“There was
not a needy person among them...”
~Acts 4:34a (NRSV)
With all the ills of the world
before us—whether they be global warming, financial crises, famines, the vast
divide between rich and poor growing, poverty in general, etc—we can see the fracturing
wisdom within the secular model of planetary rule. Particularly since the
Industrial Revolution, and now advancing with the technological age, we’ve seen
a steady decline within the norms of morality. Modernism and, now, postmodernism
are much to blame.
Without a focus on God we quickly
go to rack and ruin. Of course, the world might scoff at that. But the
Christian worldview has always been better for humanity.
The First Century church got the
model of community and nationhood right when it inspired the well-off to sell
their unneeded possessions, so, in love, they could help provide for those in
need.
There has always been enough
material resource, shelter, food, water and currency to go all the way around.
But when greed and monopoly and power become the aces of focus the rich get
richer and the poor get poorer. And the world slides gradually into an oblivion
of its own making.
A Better And By Far Best
Way
True Christianity, which has
always been social-justice focused, is the supreme worldview. It has as its
core tenet that priory of the poor and needy, those who cannot fend for
themselves. And whether disadvantaged bodily, financially, or however else,
it’s beside the point. There is an effective answer in the Christian worldview
of governance, despite actual belief in Jesus, because that worldview centres
on empowering and advocating the lowest common denominator within society. We
see it to some extent through the charities that exist and the majority of
Western governments are set up based on the Christian model. But power against
the predominant Christian worldview still holds too much sway.
Of course, wherever the Christian
worldview is all-encompassing, and people see value and relevance, they cannot
help but be curious about Jesus; a holy and just God who loves especially the
needy—and there is neediness in everyone.
Not only is the Christian
worldview the best, and possibly the only, answer to good national, state, or
local governance, it is the fairest.
The Christian worldview for
governance is both best and fairest. It’s clearly the best, but it’s far from
likely to occur pervasively in this world.
***
The only profitable model to
advance world peace and sustainability is the Christian worldview. But, about
the only way we could see the comprehensive institution of a pervasive Christian worldview is for
Jesus to return.
We need to be praying more and
more, and doing what we can, for the poor and needy.
A better world begins in the
microcosm of one mind that sees need beyond itself; in a heart convicted to reach out despite
the risk to oneself. One word underpins it: Action; love motivated always for the other.
© 2012 S. J. Wickham.
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