Friday 13 December 2013

Lifestyles of the Rich and Infamous



“Are not the rich and the poor brothers?” asked the young King.
“Aye,” answered the man, “and the name of the rich brother is Cain.”
Oscar Wilde


Wealth is a difficult subject for us to talk about; as a result we often tip-toe around the issue and nothing changes. Money is personal and none of anyone else's business in our culture. But that's the thing about community, it's all about being in each other's business. It's implicit in and necessary to the definition. It is the wonderful, horrible thing about Christianity: freedom to be a servant to a better master than before. One servant among many. Which means three very difficult things: the money isn't ours, our business is everyone's business and we aren't supposed to call the shots.

The Money Problem

If you have a roof over your head, something edible in your kitchen, and any money left over, you are in the top 8% of the world’s wealthiest people (State of the Village). Chances are, if you are reading this, you are among that 8%. I live in Canada in an unheated apartment, wash laundry by hand in the sink, and my vehicle is an old bicycle, yet I am richer in wealth and resources than 92% of the global community. That is astounding.

It should make us stop and think for a moment about what we expect life to bring us. Growing up in an upper middle class suburb, it was assumed that we would all get good jobs, buy houses, grow fat, buy diet programs, vacation in the Dominican, and in general follow in the footsteps of our parents’ generation. That lifestyle was never sustainable. It is not today, it will not be tomorrow. I like laying on the beach as much as the next person, but is it fair to expect all of that from life when 92% of the world does not have shelter, food, or any money to their name?

“So the world’s not fair. Welcome to real life, sweetheart.”

“You are not in heaven yet; do not dream that you are. It would be a pity for a sailor to expect the sea to be as stable as the land, for the sea will be the sea to the end; and the world will be the world to you as long as you are in it.”
Charles Spurgeon

It is true. The world isn’t fair. It is a terribly broken and sinful place, and we are living here.

But. We are not from here. “Our citizenship is in heaven.” (Philippians 3:20). We belong to a Kingdom and a King very concerned with fairness and justice. We should concern ourselves with “fairness” insofar as it means “equality” because that is the desire closest to the heart of God.

“For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’” Galatians 5:14

If our neighbour is suffering from poverty, we cannot go on living with more than we need. That is not love. And if we have not love, we are nothing (1 Corinthians 13:2). True love gives to its neighbour even when it means doing without something necessary, let alone something merely desirable. To love our neighbours the same as we love ourselves is to put someone else’s needs at least equal to our own. We think we know this command. It is fundamental to even the shallowest reading of Scripture, and yet we struggle to put it into practise at all. We love the idea of love, but that seems to be as far as it goes. Let’s not get carried away. Sacrifice is very well, but let’s not take it so far as to actually do without.

So it is Sinful to be Rich?

Money is not evil. Money is neutral. Money is like food. We all need food. Food cannot be evil. If a farmer is blessed with an overwhelmingly abundant harvest, do we say he is a bad man? That would be absurd! But if he were to keep all that food while his neighbour starved… then he would be practising the most despicable act of evil.

It is the same with money. With abundance comes the responsibility to diligently dispose of that abundance. It is a responsibility of management, not a personal gift nor a curse. Money is not for us to keep, but to give away. 

Wealth becomes problematic for Christians when we fail to recognise “enough” versus “abundance.” How much is enough? How much is too much? There were many rich people in the Bible.

There were many harlots in the Bible too. 


How Much Is Enough?

To attempt an ethical solution for myself, I began by turning to reports by the World Institute for Development Economics Research and UN global data resources for an answer to the problem of so many poor neighbours in the global community. According to the survey and studies of 2006, if the wealth of the world was redistributed evenly across the global population we would all be worth about 26,000 US dollars. Now, that is not income, this is a total wealth figure including all assets and erasing all debts and it applies only to adults, but I was surprised it was so high a figure. With so many hundred million people sitting in the dust of abject poverty in the developing world, I was sure the redistribution would leave us all poorer. 

An easier figure to apply to life was another study (also with the 2006 data) which estimated that in a similar redistribution we would have 15,000 US dollars a year of income for the average family of five. It doesn’t sound like much, but in applying this as a standard to our lives as an equity of wealth, we would need to take into account cost of living in different areas. If we were to move to much of Eastern Europe, India, South-East Asia, Africa or Central America, this income would be sufficient to support a family. A more accurate number once adjusted accordingly for the Ontario cost of living (a) and the benefits of Provincial services paid for by taxes gives us a family after tax income of 36,952 USD, based on a family of five.

In a fair global economy we would not be disastrously beggared and we would not be living at anyone else’s expense. That is about the amount of money that we can spend on our own lives and families without monopolizing more than our “fair share” of the world’s wealth.

A Bench Mark

With a bench mark number to guide our spending habits, we can come around to the most important piece to the global wealth equation: money is not finite. Distributing the wealth of the planet across its population is indeed scriptural and correct according to the Law and the Spirit of the Law. But money is not wealth even when it is used to buy quality of life. Money is worthless without the value system attached. Wealth is comprised of the actual assets necessary to a high quality of life. 

Wealth is Resources

As long as our understanding of wealth is tied up in our understanding of money, we will make very little headway in the global justice department. While spending or saving or giving money is related to the spending, saving and giving of resources, it is not entirely the same. 

My life is a perfect example of this imbalance. I confess that I had a few moments of indulging in sanctimonious satisfaction when I crunched the numbers and arrived at an answer. I am young and poor and already living well below that income level. Lost in self-righteousness, I failed to grasp the implications of the second and arguably more important consideration of global wealth equity. We may now use me as a case study of how appearances can be deceiving and marvel together at the shortsightedness of my own ignorant gratification with my family's less than 36,952 dollar lifestyle. 

Laying it Bare

I live in a 702 square foot apartment with my husband. I am a vegetarian. I don’t own a car. I have a bicycle and my own two feet as well as limited use of public transit. I am not running heat in my apartment. I turn off the lights when I leave the room. We unplug our appliances when they are not in use. We have energy efficient appliances and half of our light bulbs are LEDs. I recycle. I hang dry all of my laundry. I make almost all of our food from scratch. I buy organic, sustainable and ethical products. All of my household cleaners, soaps and shampoos are biodegradable. I buy less than 2 articles of clothing per year. My laptop is 7 years old and still going strong. My phone is in its 3rdyear and while not going strong, I have not replaced it. I buy food from the local farmer’s co-op. And all of this is accomplished on less than the amount per year that I calculated as fair use.

My life sounds pretty extreme and sustainable. 

I am such an upstanding, socially and environmentally responsible person.

On paper. 

When you look, but don’t look critically.

Man judges by the outward appearance. 

I flew to Eastern Europe by plane this year. I buy some food from local farmers, but I also buy coconut oil, cocoa powder, sugar, spices, fruits, and many other products from the grocery store. I take the train sometimes. I get rides in cars sometimes. A few times a year I borrow a car. I take long showers. I don’t have a vegetable garden. I don’t compost very much. I usually buy things new. 

I found the Ecological Footprint Calculators. There are quite a few. I remember using them in High School for some class or another. This time I took my time. I calculated the distances I travel in a year very carefully, sparing nothing. I was careful not to over or under estimate anything. I really and truly wanted to know.

If everyone in the world lived as I do, would there be enough resources to go around?





 “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst.”
1 Timothy 1:15

I don’t want to be discouraging. I haven’t tried nearly as hard to be sustainable and live justly as I know we need to. There are things that cost money which use resources. Most things, really. Flights and cars and imported goods and new materials… the list goes on and on. 

But...

There are many things I would do differently if I had the money to do them. I would have a better insulated home and I would have land to compost and grow vegetables on. There are things about this problem that more money can fix. 

That is the truth of the matter. An equal distribution of money… all of us cutting back and just spending less money… is a Band-Aid solution. Money is not the same thing as Wealth. And everyone should have an equal share of this world’s wealth. It is not a "spend-the-least" contest.

We are spending more of the world’s money than we are entitled to. Not all of us, but in general in this country and in this quadrant of the world. It cannot be denied. But the focus should not be on the money, at least not solely. Yes, it is with money that we must purchase resources for those who have been cheated of them. But it is also with money, sometimes more money, that we must buy smarter, fewer resources for ourselves to end the vicious cheating cycle. 

Living far below the fair expenditure line as I do (on less than 12,000 per person/year income) is hard on the environment as I cut corners and fail to invest in more sustainable alternatives, though this is equally the case with many people living larger lives. Living above that wealth line (36,952 per family or 18,476 per adult) may allow you to invest heavily in environmentally sustainable solutions, but fails to distribute current resources (which can be bought only with money) to those people who are starving today.

It is only through applying both categories of wealth equity that we can arrive at an ethical use of global resources. Living with "enough" is defined legally in Ontario as "the poverty line" - that amount of money necessary to sustain an acceptable quality of life. The amount is currently an income of 18,582. A shockingly similar number to the amount every person would have in a fair global economy. So if we all lived with "enough" money, if we all lived on less than 1 7 billionth of the Earth's resources (a sustainable environmental footprint), then all people on Earth would have enough to live.


But I like having nice things. Doesn’t God want us to be happy? Doesn’t he promise us mansions and crowns in Heaven? Isn’t that the ideal?

John 14:2 says, “In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” (KJV)

Mansions is translated from "monay" meaning a dwelling or an abode

The NASB translates it much more clearly: “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.

There are five types of crowns promised in the New Testament. None of them are crowns of worldly riches or jewels though. They are crowns from the Greek word “stephanos” meaning “a badge of royalty, a prize in the public games or a symbol of honor generally" (Crowns).

We are promised a place in Heaven, not a palace. We are promised recognition in Heaven, not riches. To think that God’s promises of a perfect Kingdom mean rich furnishings and a yacht and pool house for every man is to sell God’s promises short. It would be the same for me to say that because I cannot imagine anything better than the degree of love I feel for my husband, I expect to still be married to him in Heaven. 

We will not be married in Heaven. Jesus is quite clear about marriage and its application to this life alone (Matthew 22:30). My inability to imagine something better does not preclude God’s ability to create something better. There will be rewards in Heaven. We must be careful not to assume they are rewards we can understand from Earth.


A Focus on Material Reward is Dangerous

Rather than promising us worldly wealth in heaven, God warns against focusing on wealth, money or possessions at all

Proverbs 23: 4 “Do not weary yourself to gain wealth, cease from your consideration of it.”

1 Timothy 6:7-11 “If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content. But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith… But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness.”

Money as it is discussed in these passages is from the word “mammon” which is thought to have been a deity of the ancient world: the personification of desire for material wealth. 

Hebrews 13:5 “Make sure that your character is free from the love of money.”

Our actions should not be attempts to gain money: riches, material comfort, additional resources. Our actions should not take advantage of the money that we have for those things either: riches, material comfort, etc. But rather we should concern ourselves with the redistribution and preservation of precious resources which is the physical manifestation of love to our neighbours. A love which at its greatest is a shadow, a pale replica, of the love that God has bestowed upon us. 


The World’s Resources and God’s Promises

Studies in 2012 concluded that the world already grows enough food to feed the prospective population of 2050. We have enough food every year to comfortably sustain 10 billion people (World Hunger). Food production is not the problem. What is? The simple answer is: everything else. Distribution, markets, availability, priorities. But the point is that we have enough. The world is increasingly shorter of resources as we burn through them unsustainably and grow in population. But we still have enough to go around. It just isn't making the rounds.

We often throw up our hands (mentally if not physically) at the problems in the world and decide to concern ourselves mostly with our own communities, after all, God loves me and I’m doing my best, right? Well… yes to the first. But can we really say we are doing our best when we have failed to examine what that might be? We throw up our hands too quickly. And in doing so shirk our responsibility to the Gospel.

Caring for the orphans, widows, poor, hungry, homeless, suffering, afflicted... it was this that Jesus spent his time in ministry doing. It is this we are called to do ourselves. Not merely in token amounts, but with our entire beings, at the expense of many other thing, with our very lives.

The Gospel can be summed up as the good news of Christ’s redemption of us and the promise of the Kingdom which the redemption has made possible. What is the use of the redemption if it does not usher us into the Kingdom? It is of no use! Not to the man outside the Kingdom's gates. An invitation to a feast is of no use once the feast has begun and the doors are shut.

When Christ returns and the Kingdom is realized on earth, “Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore; but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid” (Micah 4:3-4).

Not only do we strip the world of the vines and fig trees of other men, not only do we leave our neighbor in poverty while we live in plenty, not only do we instil the terror of desperation in our brothers through our neglect and hording, but we do so in the name of God. By claiming that God has given us our abundant wealth as a personal blessing, we claim that God has favoured us above the least of these and that He has orchestrated their poverty so that we might live in plenty.

The world's resources are finite. Our abundance is at the expense of our neighbours.

God never promised us a castle for every man. There is a scene in the Robin Hood movie with Russell Crowe when King John asks him mockingly if in demanding equality he requires a castle for every man and Crowe as Robin Hood replies, “Every Englishman’s home is his castle.”

When a man has enough, he has everything.

The promise was never for mansions and castles and worldly gain. God has promised us all things good, but he never told us it would be these excessive material riches. Our own vine and our own fig tree with no one to make us afraid. Enough. That is the promise. We will have enough. What loved man would need more?

And yet we dismiss God’s Kingdom as something only for next world because in this world it would be impossible. True peace in this world, in this time is impossible, yes, because sin is still at large. But enough for every man – an integral promise of the Kingdom to come – this is not impossible. It is only impossible when we fail through willful refusal to participate in the Kingdom’s plan.


 “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.” C.K. Chesterton




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