I wouldn't hold poverty on a par with abortion though (even though its easy to politicize the pro-life issues) at least that's the way it comes across.. I get that he wants to put poverty issues on our radar like Bono does.
Exactly!!! We need to focus on what Jesus said. I mean obviously we assume that Jesus opposes abortion, but the truth of the matter is that when we stand before Jesus and he says "I was hungry, did you feed me?" I don't want to be one who said "Well, there were a lot of people in my country who got layed off and then had trouble affording both food and health care for their children, BUT I voted for someone who supported passing legislation against late term abortions (and he lowered my taxes to boot!) so doesn't that just make up for everything?"
I mean, I'm not saying that abortion is not an important side issue, but when we look at the words of Jesus we can't pretend that it's on par with poverty. It's like, if my neighbour gets an abortion, that's her sin, and the doctor's sin, and the sin of anyone who's supporting her in that choice. Is that bad? Yes. Would we outlaw it if we think that would help? Maybe... That's kind of tricky... However, if I'm tolerating poverty, that's my sin. When we stand before God, we have to be accountable with what we've read in the Bible. I mean, if we in fact have a Bible where Jesus says "Just oppose abortion and gay rights and you'll be fine" then maybe God will take that into account, but my Bible has a Matthew 25:45 in it, and I will be judged accordingly.
I guess that carries over with his stance on Israel... what's good is that he tries to get us consider the other side. Sure he's certainly willing to air Israel's dirty laundry in public (Yes that's right all is not holy in the holy land)
As a Biblical scholar, he believes that most of the prophesies in the Bible came to pass in the first or second century. Don't ask me for details, thought, becasue I don't know them off hand. Like I said, it's all in his book 20 Hot Potatoes. But I wouldn't say that his Isreal position is based solely on Matthew 25. It's more complicated than that. Although I wouldn't say that he's ok with how the Palistinians have been treated.
ALTHOUGH I LOVE the fact that we're hearing a christian not pull down the nations leaders but celebrate what they did right!.
Yeah, well, the important thing to remember about Campolo is that even though he's a card carrying member of Democrat Party, he doesn't support everything that Democrats do. I mean the USA is made up of 300 million people, and there are only two major parties. Those two parties don't perfectly represent the views of every last individual. It just drives me nuts that they were critical of Campolo when he counciled Clinton during you know what. I mean take King David for example, when he realized he sin, if he had sought advice from a wise Rabbi, do you think the other Rabbis would have desoned the one he talked to? No. I guess it's just human nature to revel in the mistakes our enemies.
I get that he wants to put poverty issues on our radar like Bono does.
What I don't get is that this isn't on the forefront of every Christians minds. I mean, I don't expect that everyone take a Bono-like approach to it. And by that I mean that Bono likes to work on the marco level in areas like debt reduction. Because really, the amount of money that developing countries are spending on
interest never mind the principal, is just rediculous. And why are so many Christians ok with that? Well, lots of Christians sponsor children in the devleoping world, and really don't want anyone to underestimate the importance of development NGOs. My brother-in-law did his thesis on that. He even has classmates that now work at the Canadian head office of World Vision!
But the developing world aside. There's so much poverty in our own countries. My church likes to work on both the micro and the macro level. So, we collect for the food bank and for our Lenten project we've been collecting craft supplies for a summer camp for inner-city kids. AND we also are given web addresses of how we can write to our politicians to urge them to support anti-poverty initiatives. This to us is all just a normal part of being a Christian.
I can't stand the idea of those professing to love Israel neglecting the promise to Ishmael.'
Interesting... what's the promise to Ishmael? Well, I mean, I've read the Bible I know what God said about Ishmael, but how does the promise to Ishmael work into loving Isreal. Or rather, tell me about what you know about those who profess to love Isreal neglect that promise to Ishmael, as you say???
It is however really hard to get over the feeling that he's spinning you the party line.... I'm not sure however he hasn't bought the party line about 'Palestinians'
I'm not sure what you mean, you'll have to explain.
