Just what did Jesus have to say about about tax structures? Personal financial portfolios? Offshore corporate tax havens? Municipal bonds?
My biblical research has failed to locate any such directives.
Various admonitions in the Bible though seems to particularly weigh in on those who use its spiritual contents for personal profit. Some examples:
Thes 2:5 …Never at any time have our speeches been simply flattery or a cover for trying to get money.
Cor 2:17 At least we do not go hawking the word of God about, as so many do…
Cor 2:17 Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit.
Cor 2:17 We are not like those hucksters–and there are many of them–whose idea in getting out the Gospel is to make a good living out of it.
Tim 6:5 …among men of warped minds who have lost their real hold on the truth but hope to make some profit out of the Christian religion.
Tim 6:5 …They think religion is a way to become rich.
Unfortunately but expectedly, Jesus’ messages have been abused by sham evangelists throughout history for financial gain.
For recognizable names, there’s Reverend Ike with his pricey miracle-annointed prayer cloths, Jim and Tammy Baker of PTL (Pass The Loot) infamy, Jimmy Swaggart ‘ministering’ to prostitutes in various hotel rooms, Robert Tilton badgering his faithful for larger and greater donations, Benny Hinn ‘out-curing’ Jesus, Pat Robertson currying favor with anyone having access to African diamond mines and Jerry Falwell’s willingness (maybe glee?) to blame everyone who fails to agree with him for the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
There’s also the prosperity gospel, a ‘strain’ of ‘ministry’ focused on building a wallet of fine fettle, not necessarily a life of devoutness.
Here’s Jesus about the danger of living a money-driven/damn-the-poor life–many more instances of this subject, more than any other, are contained in the Bible.
Mark 10:21-27, 31 Jesus looked steadily at him and loved him, and he said, “There is one thing you lack. Go and sell everything you own and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” But his face fell at these words and he went away sad, for he was a man of great wealth. Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!” The disciples were astounded by these words, but Jesus insisted, “My children,” he said to them, “how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” They were more astonished than ever. “In that case,” they said to one another, “who can be saved?” Jesus gazed at them. “For men,” he said, “it is impossible, but not for God: because everything is possible for God… Many who are first will be last, and the last first.
Jesus could not make it clearer than this:
Albeit controversial, this following question bears asking: have the elders of the Southern Baptist and many other evangelical sects also lapsed into a overt bypassing of Jesus’ warnings?
The thrust of today’s Southern Baptist leadership agenda and that of most other evangelicals is not geared towards the morality of economic equality and fairness for the poor. The pulpits are silent and the religious radio/television show hosts mum on this subject. There is no vociferous advocacy for a reduction in poverty by way of a decent minimum wage, an equitable income tax structure, elimination of usury and the such.
No, trumpets blow and breasts are beaten in selectively opposing gay marriage or civil unions, eliminating abortion, minimizing stem cell research, cowering the judiciary and demanding a absolutist role of Christianity in American public life.
Jesus’ monetary rebukes are no political or financial use for the primary leading lights of the evangelical movement.
A December 12, 2004 article by Don Lattin in the San Francisco Chronicle provides some insight. Here are some excerpts:
Pushing poverty into ‘moral-values’ debate
Some religious leaders trying to broaden discussion beyond abortion and marriage
Don Lattin
SF Chronicle Religion Writer
Sunday, December 12, 2004
While many of these evangelical voters have lost ground during this economic shift, they have also abandoned the political party that claims to embody their economic interests.
That does not surprise Charles Jarvis, a former Reagan administration official and executive vice president of Focus on the Family, an influential radio and print ministry headquartered in Colorado Springs and led by evangelical psychologist James Dobson, a member of the Church of the Nazarene.
Jarvis now heads USA Next and United Seniors — two nonprofit organizations dedicated to “tax freedom” and “retirement freedom.”
“One reason people in this county don’t want to ‘burn the rich’ is that Americans are incredibly open to the possibility that they themselves can become rich,” Jarvis said.
…Liberal religious activists counter that tax cuts for the wealthy and trickle-down fiscal policies have created economic well-being for a small fraction of the American people
They cite U.S. Census Bureau data showing that 8 in 10 Americans saw their share of the total U.S. income shrink between 1980 and 2001. Real gains were made only by the richest 5 percent of American citizens, whose share of total U.S. incomes rose 42 percent during that period….
…USA Next has now started a campaign to support President Bush’s plan to allow workers to divert part of their Social Security taxes to private retirement accounts.
“Social Security is not just a financial issue — it’s a justice issue, ” Jarvis said. “It’s not a safety net for tens of millions of people. Social Security is a debt time bomb. Religious people may have good intentions, but they can be astonishingly naive. Good intentions can recreate immoral results.”
To judiciously frame that most Americans picture themselves becoming rich and therefore oppose higher taxes on the rich is specious at best.
And what of USA Next’s campaign for private retirement accounts when such setups would do nothing towards addressing the “debt time bomb,” as Jarvis labels it?
If Jarvis is so concerned about that “debt time bomb,” then why no addressing President Bush’s incredible run of deficit spending. Where is James Dobson’s crusade against President Bush’s voluminous deficit budgeting, something that harms families today and places a tremendous IOU burden on the backs of America’s children?
Where were Jarvis and Dobson when the recent federal bankruptcy bill was passed, the one bought and paid for by the campaign contributions of financial institutions? The legislative changes did not benefit Focus on the Family members.
Unfortunately, there seems to be a conspiracy of silence on these subjects.
In a January, 17, 2005, David D. Kirkpatrick-written article in the New York Times, Richard Land, a prominent Southern Baptist leader with access to President Bush, addressed economic concerns expressed by evangelist Jim Wallis, head of Sojourners:
“…He argued that Mr. Wallis misunderstood conservative evangelical voters because he conflated the moral issue of alleviating poverty with the practical issue of whether Democratic policies are the way to do it.
“I don’t know anybody who is in favor of poverty,” Dr. Land said. “He doesn’t seem to have adequately comprehended that the debate is over, based on the 30-year experiment, about whether big government or free markets work better at producing wealth for everybody.”
Land is demonstrating a talent usually reserved for Republican script readers with his blatant dishonesty in smearing Democrats as opposed to free markets.
Why the complete and utter silence of Land and the Southern Baptist hierarchy when the aforementioned bankruptcy bill was passed?
Why is there no moral crusade by Land and his colleagues in a nationwide effort to raise the federal minimum wage?
Yes, health care coverage, adequate childcare assistance to now-working former welfare recipients, a higher federal minimum wage–all lack the visceral appeal connected to opposing abortion and homosexuality. But these economic concerns affect Focus on the Family members, Southern Baptists and the American public in infinite greater numbers than do the so-called gut level issues.
But you wouldn’t know it by listening to Charles Jarvis, James Dobson or Richard Land.
For Judas, it was 30 pieces of silver. For a number of the clergy today, it is thunderous railing against ‘sins’ of the flesh and willful muteness regarding immoral financial policies that harm their followers. It’s deliverance of their respective flocks in a block vote, in gleeful exchange for political power.
Bring back the sackcloth and ashes for Jesus is being re-crucified.
Although it certainly isn’t the leit motif of the Bible, there’s even a description of quasi-socialism among the devout:
Acts 2:44-45 All the believers joined together and shared everything in common; they sold their possessions and goods and divided the proceeds among the fellowship according to individual need…
Acts 4:32,34-35 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had…
When’s the last time that was brought up in any sermon?
