O Foolish Conservatives

Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin? . . . Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt . . . .

 - Isaiah 58

Once the narrative switches from the presentation of Christ in the Temple, to His early adulthood, it doesn't take long for Scripture to re-establish the inescapable themes of "Feed the hungry, help the widows and orphans, welcome the aliens, stay morally pure.

If only the followers of Christ actually did this. Oh I know - they give millions of dollars to the poor worldwide. We set up schools and shelters. We donate to hospitals, and to food banks. We establish after school programs for troubled teens.

But we always pay someone else to do it.

But our public face is that of dividers. We are always pointing the finger at "the other."

The Isaiah passage talks about our fasting, or our religious service. We undergo these sacrifices, but all it does is draw attention to ourselves and our own "holiness." God seems to be saying that really, we fast so that some of our increase, our food, our wealth, can go to those that really need it. And God always places the truly helpless in that list of the needy. If we really helped children, we would ensure the next generation of faith. If we truly helped the aged, we would be securing our own future well-being. If we assisted the alien, any accusation of us as "haters" would not stick.

And if we ourselves truly lived moral lives, the rest of the world could see the whole point of it.

And the ultimate slam (in my view): Our choices make us so ashamed that we hide, even, from our own families. (That's another topic. People that avoid connection to family never do so for good reasons.)

The Religious Right. The Conservative. They have it within their power to end the debate and increase the Kingdom. But they keep shooting themselves in their own feet!