, like you said, the American way. I’ve definitely been influenced by it and didnt realize it. Praise God when he reworks and renews our minds!
Thank you, Anna. We DON’T have the same opportunities offered to us in our country, and 80% of our wealth is inherited so we definitely can’t take credit for that! However, I will say that helping can actually hurt the recipient, for instance, providing relief measures to a country that is in a phase of development, not disaster.
This is definitely an attitude that is prevalent all through America and Christianity. Something like this always makes me reevaluate my own political views and make sure that they are based on the bible instead of my understanding of the bible being colored by my political views. Thanks Anna!
You’re right Anna. And with a lot of people, you’re not exaggerating. It’s part of our mentality in which we get what we deserve and we receive what we’ve earned. For a lot of people, the idea of individualism is one in which we receive what we work for and if you have little you must have not worked much. There’s an article I read which addresses kind of the same issue. You might find it interesting. Its at http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/iie/v5n1/homepage.html