[heavy critic from Gary North and David Chilton - his book never mentioned even in the biography]

live at need vs. greed level; author has changed (6th edition); “God wants every person and family to have equality of economic opportunity, at least to the point of having access to the resources necessary (land, money, education), so that by working responsibly they can earn a decent living and participate as dignified members of their community”; 1/3 of people live on <$2/day; stunting: permanent brain damage due to malnutrition; affluence ~ population growth (tend to go together); God saved Israel from Egypt because they were oppressed (<-> main reason: covenant with Abraham); prophecy against Israel because of mistreatment of the poor (<-> main reason: idolatry, injustice was one of its consequences); Jesus came to liberate the poor & set the oppressed free (<-> he didn’t end Roman oppression); “clear” meaning should not be spiritualized (eg. poor in spirit); Jesus probably didn’t grow up in poverty; Jesus’ identification with the poor: Mt 25 (<-> main point: law vs grace); God hates & punishes both oppression & neglect of the poor; God seems to be biased towards the poor only in contrast with our sinful unconcern; God demands that all people have the opportunity to earn a reasonable living; common purse of Jesus: genuine economic security; “redeemed economic relationships in the early church resulted in the spread of the Gospel”;

Paul “insisted on accompanying the offering” to Jerusalem Christians; “this financial unity mattered far more even than his own life”; it is a “sinful abomination” for some Christians to grow wealthy while our brothers and sisters (even in other countries) starve; “will there be enough Christians who are also generous?”; right of property: not absolute, God is the Lord of all things -> “property owners are not free to to seek their own profit without regard for the needs of their neighbors”; possessions are dangerous, we can forget that God is the source of all good (1Tim 6:9-10); greedy Christians who neglect millions of starving children should be disciplined by the church (how would that look like in practice???); St. Augustine: created goods are “rings from the Beloved”, not the Beloved himself; Christians must lower their standard of living not because property/food/clothes are inherently evil but because others are starving; God wills prosperity with justice for the poor (not occasional charity); “righteous poor”: Jews willing to sacrifice material prosperity for their faith; some capitalists worship mammon by idolizing economic efficiency and success; people » property: Jesus calls us to be so unconcerned with property that we are willing to gladly sell it to aid the poor;

West: personal evil > social evil - God condemns both; “If we are members of a privileged group that profits from structural evil, and if we have at least some understanding of the evil yet fail to do what God wants us to do to change things, we stand guilty before God”; responsibility != guilt; everyone has some responsibility to correct the evil around them but that does not mean each person is guilty of every sin in the society; God condemns wicked systems even if you participle without being aware; rich Christians deciding not to know about poverty ~ mafia wives deciding not to ask questions from their husbands; choosing not to know about evils that benefit us and injure others is sin; objection: Jesus didn’t do anything directly to change structural evils of his time <-> but: he spoke against economic oppressors and condemned wicked rulers, also he didn’t have the political opportunity; Jesus was sinless -> we can assume he did all God wanted him to do; (<-> disciples didn’t challenge Roman empire either!); “When we choose to participate in and benefit from evil social systems, we sin against God and our neighbors.; but: God doesn’t want us to feel guilty for not doing everything; author tried hard to learn from “good” economists; even brilliant economists make mistakes (-> author can do too); market economies have lifted many from poverty but still have serious problems (injustices, monopoly, trade barriers, poor cannot acquire capital, domestic subsidies);

multinational corporations: help poor nations but also suppress unions, keep wages low, lure people by advertising; women do not have equal opportunities (+ selective abortion, prostitution); war: results from a complex web of structural evils (<-> not from sinful hearts); international trade pattern contain injustice, when done right helps the poor, needs to be corrected; only correct Christian response: repentance (<-> neither Jesus nor the apostles seem to have done this! Jesus’ death was the result of an unjust system, yet none of the disciples repented/took responsibility for his death even though they were also part of the unjust system!); model: Zacchaeus, part of sinful economic structure (<-> he had to repent for his personal sins, not for the system!); simpler personal lifestyle is essential but not sufficient; we must make the structures of society more fair; “Those of us who live in affluent circumstances accept our duty to develop a simple life style in order to contribute more generously to both relief and evangelism.” (Lausanne Covenant, 1974);

Graduated Tithe: (not normative) 1) define income base (based on honest needs, you can use federal poverty level as a reference) 2) give 10% of your base 3) for the next 1000 USD above your base, give 15% 4) for the next 1000 above this, give 20% etc.; do not neglect other areas of Christian work; most effective strategies to reduce poverty: 1) clean water 2) de-worm treatments for children 3) bed-nets against malaria 4) micro-loans; structural change is necessary; we are only stewards, not absolute owners; decentralizing power is crucial; wealthy nations should provide more foreign aid and reduce trade barriers; we should insist that nations receiving foreign aid become more democratic (<-> is this not cultural imperialism???); evangelistic activities play a crucial rule in social changes (<-> should the gospel be used as a means to an end?); first, we need to correct the problems in market economies (<-> good luck with that 😀); “we must end the outrage of Christians celebrating the market economy and then failing to provide the poorest with access to the capital they need to earn a decent living in the global market” (<-> is it merely capital what poor need for a decent living?); “God wants every family to have the basic capital-land, money, knowledge-to earn their own way and be dignified, participating members of society”; Christians must insist on effective government programs; “no country has achieved significant improvement in child mortality and primary education without government intervention” (World Bank);

Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI): better measure of social and economic well-being; affluence will always remain a distant, urgently sought, but never attained goal (<-> just like equality…); “will Christian voters be more concerned about hungry people abroad or economic convenience at home?” (<-> or hungry people at home?); making multinational corporations more just sounds utopian, but we need to pressure them by global trade agreements and stock purchase; foreign aid doesn’t seem to help but this doesn’t mean we should stop giving aid, we just need to make it more efficient (avoid corruption, less bureaucracy, promote democracy); Marshall Plan: most successful aid programs (<-> in this case the human capital - skills, knowledge, experience - was given, only the infrastructure was missing which is much easier to fix than developing human capital); God demands institutionalized mechanisms that will offer everyone the opportunity to earn a just living; “Either generous Christians will persuade their affluent neighbors to transform today’s market economies so that everyone can share the good earth’s bounty, or growing division between rich and poor will lead not only to more starvation and death but also to increasing civil strife, terrorism, and war.” (<-> no pressure at all 😀; as if market economies are responsible for every problem in this earth)