newhope4justice

 

Isaiah 1 & Amos 1

 

Isaiah 1.27 = redemption comes by justice, therefore Jesus is justice

-       if Jesus is justice, then don't NOT follow Him
-       and also, don't NOT exercise justice
 

Justice & Righteousness always go together in the Old Testament = these are covenant words.

-       sin is not just a wrong against God
-       sin is also a wrong done against others
-       dare to say these two categories of sin are equally terrible in God's eyes?
 

Isaiah 1.18 = God invites us to reason with Him = this is amazing!  (The word "reason" has a footnote signaling that it could also be translated as "dispute."  The Hebrew word here means "to argue out together, as in a legal dispute."  Regardless, all sound like invitations to dialogue with the Lord!)

-       it's incredible & incredibly encouraging that God wants to dialogue with people on this issue (of what even wrong-living people can do to not be destroyed by their own sin)
-       the following verses also sound like God is so desperately wanting to offer way for wrong-living to turn into right-living

 

Isaiah 1.16-17 = God gives very specific direction in these verses.  These verses are not obscure & confusing Scripture language.  There is no room for interpretation = this is how God wants the righteous to live!

 

***

 

In Amos 1, note that all of Israel's neighbors are about to be punished. 

 

These regions (Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom and Ammon) completely encircle the tiny area inhabited by Israel.  They are also regions largely inhabited by powerful (economically, politically & culturally) Gentile populations.  They are the complete "other" to the Israelites.

 

God addresses the relational aspect here: these are Israel's closest neighbors.

 

Amos 1 addresses the macro-issue of war and the suffering that war entails (as well as why wars begin in the first place).

 

Note:

-       Amos = God wants justice for the little guys (Israel), and addresses nation-versus-nation issues (like war, etc.)
-       Isaiah = God wants the little guys to live in just ways also, within their own micro-structure (the community of Israel should live justly & righteously within itself)

 

 

Follow-Up Conversation

 

There is a TED-talk given by a homeless woman, who says, "I am invisible, but I am not different."  (Meaning: "I am not different than the person I was before I became homeless.")

 

Question: there are people in need in our own community, so what do we do?

An answer, in the form of a question: do we have to do something, or can we just move into our fears / discomforts and understand that we might have to realize the covenant aspect of "doing something?"  In other words, instead of moving straight into action (social service, giving financially, etc.), what about if we did the really hard thing, and entered into relational covenant with the needy in our community (understanding that justice + righteousness = living in covenant relationship)?

-       this is actually the hard thing: making covenant-relationship heart-commitments to the needy (poor, homeless, sick, disabled, alien, etc.) in the same way, with the same heart and with the same motive (friendship & commonality) as we would to our friends who are more like us

 

There is a severe knowledge gap between the poor and not-poor.  There is a questionnaire we can all take:

-       one page asks questions like "Where is the best pizza in your neighborhood?" "Where is the cheapest gas-station near you?" "How far is your local bank branch?" 
-       the other page asks questions like "Where is the closest clean public bathroom?" "Where is the closest public-transportation stop?"  "Where is the closest grocery store that sells day-old bread at discounted prices?"
-       often, folks who can answer all the questions on one page cannot answer any or most of the questions on the other page
-       for the people who can answer all the questions on the first page: what would happen "if everything changed?"  Would those folks (that is, us) know how to survive?

 

Another aspect of a poor person's life: they live in a constant state of waiting.  In other words:

-       they often live in areas of poor infrastructure (leading to things like traffic jams, rutted roads, etc.)

-       they rely on public transportation, which means waiting at bus and train stops

-       they rely on social services, which means waiting on lines at government offices

All this time wasted waiting keeps them from living their lives!

 

Consider also the environment that is set up around a poor person:

-       how many grocery stores vs. liquor stores

-       how many parks & libraries

-       how many social-service offices

 

 

Kotlowitz, A. (1991).  There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys

Growing Up in the Other America.  New York: Anchor.

 

Interesting to note that even a 12-year-old boy (Lafayette) knows that he has to live "righteously" in order to survive (he is desperate not to get recruited by a gang because he knows that will be his downfall).

 

See here how the public-housing projects were created in Chicago.  People (government officials and others) actually said "we don't care, we're giving you crap, so just live in it."  How can you build an apartment building with no lobby, and just an open & dark breezeway?  How can you build the medicine cabinets in the bathrooms such that when you open yours, you can see into the neighbor's medicine cabinet?  How is this acceptable to anyone's imagination?

-       it's like the ghetto neighborhoods now: "Here, we'll give you space to bring in another liquor store, but God forbid we pull strings to make sure you get deliveries of fresh fruit & vegetables to your grocery stores."

 

 

Fitchen, J.M. (1981).  Poverty in Rural America: A Case Study. 

Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press, Inc.

 

Used to drive by rural, run-down houses, and think, "Are these houses empty?  And if someone lives in here, why?  Why don't they just get the heck out and move to a decent house?"

 

Now, we view these shacks & shanties differently.  There is life going on in there.  "Invisible but not different."

 

How much do we take things for granted: fresh bread (as opposed to day-old sold at discount) and undamaged goods (as opposed to cheaper, dinged-up wood for building walls) …

 

 

Sider, R.J. (1997).  Chapter 1.  A billion hungry neighbors. 

Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger.  Nashville; Word Publishing.

 

This first chapter was just heartbreaking.  As humans, there is nothing different from continent to continent.  That is why the poverty that is rampant around the world is so unjust.

 

Feel a lot of guilt as a result, not just a sad kind of guilt, but a guilt that makes one want to move into action now.

-       but we must be wise in our proactivity

-       we have to study, then act; not just react

-       we have to figure out what works, instead of just throwing money at a situation

 

Some feel hopeful, actually:

-       how far a little bit of 1^st-world resource can go in the 3^rd-world

-       we waste so much here (money and food)

-       God will do something (such as mobilizing this group to study & understand, perhaps later to act and work alongside Him)

 

The section on the different concepts of famine was interesting.

 

How is population growth an issue in the realm of poverty & injustice, and what to Bible-believing Christians say to someone who says "stop having children!"?

-       it's an issue because of finite resources vs. infinite consumption

-       there is also a religious aspect: population growth is low in places like the U.S. and Europe (where largely Protestant, Western world-view prevails), but is very high in places of Muslim concentration

o   the Muslim culture / religion is very tightly-knit, self-enclosed, encouraging to the growth of the family; having many children is a priority for cultural & religious reasons

-       population growth is also tied to economic status: there are studies that link greater poverty to families having more children

o   but you can't tell people to not have kids

o   and, if people are subsistence farmers, for example, then you need the free labour of your children

o   and finally, it's not necessarily conversely true that if you have fewer kids, you will be less poor