The "Whole Gospel" and Other Things

I finally got my copy of The Hole in our Gospel from the library, and am about 2/3 of the way through it. I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on it. I am thrilled that it has encouraged you to be more involved in the Lord’s commands to care for the poor. I also hope that reading this book has helped you to understand me a little better. My views about “social justice” or caring for the poor do not come from some liberal ideology—when I talk about these things I’m talking about the gospel of Jesus Christ, the “whole gospel” as Stearns describes in this book.

You asked specifically what role I think government should have in caring for the poor. For one thing I think it’s exactly what you said, providing checks and balances—making laws that keep companies accountable in instances when their actions are harmful to those without the power and wealth companies often have. Beyond that I don’t know exactly. There are many people who believe the government should provide services and resources to help the poor. Perhaps if the Church were actually doing its job of loving God, loving our neighbor and making disciples who do the same, people wouldn’t see a need for the government to provide these things. I’m sure I have expressed this before, but what frustrates me greatly is that so many in the Church have spoken out so vehemently against government involvement in helping the poor, and yet our churches are so unaware and uninvolved in doing it themselves.

As I have said before, government is not the answer to these problems, but it does have a role. I know there are flaws in our system of government, and of course, our government officials are human beings affected by sin. However, I don’t agree with you that there are no checks and balances to the greed and inefficiency of our government. There are term limits, we all have the right to vote, we can call our representatives and let them know our views, we could even run for office if we wanted. There is still room for the government to mess up, but there are checks and balances.

You seem to have implied several times that a completely unhindered free market would take care of any problems of corporate greed or injustice on its own. I don’t understand this. Perhaps reading Adam Smith will shed some light. Let me know what abridged version you have and I’ll try to find it at the library. You said that many people think this book “helped set the West on a path of prosperity unprecedented in the history of the world.” While that may be true, I would question whether that has actually been a good thing, for the West or for the rest of the world, especially in light of what Stearns says in his book.

I’m very much looking forward to hearing more about your thoughts on the Hole in our Gospel.