What were God’s promises to the people of Israel? (We often hear of “I will give you_____, and a land flowing with milk and honey, remember Me and “it will go well” with your children.” Is God’s promise really centered around prosperity? Certainly the prosperity gospel is preached by quoting the Bible.) But certainly, and perhaps more often (?) (I hope. Is there a way to analyze this?) it was I WILL BE YOUR GOD; YOU WILL BE MY PEOPLE. I want to say that God is more concerned about this relationship than He is about the quality of your life.
If so (as I hope), then, let’s consider poverty and ending poverty.
The National Geographic article about the Tarahumara (Raramuri) people- indigenous people of the Sierra Madre of Northern Mexico: (Intro: “The Tarahumara of Mexico evaded Spanish conquerors in the sixteenth century. But can they survive the onslaught of modernity?”)
“Poverty is not noble, one Creel hotel owner said heatedly, even when it lives in splendid canyons and dresses in beautiful skirts. To which the priests reply: Jobs cleaning hotel rooms, with pretty paintings of Tarahumara on the lobby walls, are no advancement at all. “Don’t pretend these are projects to help the Tarahumara,” de Velasco said crisply, “They’re to attract tourists and increase private profits. A “Tarahumara village” is an absurdity- a lie, really. A gondola over the canyon would be a desecration. And this is an area without water; one new hotel will use more in a day than what a Tarahumara family consumes in one year. With what the government is preparing to invest for hotels, they could bring potable water to all the Tarahumara, which would be more useful to them than creating a fake village where they can sell things.”
page 94 National Geographic, November 2008
The Geographic, and contributing writer Cynthia Gorney obviously lean towards the romantization of the indigenous people’s ancient beliefs, traditions, and customary ways of life. From my view, surely there is great value in holding tradition, in honoring the ways of life our ancestors followed. The article was honest, Gorney expressed her opinion minimally, while citing the negative influences of “modernity” (junk food-> obesity, high blood pressure) and the negative aspects of living without modern conveniences (malnourishment, inconvenience, lack of education). The family she stayed with wished to receive electricity and appliances into their home. The quote from the hotel proponent is in some ways strikingly true. Poverty is not noble even when it lives in splendid landscapes and wears beautiful skirts. What do we gain by bringing civilization to indigenous cultures? What do we lose when we lose ancient traditions? Certainly there are books on this; with the zealousness of Christian mission has Western Civilization, technology and culture have been “brought”- often forced- and this has not gone unnoticed.
Spiritual implications abound, and my favorite book about world missions growing up was Bruchko, the story of Bruce Olson, who brought Jesus to a “stone-age Indian tribe” without the “civilization” agenda. After accepting Jesus as their Way, many things changed in their society. These changes did not come without tension and heartache, but after spiritual change came societal, medical and technological change.
So we can say if the end of poverty is not the core issue, but God being their God and they being His People, then… what do we do with poverty? What do we do with evangelism and world mission?
It’s maybe even linked with the problem I see (and Shane and Larry Crabb see) in churches today: we focus on societal and moral and physical change (looking at how the gospel speaks to those things) instead of focusing on spiritual change. Yet if we focused on spiritual renewal, the result would be a holistic renewal, an entire life changed.
I could go on to talk about the political CHANGE everyone is buzzing about. Political/ governmental change might (will?) happen, and that’s great. But the problems of the world are not going to change until we incite a spiritual change. Which happens, how? See “the Master Plan of Evangelism.”
Blogs to come from this? More on politics, political change, the role of the Church. More on Larry Crabb. More on discipleship and the 5 people you need in your life.
This is the Day 