I was browsing the Freakonomics blog the other day and ran across this great quote by Ehrenreich, when asked this question:

You are walking down the street in New York City with $10 of disposable income in your pocket. You come to a corner with a hot dog vendor on one side and a beggar on the other. The beggar looks like he’s been drinking; the hot dog vendor looks like an upstanding citizen. How, if at all, do you distribute the $10 in your pocket, and why?

She said:

Although I’m atheist, I defer to Jesus on beggar-related matters. He said, if a man asks for your coat, give him your cloak too. (Actually, he said if a man “sue thee at the law” for the coat, but most beggars skip the legal process.) Jesus did not say: First, administer a breathalyzer test to the supplicant, or, first, sit him down for a pep talk on “focus” and “goal-setting.” He said: Give him the damn coat.

As a matter of religious observance, if a beggar importunes me directly, I must fork over some money. How do I know whether he’s been drinking or suffers from a neurological disorder anyway? Unless I’m his parole officer, what do I care? And before anyone virtuously offers him a hot dog, they should reflect on the possibility that the beggar is a vegetarian or only eats kosher or Hallal meat.

Is it interesting to anyone else that you have here an atheist (a well known one at that, and on a very popular media outlet), invoking the commands of Jesus as a guide for how we are to respond to those in need? It seems God’s really struggling with supposed “followers” when it takes beggars on the street to confront christians to follow the command to give, and an atheist in the media to remind christians of those commands.

This is a brief journal entry from my first Job interview in Nashville (I didn’t get that job)…

7/10/05

So, I was sort of ready for the day, except I went to bed a little late. Then about 5am I woke up with a bad stomach ache, not something that usually happens to me. It went away but I lost my last hour of sleep. Then it was time to get ready to go. I quickly realized to major flaws in my attire: 1) I forgot to get a black belt, and Chip (whose house we are staying at momentarily) has a smaller waist then me so I’m out of luck. And 2) The shirt that was best ironed (and since it was nicely ironed I didn’t bother ironing anymore), turned out to be far too small for me (who gave me that darn shirt, I think it was Nate). I had trouble tying my tie too, which was frustrating. So after a quick breakfast I still had on the agenda to buy a new shirt and belt before the interview.

I took off to the nearest store and quickly bought a shirt and belt, and then took the close into the bathroom and changed there. Then I was off. Our air conditioning doesn’t work so I’m cruising with the windows down hoping I don’t hit any major traffic lest my natural air conditioning stops working (did I mention it’s hot in Nashville?). Fortunately, Nashville isn’t nearly like Chicago and I flew through the city, with more then enough time on my hands. Which is good because I missed the exit and had to cross the big river in Nashville before I got to the next exit to turn around.

I end up getting near the place still an hour before my interview time, so I’ve got a little time to kill (I wanted to show up about 20mins early to fill out the application they had). I figure it’s a business area so they should have a cafe or something, I don’t need coffee, I need air conditioning! I drive slowly from the place and can’t find a coffee shop or anything around. I’m getting really hot when I see the oasis in the desert, Kroger! (it’s a grocery store for all you northerners). I park the car and go inside. I’m sweating which is not good. So I randomly stroll through the frozen foods section, stopping at each door and holding it open while I stare at a TV dinner and ready the health content (they aren’t really that bad actually). After about 20 freezer doors I’ve cooled down and am feeling quite fresh. I had back to the interview (Which is at Second Harvest Food Bank), and start filling out the application.

(note: Originally written my sophmore year of college in January 2003)
Continued from part VI (part V, part IV, part III, part II and part I)

Try and imagine that nothing you have ever taken for granted in your belief system is true. What am I trying to say? We look at scripture through a lens, that lens is our American society, our peers, our neighbors. That is not the lens through which we are to be looking at the Holy Scriptures. Rather we are to be looking at the text from the same perspective that we get from the text. We are to give, give, give. We sing about it in songs all the time, but some how in our rationalist, emotionalist type of society we can somehow sing those words offering in a sense our entire lives up to Christ, walk out the door and go about our life exactly how we want to. What really though does it mean to give it all up for Christ? The rich man was to sell everything. Another was not to go home even to bury his father. Maybe in our pleasure oriented (And please don’t think I’m saying pleasure is a bad thing) society, what we need to be giving up is those things which we and the society about us tells us, and believes is pleasurable. What if we were to give up drinking alcohol, completely. Not because alcohol is inherently bad or wrong in anyway, in fact it is God given and for our enjoyment, Jesus drank wine and even made wine from water. But, by drinking water and not alcohol we save X amount of dollars which we can give to those who do not even have bread, let alone clean drink. Even greater, what would it tell our neighbors when they see we can have just as much fun without alcohol? You might be saying, well they don’t see it that way. They see Christians not drinking as a command they have to follow or they will go to hell and they see Christians as stuck-up and holier-than-thou because of it. Maybe, so let us take this concept to things we never really think of. What if you choose not to go see movies in the theater? Not because there is anything inherently wrong with movies, or theaters (although many movies today feed a visual stream of images that leads us to anything but godliness). Rather, again it saves finances that can go to those who don’t even know the concept of entertainment, because their days are filled with the overwhelming desire for food. In addition, it would again show our neighbors there is something oddly different about us. It might say to them that we don’t need to escape in the action or drama or love of a movie to experience those feelings and emotions and longings of our human nature. Now, before I move any further I need to point something out. These assumptions that your neighbor will wonder what is different about you are based on the assumption that you yourself our still happy with out watching movies, without drinking alcohol, without a nice new car. It’s easy to say God is what truly makes you happy when your life is full of material blessings which you enjoy everyday, but is it really God that makes you happy or the things he gives you? Do you still feel empty sometimes? And have you ever felt down on yourself because you are sort of depressed and you feel ashamed because you have all this stuff and tons of other people don’t so you should be happy and feel blessed. Maybe the point is that stuff has nothing to do with the happiness thing at all. Maybe it’s that you somehow mistook the stuff God gave you for the place where you would find happiness. But rather God meant for you to have happiness in Him and experience the joy of that happiness in giving those things which you have been given to others. Who knows?

(This is the end of this series. Not because it’s complete, it’s just that’s as far as I got my sophomore year)

(note: Originally written my sophmore year of college in January 2003)
Continued from part V (part IV, part III, part II and part I)

Millions die everyday the statistics are appalling. What are you going to do about it? You can sponsor a child or give something at thanksgiving. You can give out of your abundance and still live with everyone of your physical needs and many of your other needs and wants met. Give till it hurts. Give till you can sympathize to even a slight degree with those whose lives are shaped, marked, centralized around their suffering. If any can understand Christ I think they can to a great degree then we know.
The truth is that for many of us we will never really know what that sort of suffering and feeling of hopelessness is to its fullest. If I want flat broke and lost everything, couldn’t find a job and had no place to live, my parents would take me in feed me, clothe me and give me shelter for as long as I needed. If I decided to have no medical insurance and live overseas somewhere, if any emergency occurred my family and my church would pool their resources and get me the medical care and the ticket out of wherever I was in a second. If I go to a country where many are persecuted and killed for their faith, I might have the potential to be martyred. But there is also the strong possibility that because I am American, and those have in a sense the entire US army behind me, many will think twice before senselessly killing me. Do you see how far removed we are from the suffering so many others endure? We will never, know what it is like to wake up in the morning on a dirt floor, not knowing what they day may bring, where are next meal will come from if it comes at all, if today death will knock on our door, or likely somebody else close to us, to curl up in agony because the pain is unbearable and has been for longer then you can remember to count.
So give!!! You can roller blade in heaven! You don’t need your own pair to take out once during the summer. Spend the time you would be playing video games to petition your church leaders to do something about the aids epidemic, and take the money you get from selling your video game system to pay for vaccinations and help educate a village on the problem of AIDS. If you go out to eat once a week make it once a month and spend the time you might have gone out eating frozen pizza and taking that money and send it to Bread for the World. Instead of buying that new pair of pants or shirt you want (not because you necessarily need one, but because your other clothes just aren’t “cool”) take that same amount and send it to an organization in Russia that gives coats to freezing families with no home.

(note: Originally written my sophmore year of college in January 2003)
Continued from part IV (part III, part II and part I)

Back to giving. “The poor will always be among us.” It’s scripture and many use it as a reason to cop out of giving. But the rich have always been among us too. In fact many of us have been made rich, by the simple act of God that we were born were we were born. Now if you think for one minute that blessing was just the luck or happen chance of the Divine, you are sorely mistaken. You have been blessed, praise God. But if you think you have been blessed in this way simply to enjoy more fully the pleasures of this life in your comfy little world you are wrong. You have been blessed so that you can bless others. I think quite possible the promise that the poor will always be among us is God’s divine plan for us to have the joy of participating in His work and experiencing to the slightest degree the type of pleasure he has when He gives. The poor are there so that we can bless them just as God has blessed us in whatever means he has. Never forget the Blesser. The blessings are meaningless apart from Him. But never rest with the blessings, they have been given to you so that you can give to others. I do not say this as a possibility. I speak as fallible human being and a sinner but I speak boldly, you have been called to give. So give till it hurts.

(note: Originally written my sophmore year of college in January 2003)
Continued from part III (part II and part I)

It is likely that our churches have already given us opportunity to “love our neighbor as our self” through a number of service activities for the area. Maybe you’ve helped out at the soup kitchen, donated clothing, sand carols, delivered thanksgiving baskets. When did we as Americans remove the idea that our neighbors our those who live next door to us? Don’t get me wrong, I am ecstatic that we have understood that that verse means those in need in our city and community and those neighbors we have never meet half way around the world. But what happened to the neighbor next door? Many in America have never met their neighbor, and that is uncalled for.
Is it that we are too scared to face those who are daily in our lives with the truth of our message? Or maybe the truth is we don’t believe it as strongly as we ought. Maybe it’s that it hasn’t changed our lives to the degree that it ought. Let me suggest something: If you have truly experienced the saving grace of Christ, and have tasted the “full” life that Jesus came to bring, you will desire to share it with everyone that you meet. This doesn’t mean you go around talking about Jesus to every person on the street, but your life, your actions, your lifestyle and your words embody that Christ is all to you. Will your neighbor see that Christ is all to you when you have everything they do (maybe more) and you say Jesus is what makes you happy? Maybe. But what if you lived with so much less of the stuff that society says is the pleasures of life, and yet joy emanated off of you? This is and should be a point of struggle for a lot of people. Do not move from this point. Is Christ really the most satisfying thing in your life? If you knew the cure for Cancer would you share it with everyone you could? You have the cure for the emptiness of which every person suffers, and it is Jesus Christ. If you don’t believe that, or if you don’t really feel the truth of that, then maybe you haven’t experienced Christ to the fullness that you need to.

(note: Originally written my sophmore year of college in January 2003)
Continued from part II (and part I)

It’s one of the biggest atrocities of the church that we do not give even close to the ten percent that we as believers should be giving—At LEAST. I would submit that most Christians in America could give 20% of their income without seriously suffering in their day to day life. If you equate suffering with not being able to buy a new car every few years, or any other material possession which you have no real dire need of then maybe there is a slight potential one must suffer.
Do you have any idea what the church could do with the money if each Christian gave 10%? Even assuming ¾ of the people who go to church are not bonified Christians, if the last ¼ all gave 10% the resources would be amazing. We could fund hundreds of missionaries overseas; we could give resources of all kinds to the persecuted church; we could feed and educate hundreds of children in needy countries. But there are so many facets to this, so many.
If we gave to the point that we need to choose a standard or quality of living that was below, noticeably below the people who we might be living around (assuming you haven’t had to sell your middle-class suburban home), what message might that send to your neighbors? Might they “see your good deeds and worship your father in heaven?” What if some of the money you tithed went to giving to the needs of those in your neighborhood? What if you tithed 10% of your time (If there is a resource of capital we budget nearly as much as we do our money its probably our time) to the specific task of tangibly “loving your neighbor as your self?” There are 168 hours in a week, that leaves approximately 17 hours to serve your neighbor. Even if we didn’t count sleep time (8 hours a nights) that would still be 11 hours a week to serve your neighbor, by baking a cake for their birthday, writing cards, shoveling driveways, mowing lawns, babysitting, or maybe just talking. We often talk of the mission field as those countries and tribes far away that have never heard the gospel. We forget that Jesus said we will be His witness first “in Jerusalem,” that is, our home, our city, our community.

This is another one from the archives, I wrote it five years ago at Wheaton College, after the Class Films…

I’m taking a contextualization class at Wheaton College, in it we learn about other cultures and how to contextualize the gospel. It’s a great class and I’ve really enjoyed what I’ve learned. Basically it’s taught me to look at my culture and say, “how are we not contextualizing the gospel into our culture?” It causes you to look at a lot of things.

Take bridesmaids for example. Did you know that originally the reason for bridesmaids was a pagan belief that they came before the bride to ward off any evil eye that someone might have toward the bride. Weird! But, now it’s a regular part of nearly all Christian marriages. Shall we toss it out as pagan, or is it so a part of our Christian heritage and carries none of the meaning it once did for us? Now take prostitution, is it possible to have a Christian brothel? Obviously not, because it goes against so many basic Christian values. Have we effectively contextualized music? The arts? And so many other things? These are the questions you ask in trying to contextualize. So join me in this case study.

A Christian College host a large event for the students modeled after the Academy awards. Four student films were produced, one for each class, and the event consisted of viewing the films and then giving awards accordingly. The evening started with students arriving quite early at the doors of Edman Chapel. A red carpet was laid out at the central doors, where a limo pulled up and those involved in each film where escorted into the theater. There was much cheering, but the focus was on excitement for friends, rather then the glitz and glamor and focus on who is wearing what that is such the focus of the Academy Awards. The doors opened and students rushed in for seats to view the four films which where all of excellent quality.
After the films a pair of people where introduced to come and announce the winner of best supporting actress. After the introduction three people walked on to the stage. The pair that was introduced stepped up to the microphone and dialogged a bit before announcing the winner. The third person, a female, stood silently in the back holding the Academy Award style trophy. She presented it to the winning actress and then escorted her off the stage. Again, a pair was introduced, three people walked on stage, the pair spoke and the third, a female again, stood silently in the back holding the trophy. She presented it to the winner and escorted him off stage. All evening I watched this happen. Near the end of the ceremonies there where some thank yous and congratulations to those who had helped make the evening come together. Never once did any of the females with the trophies speak, never once were their names mentioned. The only recognition they got was some banter teasingly saying they where stealing a boyfriends attention.

Did our attempt to do a Christian Academy Awards miss something? Is displaying females without a name or a voice, and only recognizing what they look like, Christian? I think we can agree that it is missing something, or it is flawed.

(note: Originally written my sophmore year of college in January 2003)
Continued from part I

Initial thoughts of the Christian community in America would say that we are indeed bearing much fruit. Many gain lovely relationships with Christ through the small groups and Bible studies and the sermons of the American Church. And our giving and outreach to the community is certainly there. Let me change our way of thinking for a moment.
I submit that the standard to which we hold our Christianity is nothing but the relative standard of what our non-Christian American neighbors are doing. But our standard should be Christ and His word, nothing less. When the cop pulls you over for speeding it does not matter whether every other car on the road was speeding twice as much as you were, if you were speeding you were speeding. It does not matter how “good” you are compared to your atheist neighbor, God’s standard is not your righteousness in relation to other sinners. And this is were our interpretation of the Bible and it’s words is falling drastically short of what it should be. I present a Bible verse to keep in mind as we endeavor to change our worldview to one that is Christ centered from one that has been self focused. “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” And as Christians in America our suffering is to be honest, completely absent. The Scripture is full of verse about suffering about Christ revealing himself in our need and in our trials. The word is full of calls to serve and to give and to be selfless. There are a billion and a half ways we can and should and need to be doing those things.

(Note: This series was written five years ago when I was a Sophomore in college, January 2003. It does not necessarily represent where I am at today, but that’s not to say it’s maybe more where I would like to be.)

Imagine for a moment that you discovered the text of scripture apart from the society in which you live. To imagine this is impossible almost because your culture and society has shaped the way you see scripture and interpret it and react to it. My premise is this Christianity in America is not Christianity. Those are strong words and I would hesitate to hold fully to it amongst a group of biblical scholars who would argue the theological and doctrinal nuances of the scripture and what “America”* believes. I am not saying that Christians in America are not “saved” in that their “belief” and faith in Christ our genuine and true. My main point is that Christians in America live lives that are so sparse of the fruit of the Spirit that we should be ashamed of ourselves.

*I will use the term “America” for the course of this series, but with the understanding that I am speaking specifically about the USA, or rather, what is commonly referred to in this country as “America.” Though, you should be aware, America is much more than this country, it includes two continents and a great many people who do not align themselves with the values of this country.