Posted on 03/02/2008 2:59:28 PM PST by Terriergal
The Poverty and Justice Bible, the latest release from Bible Society, has broken new ground as the first ever to literally highlight the more than 2,000 passages that reveal God’s sorrow over poverty and injustice, and His command to believers to act to eradicate them.
Sun, Mar. 02, 2008 Posted: 12:41:18 PM EST
The Poverty and Justice Bible, the latest release from Bible Society, has broken new ground as the first ever to literally highlight the more than 2,000 passages that reveal God’s sorrow over poverty and injustice, and His command to believers to act to eradicate them.
The new edition challenges the notion that the Bible is a dusty, outdated rulebook, and shows that God – through the Bible - was already speaking out on poverty long before anyone else.
The Rt. Rev. Dr. Tom Wright, bishop of Durham and Bible Society’s president, said, “Poverty and injustice are two of the biggest issues of our day, challenging the minds of politicians and social activists around the world.
“The imbalance of global wealth, famine, water shortages, exploitation and corruption are all issues that invoke outrage – and demand attention. But The Poverty and Justice Bible shows that, in speaking out on these issues, God got there first.”
Far from being irrelevant, the Poverty and Injustice Bible demonstrates that God’s Word has “something to say about issues that resonate today”, the bishop added.
“This Bible connects with the very fabric of today’s world, with all its problems and messiness – and has something powerful to say,” he said.
Bible Society was inspired to develop the new Bible after Pastor Rick Warren, author of bestselling The Purpose Driven Life, admitted that had missed more than 2,000 verses that speak of God’s heart for the poor despite studying theology and being a pastor for decades. He claimed that Christians risked losing their credibility if they failed to speak out against poverty and injustice.
Christian leader and commentator Tony Campolo added, “Here’s proof that faith without commitment to justice for the poor is a sham, because it ignores the most explicit of all the social concerns of Scripture.”
Bible Society staff and experts spent months debating and sifting through the Contemporary English Version (CEV) Bible to pull out the verses that say something about God’s attitude to poverty and justice. The result was more than 2,000 sections, with almost every page from Genesis to Revelation emphasizing just and fair behavior.
The organization hopes that the Poverty and Justice Bible will also act as a springboard for Christians to take action on these issues by helping them link social action with Scripture.
The new Bible, produced with support from aid agency World Vision, includes a 32-page study guide written by bestselling authors Nick and Claire Page, and covers a wide range of timely issues from equality to education, and farming to fair trade.
The studies highlight that concern for the oppressed is foundational to faith, and encourage action – from giving and praying, to living responsibly.
“For us in this country, issues of poverty and justice have increasingly become front and center,” Bible Society Chief Executive James Catford said. “What this Bible shows is that on the topics that challenge us every day, God got there first. The Bible has something to say about life and, in fact, there’s nothing on earth that we can experience that the Bible doesn’t tackle.
“The Poverty and Justice Bible helps the Church engage with the Bible more effectively by linking Scripture with issues that are rooted in today’s world. For Bible Society, this is just as important as our work to make the Bible available. It’s all part of the fight against Bible poverty.”
Anne Thomas
Christian Post Correspondent
Today is the Sunday of the Last Judgment in the Orthodox Church.
Here is the Gospel passage from this morning:
Mat 25:31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.
Mat 25:32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
Mat 25:33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.
Mat 25:34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
Mat 25:35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,
Mat 25:36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’
Mat 25:37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?
Mat 25:38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?
Mat 25:39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’
Mat 25:40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
Mat 25:41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
Mat 25:42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
Mat 25:43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’
Mat 25:44 Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’
Mat 25:45 Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’
Mat 25:46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
"Sure, no problem. Let's crank it through this here thesaurus ... shazam! Word count checks out fine."
"Ship it."
Before you ask, NO! I’m not with Rick Warren or Jim Wallis or the “emerging” church.
But Jesus DID say that how we treat the poor will be the basis on which we are judged!
There are other passages which refer to helping the poor or the suffering in general, but this isn't one of them.
Yes, but if your wealth is forcibly confiscated by taxation, then given to people who often are not really poor (because some politician wants their votes), then that's a complete and frankly Satanic perversion of the Gospel. What Jesus wanted was for people to show the same unmerited, unselfish love that He showed to us. Love is a voluntary act, not something evoked by coercion.
Come to think of it, I can recall very few places where the New Testament talks about "justice." It makes clear that the justice everyone merits is a death sentence. What the NT does talk about is grace and love.
If Christinity IS about government funded charity then our nation’s separation of church and state absolutely forbids this role for government.
If you do not subscribe to their brand of so call Christianity, you should not be required to fund their agenda.
Where is the free will in forced taxation?
Are the congressmen who enact such legislation more religious than the tax payers who must fund it?
Hogwash.
Both of you mentioned "forced taxation". I said that I wasn't on the bandwagon with Warren, Wallis, etc. I think Campolo's ideas are out to lunch. Socialism isn't the answer at all!
The government cannot carry out our responsibilities for us. It is our job, not the governments.
At some point the desire to rob Peter to pay Paul is more akin to coveting than to charity.
A lot of poverty can be overcome by getting a dang job.
Context has nothing to do with it. I quoted the entire passage.
It is preceded by the parable of the talents. That parable emphasizes our responsibility to use what God gives us for his glory.
I don’t agree with your understanding of “brother” in this passage but even if you are right, we are responsible for meeting the needs of poor Christians, at least. Only the scope changes, not the responsibility.
I agree!
And they also don’t want to teach and preach the real gospel, which is the only real source of salvation... they just want to make people think we’re really nice and make them really comfortable on their way to hell.
yup!
You’re right of course. But even believers don’t have a command to eradicate poverty and injustice (that will not happen until Jesus returns and triumphs over all his enemies, which includes some of the poor!). But to DO justice and help the poor ourselves where we have the opportunity to do so.
yup.
Just because the verse mentions the poor doesn’t mean it is concerned with eradicating poverty. So of that 200 some verses I found surely some of those were just mentioning the fact of poverty not necessarily that we should be tasked with removing such a phenomenon entirely from the world. That would make us CHRIST!
yup. I am sure some of those were in the 200 or some odd verses that I was able to find... many many of them were indicating poverty as the result of sin.
bingo.
imagine that.
I would nitpick that ... none of us deserve anything good. BUT... you are right in that that includes the POOR as well as the rich -- they seem to insist that the poor deserve it (wealth) more than the rich. But in reality neither do. So we operate according to the laws of property ownership that God has ordained for both rich and poor.
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