New Post Finally
So I haven’t posted in a while, so here’s some of the things I’ve been thinking about the past few months.
I’ve been reading about stuff that our government had done around the world, or that big corporations have done around the world. Stuff like convincing other countries to take out huge loans by telling them that their economy will boom, all the while knowing that their country will be buried under debt and that that debt will ultimately benefit big corporations. Stuff like America overthrowing governments so that we can have access to their resources. I could go on and one about this, but the basics is that America is oppressing other countries, and our own system is oppressing our own country.
There’s a couple reasons why I’ve been thinking about this so much. But before I say that, I first want to say that not everything that is wrong with the world is America’s fault. While I do think that America is becoming and has become an empire trying to keep it place in the food chain through whatever means, there are other problems in the world caused by other governments. Secondly, America does some good in the world, but unfortunately much of this good is being defeated by some of the bad things. For example, while America and other more industrialized countries send devoloping countries aid, the developing countries have to pay back even more in debt repayment-much of which was caused by America or corporations who were aided by America. Thirdly, I don’t want to paint America as some irreconcibly evil nation and all developing coutries as sinless angels. I think a Christian perspective says that poor oppressed people are just as corruptible as rich oppressing people. And throughout history the oppressed people who have overthrown their oppressors have typically become oppressors themselves.
That being said…
I believe that the Gospel is about living in the kingdom of God here and now. I beleive that part of this is dealing with social justice issues-things like world poverty, homelessness, hunger, medical care, etc. I think we need to do two things with social justice issues. First, we need to meet the needs of the people who are suffering. Feed the hungry, empower the impoverished, care for the sick, etc. However, another thing I think we need to do is to address the reason of why these issues exist-what is causing poverty, hunger, etc.
However, it is most disheartening to learn that many of the reasons people are impoverished and starving in developing countries are caused by our own government. And it is overwhelming to realize how big a force it is. The powers that be are oppressing the world-and they are our powers. So what do we do about it.
This is my biggest struggle right now. The temptation is to find a solution that involves overpowering others. However, though this may seem like the most logical solution, I don’t think it is the right one. One reason is that Jesus chose not to conquer by power, though he had legions of angels at his command. Another reason is that powers over turning powers has been a sickening cycle throughout history, and it is even more sickening that we still believe in this system.
However, we have problems in our own country as well. Our country is being oppressed too, but by internal matters. We are being oppressed by the way we worship capitalism as God. Whenever capitalism is challenged and charged as failing to be the salvation of the economic world we cry “Communist,” which is the American economic term for “Heretic.” But in this country the gap between the rich and the poor is growing wider and wider, and it is only being fueled by our system. Capitalism is not all bad, but the unrestained idol form of capitalism that we worship in this country is killing us. It tells us that the billionaire CEO’s earn their money and deserve to do whatever they want to do with it, while the lower working class doesn’t work hard enough and deserves to be at poverty level. It’s sick, it’s absolutely sick. No one who works should go hungry while others who work have billions to spare. I don’t think everyone getting paid exactly the same is necesary, but I think that there does need to be a maximum wag.
Our country is oppressed by the notion that we can establish peace through arms. The amount of money spent on weopons in this country is astounding, and even more so when we sell much of the weapons to other governments, some of which our own government has warned are unstable. Even during the arms race with the Soviet Union, when we had enough weapons to blow up the earth, we didn’t stop there, we kept building. It’s insane, it’s irrational, and it’s killing us.
A lot of rambling here.
