We had another opportunity to head out to our Alma mater, George Fox University, and hear a peace and justice activist share about their heart for, well, peace and justice. This time it was Shane Claiborne. As I wrote in the previous post, Claiborne recently co-authored a book with fellow activist John Perkins called Follow me to Freedom: Leading and Following as an Ordinary Radical. Shane was scheduled to speak about new monasticism, but I think he just shares his heart and talks about whatever he feels led to speak about.
Towards the end of the message, he opened it up for questions and one guy in the back asked where we should draw the line when giving folks food or money, etc. A question we have been asked many, many times. Shane responded by saying: "On judgment day, Jesus isn't going to look at you and say, 'man, you were way too generous." Now, I completely understand the argument about enabling and how even when we give out food we are just freeing up the cash flow for some drug addict or alcoholic to purchase his next fix, but I truly do believe we should simply love --
Towards the end of the message, he opened it up for questions and one guy in the back asked where we should draw the line when giving folks food or money, etc. A question we have been asked many, many times. Shane responded by saying: "On judgment day, Jesus isn't going to look at you and say, 'man, you were way too generous." Now, I completely understand the argument about enabling and how even when we give out food we are just freeing up the cash flow for some drug addict or alcoholic to purchase his next fix, but I truly do believe we should simply love --
"Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins." 1 Peter 4:8
The example I have always given when posed with this question (which once again is a good one, and there are no easy answers) is when Jesus encounters the poor or the lame I don't recall him ever asking if they had gotten into the situation because of poor choices of their own, Jesus doesn't judge them before he helps them. I don't recall Jesus telling the blind or the lame that he will only heal them on one condition, that they no longer sin and live blameless lives. We are simply called to love.
Claiborne speaks mostly on peace -- and gradually, slowly I have come to embrace this viewpoint, not just Claiborne's viewpoint, but one that can be traced back to the fountain, to Jesus himself. I know that we all know Jesus preached a message of peace, but how many of us live this out? How many of us embrace this message but go on to condemn abortion clinics? Abortion is inherently wrong, obviously, but as Christians we need to have as much of a belief in the sanctity of the unborn as we do the sanctity of the Afghan or Iraqi children -- even if that belief collides with the attitude of our nation.
Claiborne showed the following video which completely blew my mind and revealed how so many "believers" have blurred the lines between their faith and their nation:
Scary. Another quote from Claiborne: "[Christians] should be the ones who are most difficult to convince that violence does any good."
Three years ago Shane Claiborne was one of the most popular speakers in the evangelical world. From Southern Baptists to Quakers, his message was heeded. His message was and is challenging -- it challenges the powerful, including Christians in power. Most of his message is directed at those in power and questions how we, as Christians, can take part in a system that creates poverty, death and destruction. Eventually his popularity has went from the darling of the evangelical world to controversial, and banned from speaking. Although not a direct correlation, Martin Luther King Jr. was similarly treated when he began to speak out against the "Vietnam conflict." In his Beyond Vietnam speech, King called the United States "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today." Red-blooded Americans don't like it when you preach peace, even red-blooded Christian Americans. Gradually King lost much of his mainstream support and less than one year after giving the Beyond Vietnam speech, was assassinated. Many conspiracy theorists and some historians claim that King was assassinated due to his stance on peace and justice rather than his stance on racial equality and civil rights.
Interestingly enough, in the same speech, Beyond Vietnam, King said, "true compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar....it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring." Or as Catholic Worker founder Dorothy Day wrote, "our problems stem from our acceptance of this filthy rotten system." The prophet Amos spoke a similar message more than 2,600 years ago condemning the Nation of Israel for accepting the new moral code and embracing an economy of haves and have nots. Claiborne's message isn't a new one but this message is just as important in this time and place as any other time in history.
Three years ago Shane Claiborne was one of the most popular speakers in the evangelical world. From Southern Baptists to Quakers, his message was heeded. His message was and is challenging -- it challenges the powerful, including Christians in power. Most of his message is directed at those in power and questions how we, as Christians, can take part in a system that creates poverty, death and destruction. Eventually his popularity has went from the darling of the evangelical world to controversial, and banned from speaking. Although not a direct correlation, Martin Luther King Jr. was similarly treated when he began to speak out against the "Vietnam conflict." In his Beyond Vietnam speech, King called the United States "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today." Red-blooded Americans don't like it when you preach peace, even red-blooded Christian Americans. Gradually King lost much of his mainstream support and less than one year after giving the Beyond Vietnam speech, was assassinated. Many conspiracy theorists and some historians claim that King was assassinated due to his stance on peace and justice rather than his stance on racial equality and civil rights.
Interestingly enough, in the same speech, Beyond Vietnam, King said, "true compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar....it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring." Or as Catholic Worker founder Dorothy Day wrote, "our problems stem from our acceptance of this filthy rotten system." The prophet Amos spoke a similar message more than 2,600 years ago condemning the Nation of Israel for accepting the new moral code and embracing an economy of haves and have nots. Claiborne's message isn't a new one but this message is just as important in this time and place as any other time in history.
2 comments:
Wow, that connection that you drew between Martin Luther King Jr., and Claiborne is striking. I would recommend a documentary called The Ordinary Radicals - it traces Christians around the country, such as Claiborne and John Perkins, who live their lives as if they're taking Christianity seriously. -- http://www.theordinaryradicals.com/
Amen and Amen! Thanks for sharing.
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