life, liberty, and the pursuit of car loans

I participated in a conference call last week on Christian Worldview and government. The session raised several profound questions which are worthy of consideration:

• What does the Bible teach, if anything, about the proper role of government with regard to entitlements?
• What does the Bible teach, if anything, about the proper role of believers and churches in terms of their participation in civic governance?
• Have we confused government-sponsored welfare with the Christian virtue of compassion?
• How should believers and the church respond to the secularization of social assistance programs?

While the answers to these questions could form the basis for an entire book, I'd like to take each one this week and attempt to formulate an initial response.

First, what does the Bible teach, if anything, about the proper role of government with regard to entitlements? Whereas the Declaration of Independence declares we are entitled to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" it seems that this has mutated lately into "life, liberty, and the pursuit of car loans."

A fantastic book related to all of this is 'The Tragedy of American Compassion' by Marvin Olasky. Mr. Olasky notes that the great Methodist leader John Wesley, who did so much to minister to the American working class of the eighteenth century, summed up his philosophy this way: "Put yourself in the place of every poor man and deal with him as you would God deal with you."

Olasky then observes insightfully:

The only question might be, how would we want God to deal with us? As a cold official who provides material without love? As a warm sugar daddy who gives without discipline? Cultures build systems of charity in the image of the God they worship. . . In colonial America, emphasis on a theistic God of both justice and mercy led to an understanding of compassion that was hard-headed but warm-hearted. Since justice meant punishment for wrongdoing, it was right for the slothful to suffer. And since mercy meant rapid response when people turned away from past practice, malign neglect of those willing to shape up was also wrong. Later, when ideas of God changed, so did systems of charity, but early on, it was considered right to place sinners in the hands of a challenging economy (p. 8).

I don't think our present approach to social welfare is either hard-headed nor warm-hearted. It isn't hard-headed because we're spending money we do not have. It isn't warm-hearted because we've de-personalized and systematized our approach to the point where the lazy get too much and the deserving don't get enough.

Wouldn't we all be better off if we got state and federal government out of the entitlement business? What if we could return this country to a strong, stable dollar and budgets that lives within their means? I read recently that with all the federal government bailout money given to the financial industry we could have payed off 90% of the existing home mortgages in the country. If we are going to spend the money of our children and grandchildren, why not do that versus what we've done? And why do any of this? It's madness. Wouldn't it make more sense to let market prices clear toxic assets and bad decision-making, and then rebuild based on justice, mercy, and wisdom?

finding our way

Deut. 18:15-20
For Sunday, February 1, 2009
Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany

It's painful to see the predicament our country is in. President Obama is planning a huge stimulus which he says is only one leg of a stool that may have more than three legs. I watched that and thought, "He's not sure himself how we'll find our way forward."

How are those of us who are among the people of God, whether American or from other countries, to find our way? All we have to do is look to our leader. This is the message of Deut. 18:15-20. Israel was poised to enter the Promised Land, and God Himself wanted to serve as their leader. Yet the people said, "God, please, no. The sound of your voice and the fire of your presence is terrifying." God responded, "Actually, that's reasonable. I'll give you Moses today, and in the future, I'll raise up another leader like him." Who was God referring to? Ultimately, Jesus, as the Apostle Peter confirms in Acts chapter 3, when he quotes this passage in the course of arguing to his Jewish compatriots that Jesus really was the long-promised Messiah.

In these trying economic times, which are also trying spiritual times, how important it is for the people of God to have clear leadership. For my American readers, we do, not in Barack Obama or the Republican opposition, but in Jesus himself.

What would Jesus have us do in response to this global economic crisis? First, he is calling us to live within our means. Second, he is calling us to live below our means, so that we can help others who are losing jobs all around us.

Third, he might also be calling us to urge our political leaders to stop trying to spend their way out of this crisis. We're in this crisis because as a country we were living on an illusion of free credit. What we need to do seems clear enough to me: take our medicine. Enough already with illusions of stimulus to cover over the original illusion of credit which has now crumbled in upon itself. All we're doing with bailouts and stimuli is throwing good money after bad. We would be far better off if we just insolvent institutions enter bankruptcy and emerge chastened and cleansed. We would also be better off if we returned to a stable money policy rather than trying to print more money to ease the pain.

The problem is not free-market capitalism, but rather the manipulation of it. The way out of this is not further manipulation, but rather a humble return to righteousness in all matters financial. Father, please grant us leaders who can understand this, live this, and implement this.

now what for America?

Why is our country in so much financial trouble. Chuck Colson's recent Breakpoint column offers an insightful response. As Alexandr Solzhenitsyn said, "All this has happened because we have forgotten God." Chuck says:

We have also forgotten that American democracy—indeed Western Civilization itself—is the product of the Judeo-Christian understanding of God and humanity. Without that revelation that man is created in the image of God, our founders never would have recognized the unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Indeed, as I and others like Rodney Stark have argued, modern science and education, liberal democracy, capitalism flourished in Western civilization precisely because of the Judeo-Christian worldview.

. . . Is God responsible for credit markets collapsing around the world? No. We’re responsible. Because instead of worshiping God, we’ve worshipped false idols of the marketplace, credit card companies and cheap mortgages. We’ve put our own appetites over our duties to God and neighbor.

The column closes with a challenge which I commend to our mutual attention: "So this is no time for Christians to go into the bunkers. No time to wail or moan over our retirement plans. This is a time to repent, to pray more, to give more. It's time for Christians to lead, encourage, and minister to a faltering country in a faltering economy."