"One-sixth of all the words that Jesus spoke and one-third of all the parables are about the dangers of wealth and possessions. It is something we hear in the prophets, particularly in the Old Testament... and of course, that's what Jesus himself was steeped in, those words were his scriptures... that any culture, but certainly one that claims to be godly, is to be judged on how well the most vulnerable are treated...
It's really about our sense of community, and indeed, do the wealthy have a responsibility to the larger community. Are we really going to live in an every man-woman-child for themselves world or are we going to be a community in which the greater good - the common good - is also a value that we hold.
You know the prophet Micah said we must "do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with our god" and the 'do justice' part is figuring out what is wrong with the system that makes this happen, that causes people to be drowning almost literally, certainly drowning in debt, in the richest nation on earth.
And so, to be true to our tradition, we can't just provide food and clothing and even housing for those who have hit really hard times; we have to figure out what the system is that is causing that in the first place."
H/T to The Lead.
