Concluding Thoughts: Applying Scripture in a Pluralistic Society

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Thursday March 05, 2009 · 6:33 PM PST

2009/03/05 · 18:33

(Conclusion of "The Primer on Scripture and the Budget for 2009")

A faithful and true use of religious beliefs to guide policy in our constitutional system of government is very difficult. Even those with the best intentions will often fall far short, and that is why our founders were so careful to build barriers between the two. They did so not because they had lost their faith in God but rather because their faith allowed them to understand that we are all sinners, and therefore we will never be able to align our priorities and wills perfectly with God's.

kbkr

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Tuesday March 03, 2009 · 2:09 PM PST

2009/03/03 · 14:09

Part 8 of "The Primer on Scripture and the Budget for 2009")

The tendency of many leaders of the religious right and Republicans to focus on purity following the letter of the law while ignoring its true purpose is hardly new. As Jesus said to the religious and political leaders of Israel: "Woe to you teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices...but you neglect the more important matters of the Law-justice, mercy, and faithfulness...You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. On the outside you appear to people as righteous, but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness" (Matthew 23:23-28--this theme is repeated with vivid imagery and different applications throughout the entire 23rd chapter).

kbkr

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Monday March 02, 2009 · 3:23 PM PST

2009/03/02 · 15:23

(Part 7 of "The Primer on Scripture and the Budget for 2009")

One would think that those who supposedly care so much for the moral and spiritual well-being of their fellow Americans would not be so eager to pass legislation with the sole purpose of enabling their friends to store up treasures in earthly places, where moth and rust destroy (Matthew 6:19). After all, was it not Christ who suggested that we give all we have to the poor so that we can have treasures in heavenly places where moth and rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal (Matthew 6:20)?

kbkr

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Sunday March 01, 2009 · 8:15 PM PST

2009/03/01 · 20:15

(Part 6 of "The Primer on Scripture and the Budget for 2009")

An underlying assumption in many Republican policies is that poor people deserve what they get and that they are poor because of some character flaw. But poverty is not a sin, and it is not necessarily caused by sin. Jesus was homeless throughout his ministry. His disciples were unemployed. Elijah the prophet fled into the desert from Queen Jezebel and went homeless and hungry because of his righteousness. Although some people in poverty today are there because of choices they have made and perhaps even sins they have committed, just as many (if not more) are there through no discernible fault of their own. This is especially true of children in poor families. But regardless of cause, as the passages that follow demonstrate, God has a special place in his heart for the poor (something the Roman Catholic Church articulated several decades ago as God's "preferential option for the poor").

kbkr

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Saturday February 28, 2009 · 6:45 PM PST

2009/02/28 · 18:45

(Part 5 of "The Primer on Scripture and the Budget for 2009")

Democrats must not get into the business of throwing stones, but neither should we allow Republicans to continue to portray us as moral relativists. We must approach moral conversations with humility "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23), but we should not shy away from naming an action sinful when the Bible unambiguously declares it to be so. Nowhere is this biblical pronouncement clearer than on the issue of materialism and seeking material gain at the expense of the poor.

kbkr

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Friday February 27, 2009 · 9:48 AM PST

2009/02/27 · 09:48

(Part 4 of "The Primer on Scripture and the Budget for 2009")

Time and again the Bible makes clear that what God demands and takes pleasure in is not acts of piety and the scrupulous following of purity codes but our demonstrating His love through our actions and the policies we enact in government, business, and all other institutions. Special condemnation is always reserved for those in power (either government or business) who use that power for their personal gain instead of viewing their power through the lens of stewardship and service and seeking to use it to further God's Kingdom and lift up his children, especially the least and the last.

"You seem eager for God to come near you. Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Yet is not this the kind of fasting I, your Lord, have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice...to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-when you see the naked, to clothe them?" (Isaiah 58: 2-7).

kbkr

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Thursday February 26, 2009 · 7:26 AM PST

2009/02/26 · 07:26

(Part 3 of "The Primer on Scripture and the Budget for 2009")

. . . Some may say that Isaiah's vision of the Kingdom of God is a pipedream completely out of our grasp this side of the grave, but I ask you if a world where children and the elderly do not die before their time because they lack access to basic medicine and health care; a world where workers fully share in the fruits of their labor so that they can live with dignity and without worry that their families will go homeless and their children hungry; a world where a child's future is not determined by what side of the tracks or equator she is born on; a world where peace and hope reign...is such a world truly beyond our grasp, an ideal that can be brought about only through miraculous, divine intervention?

kbkr

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Wednesday February 25, 2009 · 8:51 AM PST

2009/02/25 · 08:51

By Eric Sapp

(Part 2 of "The Primer on Scripture and the Budget for 2009")

The first chapter of the Book of Isaiah begins with the prophet cataloguing the decline of the city of Jerusalem into injustice, where its former greatness is besmirched by its obsession with materialism and wealth. It is important to remember that the prophets are speaking against the government "rulers" and the nation as a whole. The prophets in scripture are not calling for individual piety and charity but for systemic societal/governmental reform. And they specifically challenge government leaders to remember that the nation’s leaders are called to help the powerless and those in greatest need, not those with the most power and money.

Isaiah clearly states what God expects of leaders: "Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow" (Isaiah 1:16-17). [note: he does not say, "cut federal funding for state child services"]

kbkr

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Tuesday February 24, 2009 · 3:04 PM PST

2009/02/24 · 15:04

by Eric Sapp

Back in 2006, the budget debate followed immediately on the heels of Congressional consideration of the Marriage Amendment. As a result, there was a desire by a number of Democratic leaders for a reference guide that would more easily allow Democrats to authentically speak out against the extreme and selective use of scripture by the Republicans and their allies on the Right. The first "Guide to Scripture and the Budget" that included scriptural references and simple talking points to help equip Christian Democrats in their response to Republican budget arguments was distributed shortly before the 2006 budget debate.

My underlying assumption in writing and continuing to
update this document is that Democrats should not cede the prophetic language of scripture and its ability to inspire and frame issues in a moral context to the other side. Many traditional Democratic positions are rooted in the teachings of scripture, and it is time Democrats stopped losing on the Bible.

RSS

Concluding Thoughts: Applying Scripture in a Pluralistic Society

Countering the Right’s Pharisaical Approach to Piety and Moral Legalism

Wealth, Materialism, and the Bible's View of an "Ownership Society"

The Blessedness of the Poor and Our Christian Responsibility to Them

The Sin of Helping the Rich at the Expense of the Poor

On Corruption and the Exploitation of Workers

The Policy Implications of Praying, “Thy Kingdom Come...”

The Responsibility of the Nation and Its Government to “the Least of These”

Scripture on the Budget: What the Bible Says About National Priorities