Lesson 1 for Leaders and Lemmings: How to Manage Money

A comment written to our leaders and lemmings in response to this at http://www.patdollard.com/.

Dear Congress, POTUS, and #OWS folks,
I bought a recliner Saturday. I bought it on sale, but that was a happy accident. To buy the recliner, I needed money. I could have used the money from my paycheck (about $30K per year), the money in my savings account, or a store credit card. Of course, I need things like food, clothing, and shelter, so I must keep money for those expenses.

The store expected me to give them money in exchange for the recliner I carried home with me. If I use credit, then the store knows that it will get the price it asked AND bonus money for allowing me to take extra time to pay money for the recliner I wanted. If I want something that I don't have money in any account, and I choose not to buy on credit, I can either wait to purchase the recliner after I've saved money, or get another job to pay for the item. It is illegal for me to simply print money and use it for the recliner, or the other bills, or for donations to church/charity.

The government should work the same way. If the government wants to give money to (insert country here), then it should check the accounts for amount of money available, check for bills coming due, consider unexpected expenses, and then decide to give or not. If the government wants to give money to a person because of children in the house, lost jobs, or medical expenses, or if the government wants to care for the soldiers here and abroad, it should take care of those commitments first before spending more. If the money to be given to (insert country here) is more important than lost-job spending, then you stop spending on lost-jobs and start spending the money for (insert country here).

Money doesn't grow on trees, dear leaders and lemmings, and once borrowed, it cannot simply be made to vanish. I don't need to borrow money from others to buy 28 recliners; one is sufficient. I don't need to give money to every charity that asks because the need is great; if I give away all my money instead of paying my rent, I will soon be in need of taking charity from others. Who will give to charity then? If I borrow money for one recliner, and decide it's the wrong color, shape and size, I either make do or sell it to a friend; I don't blame the cashier who sold me the recliner, and I don't demand that the store refund my purchase price.

I paid cash for the recliner. It's comfy and it's mine. World Vision still gets monthly support for a kid, my student loan still gets repaid, and my fridge has food for a few more weeks. I do my best not to live "paycheck to paycheck" but I for sure don't live beyond my means. The government cannot live beyond its means either. That's irresponsible. Those like the #OWS lemmings who insist the government should care for them are as irresponsible and immature as those in charge.

Sincerely,
An American citizen

What does Jesus think of this WaPo post?

Once upon a time, the question "What would Jesus do?" gained popularity in Christian life and literature. Pop culture soon took over this quote from Charles Spurgeon's In His Steps and infinite variations could soon be found: some hilarious, others sacrilegious. Lisa Miller's "On Faith" post from October 20, 2011 entitled "Jesus at Occupy Wall Street: 'I feel like I've been here before' opens with a variation on that question: What would Jesus think of Occupy Wall Street? She writes as the opening sentence of paragraph four:

The Jesus of history would love them all.

Had Miller ended her post with that statement, I would be satisfied. Unfortunately, the article continues, and it rapidly spirals downhill.

Jesus believed that God was about to right the world’s wrongs with a great upheaval – soon – and at that time, a radical reversal of the social order would occur. As he says in the gospels, “the meek will inherit the earth.”

Jesus believed no such thing. Jesus knew exactly what God was doing. Jesus came to earth for one reason: to redeem us from our sins. Galatians 4:4-5 tells us that, as does Jesus Himself in John 14:6. There was no upheaval of the social order in the works. Jesus came to those who needed Him most: the sick.

Mark 2:17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

For further support to her idea, Ms. Miller offers quotes from Dr. Bart Ehrman, who says “The people who ran things (in Jesus's time) were empowered by the evil forces of the world and his followers had to work against these powers by feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, and caring for the sick.” Dr, Ehrman is a self-proclaimed agnostic who is yet a professor of religious studies at UNC; he is wrong about Jesus's followers. Jesus, His disciples, and the others (like Mary Magdalene) who walked with Jesus didn't feed the hungry or care for the sick to work against those in power. Feeding the hungry and caring for the sick was what needed to be done. Matthew 14 tells us that Jesus had compassion on the sick, and that He "looked to heaven" before beginning to share the meager fish and bread that miraculously fed 5000 or more.

Ms. Miller continues her post by explaining how "disappointed" Jesus would be with the #OWS movement.

For Jesus, the first thing – the only thing, really -- was God. His ministry was an effort to help guide people toward a kind of moral perfection before the coming of the Kingdom of God.

Again, Ms. Miller misconstrues the message of the Gospel, and the purpose of Jesus's life, death and resurrection. Jesus says of Himself in John 11:25-26 “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in Me will never die." Then He asks, "Do you believe this?”Jesus did die, but He rose again, and lives today.

Ms. Miller's final paragraph consists of a quote from someone involved in the protest.

If the Jesus of history could wander the precincts held by the occupiers, “he’d see his people,” says Marisa Egerstrom, a graduate student at Harvard who organized a posse of chaplains to volunteer at Occupy sites. “I think he would be pretty pleased.”

Jesus is well aware of the protests: the needs, the greed, the occupy-ers who mistreat others, and those who honestly hope for a better future. He is also aware of those who are watching from afar, trying and often failing to convince the occupy-ers that there is another way.

Jesus sees His creation: men and women and children that He created, that He loves, that He came to save. He sees the evil that we have in our hearts, and in some, the light that His love has brought.

Is He pleased? I will not speak to the protest itself, but I know that Jesus cannot be pleased with way He was depicted by Ms. Miller. He would be disappointed that the Gospel was distorted in such a way.