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Religions > Atheism |
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| Date: |
11 Jul 2005 01:46:41 PM |
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Jesus, Pope, Dalai Lama, Mandela -- and Bob Geldof! |
Jesus, Pope, Dalai Lama, Mandela -- and Bob Geldof!
The Vancouver Sun
Saturday, July 9, 2005
Page: C5
"The poor you will always have with you."
-- Gospel of Mark, 14:7
"Naysayers can say what they [bleeping] like. It's working. Nay away
into the wilderness! It's to accept the culture of defeat."
-- Sir Bob Geldof
It's arguably the most famous line in the Bible about poverty, and it
was trotted out more than once in reaction to the idealistic passion
expressed in last weekend's Live 8 concerts, watched by two billion
people.
One prominent Washington Post commentator cited Jesus' quote about the
poor to cast doubt on the Live 8 goal of combatting global poverty.
It would take a "miracle" to end poverty in Africa, concluded writer
Richard Leiby (whose analysis appeared in The Vancouver Sun and other
newspapers.)
It was as if Leiby, though writing from a non-religious perspective,
conjured up Biblical imagery to make his skepticism sound more grave
and wise.
The trouble is, Leiby doesn't understand Jesus' line about the poor,
nor the Bible's approach to poverty.
He's not alone, though. Neither do millions of North Americans.
The Live 8 concerts, timed to cajole leaders of the Group of 8
countries into making African poverty a priority at this week's summit
in Scotland, have sparked a hot debate about the approach the world's
richest countries (and richest rockstars) should take to the world's
poorest continent.
And there's no question people should take seriously some commentators'
cautions -- including about possible western hypocrisy -- about the
value of aid compared to fair trade, about corrupt African leaders and
about the West's complex role, for good and bad, in the historical
roots of African poverty.
But it certainly isn't Biblical to just dismiss Live 8 organizer Bob
Geldof and the Make Poverty History movement with a shrug and a "the
poor will always be with us."
The Bible, contrary to what you might think in light of the fiery
culture-war debates in North America, does not spend a lot of ink on
sexual ethics.
But it does hammer away constantly about the ethics of economics.
It contains almost 2,000 references to poverty and economic fairness,
with some scholars saying there is no other issue that gets as much
treatment in the Bible.
According to even the stodgy Oxford Companion to the Bible, the Bible
teaches that poverty is an undesirable condition and it is the
fundamental responsibility of rulers to help those unable to help
themselves. The Bible portrays those who oppress the poor as wicked.
The Dictionary of Biblical Tradition in Literature devotes two full
pages to the meaning of this particular line uttered by Jesus about the
poor.
Jesus makes the remark when his followers admonish a woman for pouring
expensive ointment on his head (an act of respect), instead of spending
the money on the many poor among them.
Jesus says to his apostles:
"Leave her alone. Why trouble the woman? She has performed a good
service for me. For you always have the poor with you, and you can show
kindness to them whenever you wish. But you will not always have me."
In North America, this passage has often been misused by churchgoers
and others as an excuse not to do anything about the poor -- since
they're a perennial problem, they choose not to help themselves and
it's natural to have a large gap between the lower-class and the
well-off.
But the Dictionary of Biblical Tradition says most Christian
theologians say the phrase, "For you always have the poor with you"
(which has been translated in different ways through history), should
be read in light of the Hebrew admonition to always assist the poor,
who continue to exist because of society's sinfulness.
While some church patriarchs have cited Jesus' quote to justify their
extravagance on ceremonial vestments and church buildings, most
theologians believe Jesus was saying that permitting a woman to spend
her hard-earned money to honour him was the exception to what
Christians should most often do: Lend a hand to the downtrodden.
Jim Wallis devotes a fascinating chapter to this passage about the poor
in his best-selling new book, God's Politics: Why the Right Gets it
Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It (HarperSanFrancisco, $34.95).
During many of the hundreds of speeches Wallis gives each year in the
U.S. and Canada, he says he often asks the audience to name the Bible's
most famous text about poverty. They always shout out, "The poor you
will always have with you!"
But the audience, Wallis says, only ever remembers the first part of
the verse, not the part about being kind to the poor, and also misses
several other things -- like the whole context and meaning of the text.
For starters, Wallis, an influential evangelical Christian who leads
the ecumenical Sojourners movement out of Washington, D.C., points out
that Jesus doesn't make his comment while eating with a bunch of
business executives or top politicians.
Jesus says it while sharing bread with a leper, a social outcast.
In that context, Wallis says Jesus is telling his apostles that, at
least on some occasions, they don't always have to be "politically
correct" and be cheap about devotion.
Wallis says Jesus feels he can ask his followers to spare a special
moment for worship because he assumes they will always be in social
proximity to the poor, always identify with them, always be on their
side.
Instead of being a typical middle-class North American, who remains
physically distant from the poor and writes them off, Wallis says Jesus
was in effect telling his followers: "Look, you will always have the
poor with you, BECAUSE you are my disciples."
With thousands of African children dying each day because of poverty ,
Geldof has a point when he says in his blunt way it's best to just
ignore the defeatists, the sometimes merely fashionable opponents of
the Make Poverty History movement.
Maybe the new pope, Benedict XVI, already appreciates Wallis's
interpretation of Jesus' comment about being with the poor. The pope
has endorsed the Make Poverty History campaign. So have many Protestant
leaders, as well as the Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela.
Unlike many of us, they refuse to be naysayers or cynics about Africa's
future. Even though solutions won't come overnight, and distractions
will be many, something about their spirituality calls them to overcome
human indifference to the many poor with whom we share the planet.
---
Douglas Todd bio
http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/columnists/douglastodd.html
Although raised in a family of staunch atheists, Douglas Todd has been
The Vancouver Suns religion and ethics writer for more than a decade.
He figures his atheist upbringing trained him well for the beat, giving
him a healthy mix of both skepticism and respect toward people who view
the world in radically different ways.
Todd worked as a carpenter, train porter and Toronto actor before
graduating from Langara College's journalism program in 1980. Starting
as a political reporter at The Columbian daily newspaper in New
Westminster, he moved to The Vancouver Sun in 1983, where he covered
higher education, entertainment and wrote award-winning features.
Building on his bachelors degree in world religions from the University
of B.C. and graduate studies at Claremont Graduate School in southern
California, Todd eventually asked to become The Vancouver Suns religion
and ethics writer. Its worked out well.
Todd has received more than two dozen regional, national and
international journalism awards while covering the beat. He has twice
won the Templeton Religion Reporter of the Year Award, which goes to
the top religion reporter at any secular newspaper or magazine in North
America. He has also received the Canadian Science Writer's Award, as
well as B.C. Newspaper and Jack Webster Foundation awards for news
reporting and commentary.
Todd is the author of two successful books, Brave Souls: Writers and
Artists Wrestle With God, Love, Death and the Things That Matter
(Stoddart) and The Soul-Searcher's Guide to the Galaxy (International
Self-Counsel Press). He is frequently interviewed for radio,
television, scholarly studies and newspapers.
Outside of journalism, Todd has been heavily involved in youth soccer
and in making Vancouver a more bicycle-friendly city. He is married
with three children.
E-mail:
===
Douglas Todd mentions Jim Wallis' best-selling book, "God's Politics:
Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It" (Jesus, Pope,
Dalai Lama, Mandela -- and Bob Geldof!, Vancouiver Sun, July 9, p. C5)
On the back cover is a quote from U2 frontman Bono:"The Left mocks the
Right, the Right knows it's right. Two ugly traits. How far should we
go to try and understand each other's point of view? Maybe the distance
grace covered on the cross is a clue."
And in "U2: Three Chords and the Truth" by Niall Stokes (Hot Press,
1989/Harmony Books, 1990) Bono remarks:"Well, to me faith in Jesus
Christ that is not aligned with social justice, that is not aligned
with the poor--it's nothing. How can you read the Gospel of Luke the
physician and call yourself a Christian and have health cuts? How can
you not work towards the ends of social justice?" (p. 142)
On July 12 Steve Stockman, Chaplain in residence at Queens University
(Belfast), will be giving an 8:00 p.m. talk at Vancouver's Regent
College to officially launch his revised and updated book, "Walk On:
The Spiritual Journey of U2" (Relevant Books).
And for more information on U2's spirituality, see:
U2 quiz: 30 questions for those who have ears to hear
http://www.canadianchristianity.com/cgi-bin/bc.cgi?bc/bccn/0405/u2
David Buckna
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| User: "Richard Frank Dick Foot emaildickatbroomleighdotorgorcomorname " |
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| Title: Re: Jesus, Pope, Dalai Lama, Mandela -- and Bob Geldof! |
12 Jul 2005 07:26:28 AM |
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wrote in news:1121107601.266064.291700
@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:
"The poor you will always have with you."
-- Gospel of Mark, 14:7
This does not mean we have to allow them to live. In Broomleigh doctrine,
being poor is a deadly sin, and we execute those involved in such anti
Christian activities.
--
Rev Dr Pastor ***** F Foot MA, DD, FFD
The Guardian of English Christianity
Broomleigh Baptist Church AG (Zürich)
111 Lime Walk, Chelmsford CM2 9NJ, Great Britain
http://www.broomleigh.com/
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