Real Social Justice

There has been a lot of talk, for quite a while now, on sequestration. Who is going to loose what, what programs are going to get cut and just how badly our countries economy is going to take a hit from it. Depending on who you ask, everyone from junior enlisted military personnel, who won't see any raises, to veterans and other disabled persons, having services cut back, are going to feel the pinch. The elderly and poor are going to loose a percentage of their income and hundreds of thousands of employees of government contractors could suddenly find themselves with out work or with seriously reduced pay. Add to that the number of major companies that are seriously considering closing hundreds of stores, because of increased regulations and being forced into major health care increases and you have the potential of thousands more being unemployed. Combined with an economy that is already in serious trouble and is on the brink of collapse you have the potential of a tsunami style disaster. This post is not to blame any one particular party or person. In fact it has little to do with politics at all.

The other day, after my mothers funeral, I stopped in to visit some old friends that still lived in the neighborhood that I grew up in. In the course of catching up one of them commented that they don't know anyone in the neighborhood any more. I was really surprised. When I was a kid growing up we knew everyone on the street. Even today I can name just about everyone who once lived there and, in some cases anyhow, either those who took their place or their grandchildren. We knew everyone. You could guarantee that if you got in some sort of trouble by the time you got home it was already known there, at the same time if someone was hurt or seriously ill everyone knew that as well and once that was known people would go out of their way to help each other out. I remember many times when my grandmother or other folks at church would get food and clothes together to help out others who were suffering in some way. If they had a fire or some other disaster furniture would appear and people would open up their homes until things were fixed and settled. I remember my grandparents basement walls collapsed while we were living with them, the house had old stone foundation and I remember men from the church coming with their equipment jacking the house up and fixing the foundation. There was no talk of who deserved what, or cost, it simply needed to be done and it was. If a farmer was sick and couldn't harvest his crops others pitched in to help. There was no talk of government help, at least none that I ever heard, people and churches simply took care of each other.

It was, however, at about this time that welfare programs started to kick in. We were poor, my mother, a single mom of two boys, qualified for welfare and so we lived on the welfare system, at least until my brother and I were able to get out on our own. I didn't understand much about that at the time this was simply the way things were.

I tell you this so you will understand that I am quite sympathetic to the working poor and the middle class. I understand being disabled and barely being able to keep your head above water but I think we have brought this disaster upon ourselves.

As our society has become more advanced, technologically speaking, we have become more distant from each other. We have our made up social networks and worlds but we rarely actually interact with each other. When I was a kid all of us played out doors. Our families all knew each other because we were either friendly or fighting but we knew who our neighbors were. Today most young people know how to use an smart phone or an iPad but they don't know how to communicate with each other on a personal level.

At one time, if people needed help, there were church groups who could be asked, but many churches have shut their doors and in other cases regulations, that didn't use to exist, keep them from helping those that are in need and so, because there are government programs out there, people turned to the government for help rather then their neighbors.

We ,as a people, could have stopped all the government red tape. We could have said no to them taking over our God given responsibility to each other but we didn't and as we have become more advanced in some ways, we have failed each other and now may be forced to go back to those principals that we should never have abandoned.

God Himself laid out various laws that, if we followed them, would give us the kind of “social justice” that many would like to see, and it would be virtually painless to our society as a whole and would improve things for the poor with out government intervention.

“When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field when you reap, nor shall you gather any gleaning from your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the stranger: I am the Lord your God.” Lev. 23:22

“But the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave, the beasts of the field may eat. In like manner you shall do with your vineyard and your olive grove.” Ex. 23:11

Just imagine those two laws by themselves being used, you would end hunger in no time. One of the promises God gave was that if they let the land rest and took care of the poor they would still be eating the fat of the land even as they were planting for the next harvest. In other words, they would never lack for food.

“If you lend money to any of My people who are poor among you, you shall not be like a moneylender to him; you shall not charge him interest.” Ex. 22:25

If that was followed you could likely end homelessness because people could actually afford to get a mortgage. As most of you know it is usually the taxes and the APR that really hurt peoples chances of finding decent housing. Imagine a banking system that didn't charge interest. You could change everything over night.

“You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. In righteousness you shall judge your neighbor.”

Lev. 19: 14-16

Our justice system has become such a farce that only the well connected seem to have any chance of winning. A fine example is Monsanto, one of the biggest corporations in the farming world, going after small farmers, who may have inadvertently picked up some of their patented seeds through wind or cross pollination. Every time it goes to court the individual farmer looses because they simply don't have the money to fight the suits. This is not justice. This is Goliath beating up on David. Just imagine though if we used the biblical principals then we could all have our day in court.

The list of laws could go on, these are but just a few of them. The point is that if we had been following these principals instead of letting the government do what we were commanded to do we wouldn't be in the mess we are in. In Israel and Judaism, as a whole, these aren't just suggestions, these are commandments. Some have said that because of these laws Israel is technically a socialist country. If it is its only because the people as a whole follow these principals and laws and from what I understand, they have a high quality of life because of it.

I am not suggesting that we should have government run socialism. I am suggesting though that we as a people can make all the difference if we were to follow those laws laid out in the Bible when it comes to helping the poor and having a fair system of justice. We could virtually end all government programs because we, as a people, wouldn't allow for others to suffer while we could help them.

I believe however that most people will think that this is impossible either because they believe the Bible is a foolish thing , not to be taken seriously, or they actually believe that the government is the only answer. Others do believe in the Bible but they ignore the laws of the OT and have come to believe that only rugged individualism is the way, so the idea of caring for each other disappears.

My simple minded solution is this: We need to take care of each other. Government safety nets are good, but they shouldn't be our only source of help and we as a society need to embrace the biblical principals that I have mentioned then we would have real social justice.