From: masimo@netcom.com (Michael Maas)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian
Subject: Re: Christian Poverty
Date: 17 Apr 92 02:13:59 GMT
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest)

This has been an interesting thread.  Without directly responding to the
points made by prior posters I would like to make a few points.

I have noticed that poverty means different things to different people.
One possibly helpful distinction is to think of poverty as two different
phenomena which are traditionally called poverty of goods and poverty of
spirit.  

Poverty of goods is the denial of material goods to some degree.  I have
noted that some have argued for mere detachment from materials goods.  I 
believe that this is inadequate as I will explain below.  

Poverty of spirit can be interpreted as in the beatitude "blessed are the 
poor in spirit..." but I believe it is better expressed by the prayer of Jesus 
in the garden of Gethsemene: "...not my will but thy will be done."  
In other words poverty of spirit is the emptying of oneself of one's own
selfish concerns so that the spirit of God may flow in and God's will may
be done.

I think a case can be made that poverty of spirit will lead many to the
life of poverty of material goods.  I also think that for some the poverty
of material goods may lead to the poverty of spirit.  In either case the
goal is to seek to do the will of God, not as we define it, not as some
external ecclesial or other authority defines it, but as God wishes it.

Seeking God's will for us is only to be accomplished through giving up our
own selfish interests.  Some will seek to do this by abandoning the seeking
after material wealth, or even by the active giving up of that wealth. Only
later will they arrive at the poverty of spirit they seek.  Others may find
the poverty of spirit overwhelms them and because of their obedience to the
will of God will not seek material wealth.

In order to understand why mere detachment from material wealth, by which
I mean continuing to live in a wealthy manner but somehow not being attached
to the wealth, is not sufficient, it is necessary to investigate a little
more in depth what the will of God is.

While there are many texts and stories in the both the OT and NT that 
illustrate what God desires for his creation I believe that a couple of 
events in the life of Jesus can illustrate it adequately. 

In Luke Chapter 4:18-22 Jesus reveals his purpose in the synagogue at 
Nazareth.  The people to whom he has been sent are the poor, the captives, 
the blind, the oppressed. These are the marginalized of society.  It is a 
sad fact that the world remains divided into the rich and the poor,  
Moreover, that fact is not always readily evident to us as citizens/residents 
of the richest country in the world. 

However, evident or not, it is our Christian obligation to seek to learn 
of the inequities that exist in the world and to attempt to right those 
inequities where we can.  This doesn't mean that everyone must/will act 
in the same way to right them.  Some are called to serve as missionaries 
to the poor, others to the rich.  Some are called to teach, some to preach, 
some to heal, some are called to be CEO's of large corporate entities that 
provide jobs to others.

What we are all called to do though is to seek to understand who the poor,
the oppressed, the captives are, and furthermore to preach the good news to 
them.  We are also called to set them free and we can only do this by 
first understanding their plight and then by acting to remedy the ills
that impact them.  

It is difficult to face the fact that often what we have, we have at the 
expense of someone else.  Unfortunately, it is even more difficult at times
to realize the truth of that fact.  It is material wealth and the fears of
security associated with material wealth that often obstruct our vision
and prevent us from seeing how what we have been given has been given to
us not by God but by an inequitable social stucture that we are called to
remedy.

This fact, that what we have is often given to us at the expense of others
is what is dangerous about the idea of "detachment or non-attachment" from
material wealth.  Underlying this viewpoint is the assumption that God wants
us to have this wealth.  I think that Luke 4 is a better indicator of what
God wants than is an assumption that since we have it God must have wanted
it that way.  If we make this assumption, then must we not also assume that
God wanted the war in Iraq, that God wants children to die as a result of
child abuse etc.  I am not willing to make either of those assumptions.

Rather I assume that God calls us to act as the body of Christ, to examine
carefully what we have, and who we are and seek to empty ourselves that God
might be able to persuade us to act as God wishes.  For most of us, this 
will mean a life of austerity if not poverty.  

It is notable that when a rich young man comes to Jesus to seek to be his
disciple Jesus does not say to him -- "God has given you much material 
keep it but detach yourself from it and you will be doing the will of God."
Instead Jesus implicitly says "you have much wealth and many of the poor
around you lack much.  If you truly love give your wealth to the poor
and follow me."

No post from me would be complete without my stating that it is God's love
for us that motivates and underlies all of this.  If we love as God loves
us we will empty ourselves of our own willfulness and seek to do only that
which God calls us to do.  What that might be is between each individual and
God.

In Christ,


Mike