A Humbled Resistance

A Response to The Irresistible Revolution and Jesus for President

 

Theology (cont.)

 

Wealth and Redistribution

 

Claiborne makes clear his view of wealth when he states that the existence of the poor and of the wealthy is a result of our sin.

 

People are poor not just because of their sins; they are poor because of our sins (and people are rich because of our sins). (TIR 152)

 

And then he implies that all wealth/profit has been taken from the poor,

 

… we received an anonymous gift of $10,000, which had been invested in the stock market and now was being returned to the poor. (TIR 187, JFP 310, emphasis added)

 

or is the result of the deliberate oppression of the poor.

 

… and I know this world will never be safe as long as the masses live in poverty so that a handful of people can live as the wish. (TIR 366, emphasis added)

 

Does Claiborne believe that wealth is zero-sum gain?  Does he really believe that for some people to have wealth, it will have to have been taken from someone else?  Does he naively believe that wealth is about oppressing the poor?  Are corporate boardrooms secretly discussing how to take from the poor rather than how to make a better product or market it more effectively (usually to people who can afford them)? 

 

If a person creates a quality product and sells it to people who want it, and grows wealthy as a result of his hard work and ingenuity, is this a sin?  The book of Proverbs will need an overhaul if this is so.

 

^ESV Proverbs 24:3 By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; ⁴ by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.

 

We’ll also have to drastically change our understanding of God’s response to Solomon’s desire for wisdom:

 

^ESV 2 Chronicles 1:11 God answered Solomon, "Because this was in your heart, and you have not asked possessions, wealth, honor, or the life of those who hate you, and have not even asked long life, but have asked wisdom and knowledge for yourself that you may govern my people over whom I have made you king, ¹² wisdom and knowledge are granted to you. I will also give you riches, possessions, and honor, such as none of the kings had who were before you, and none after you shall have the like."

 

As well as God’s response to Job’s faithfulness:

 

^ESV Job 42:10 And the LORD restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.

 

Then again, what are we to make of the parable of the talents/minas33 ?

 

^ESV Matthew 25:29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

 

We see this same wording repeated four times in the synoptic gospels (Matt 13:12; 25:29; Mark 4:25; Luke 19:26).  Could it be that God is not bound by our sense of fairness?  Could it be that Claiborne and the health, wealth, and prosperity gospel preachers are both wrong and it just isn’t about the money?

 

What is God’s view of wealth?  Despite it being commonly misquoted (not by Claiborne), money is not “the root of all evil,” but the love of money is another story.

 

^ESV 1 Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

 

^ESV Hebrews 13:5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."

 

And money is never to be trusted as our sustenance or salvation:

 

^ESV Proverbs 11:28 Whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf.

 

Wealth is a blessing and a test.  It can and should be used to expand the kingdom of God (through the proclamation of the Gospel) and to help the poor—especially the poor of the household of faith (Gal 6:10).  If disciples are all called to “release their riches and enter the kingdom of God,” (TIR 182) what are we to make of verses that instruct the rich?  It seems clear here they exist within the Church and there is no instruction to go and sell everything.

 

^ESV 1 Timothy 6:17 As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. ¹⁸ They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, ¹⁹ thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.

 

Though I believe Claiborne is wrong in his theology of money, I do believe we the church in America are guilty of hoarding our money into fancy buildings and silly programs and largely (with many notable exceptions) neglecting the poor.  Where we are guilty of these, we need to repent.

 

What are we to make of “redistribution?” Anyone who reads TIR cannot help but notice Claiborne’s repetitive use of the term.   He places a heavy emphasis on it, even having it “inextricably bound” to rebirth.

 

Simplicity is meaningful only inasmuch as it is grounded in love, authentic relationships and interdependence. Redistribution then springs naturally out of our rebirth, from a vision of family that is larger than biology or nationalism.  As we consider what it means to be “born again,” as the evangelical jargon goes, we must ask what it means to be born again into a family in which our sisters and brothers are starving to death.  Then we see why rebirth and redistribution are inextricably bound up in one another. (TIR 163)

 

Aside from reducing God’s miraculous regeneration to “evangelical jargon” and divorcing it from its biblical meaning, there is some merit to his statement.  If by this he means that a person who has been born again from above will have his heart, mind, priorities, etc. molded in line with God’s and begin to be generous with the poor, then I’ll agree.

 

I think the primary problem is that “redistribution” carries with it the meaning of taking rather than giving.  Otherwise he would speak of “distribution” rather than “redistribution.”

 

Claiborne makes the original deacons into agents of “redistribution.”

 

But it is not a coincidence that the first major organization structure in the early church was created to assure order in the redistribution of resources to widows and orphans (Acts 6:1-6). (TIR 331)

 

^ESV Acts 6:1 Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. ² And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, "It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables.

 

The text is talking about the daily diakoni,a (diakonia--the word that we turn into “deacon” that means service or ministry).  Most translations render it “daily distribution of food” or “daily serving of food” (note the later reference to “waiting tables”).  It’s a pretty tough sell to make this about the redistribution of wealth.

 

 

Tithes and Offerings

 

Claiborne explains his understanding of the proper use of tithes and offerings:

 

I did a ton of research on tithes and offerings in Scripture, and discovered they are unmistakeably intended to be used for redistributing resources to the poor and not to go toward buildings and staff for the church.  I quoted the church fathers and mothers … all attest that the church offerings are to be given to the poor as their right. (TIR 326-327)

 

It would have been helpful to see some of this research.  As I look through the Scriptures, I don’t find that.  I see ministers of the gospel making their living by the gospel.

 

^ESV 1 Corinthians 9:13 Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings? ¹⁴ In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.

 

It was used to provide a living for the priestly tribe. There is no indication that they were poor, in fact when we take a tenth from eleven other tribes, we have an extra tenth34 for the Levites doing the work of the LORD.

 

^ESV Numbers 18:24 For the tithe of the people of Israel, which they present as a contribution to the LORD, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance. Therefore I have said of them that they shall have no inheritance among the people of Israel."

 

Though God rebuked David and wouldn’t allow him to build him a temple (TIR  324), he did allow David’s son Solomon to build him a great (and no doubt expensive) temple (1 Kings 6).  When the temple was in disrepair the money was given to workers for repair.

 

^ESV 2 Kings 22:4 "Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may count the money that has been brought into the house of the LORD, which the keepers of the threshold have collected from the people. ⁵ And let it be given into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the LORD, and let them give it to the workmen who are at the house of the LORD, repairing the house.”

 

And in another case God just says… party hearty!

 

^ESV Deuteronomy 14:24 And if the way is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, when the LORD your God blesses you, because the place is too far from you, which the LORD your God chooses, to set his name there, ²⁵ then you shall turn it into money and bind up the money in your hand and go to the place that the LORD your God chooses ²⁶ and spend the money for whatever you desire- oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink, whatever your appetite craves. And you shall eat there before the LORD your God and rejoice, you and your household.

 

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