A Fair Christian

Knowing that I am close to being in the top 10% of the richest people in the world, even on my measly income, I need to take seriously the passages in Scripture that address the rich. If you're a fellow American, you probably make more money than me right now, so you are even richer. We like to imagine that the rich people are Bill Gates and the Clintons or McCains, but in the larger scope of the world, we are the rich. I can go down the street right now and buy fruits from all over the world. My family owns two cars while many throughout the world own none. Everyone reading this has internet accesss, if not high-speed internet in the convenience of their own home. We have a television with a digital converter box. I could say that I am poor because I do not have a new high-definition television like the one sitting in front of me as I type this at my brother's house, but I would be lying. I am economically poor for the time being according to our government's definition of who is and is not poor, but I am still an economically rich man through a lens that looks at all nationalities.

This has led me to contemplate how I use my money as a rich person, which is what I am as a poor American. Do I use my money indiscrimately and give money to regimes and corporate interests who use corporate slave labor or do I wisely use my money to help economically liberate people around the world? Am I loving with my consuming?

Do not take this as a buy American rant. That is not what this is. It is more of a buy fair rant. Fair trade means that the people who manufacture or produce the product that is branded "fair" were given a livable wage for their work. This is not wealth redistribution or an attack on capitalism as it is not government-enforced. It is actually using capitalism to bring about fairness. The companies that buy their products will pay above market value in order for the producers of the product to receive a livable wage. As consumers in a capitalistic society, we can consume in such a way that we add to oppression in poorer nations or we can help them to prosper. Our collective dollars have a powerful voice because they are a medium through which we have an international voice.

And our spiritual obligation to use our money to liberate rather than oppress is something we can not easily brush aside.

James 5:1-6

Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you.

We have a responsibility to not fatten ourselves and entertain ourselves while repressing others.

We need to connect with the idea that we are God's ambassadors here on earth. A United States ambassador is a representative of our nation in the nation where they reside. They conduct the day-to-day business of the United States with the government there. We, as Christians, conduct the day-to-day operations of God here on earth. Our churches should be like embassies where the people of God gather together and experience life like it is at home. As an ambassador of Christ, we must speak out against slave labor and oppression, but can we do that if we are just consuming products that enable the oppressors?

The concept behind the year of Jubilee helps me to grasp this. The year of Jubilee (in Leviticus 25:1-17), the practice instituted by God in which all the land would be given back to their original owners every fifty years, emphasizes that our material possessions are not our own; they are God's. The principle laid out in verse 17 still applies today: "Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God. I am the LORD your God."

As Christians, we are not to take advantage of other people. We are to be instruments executing God's will here and now. Part of that responsibility deals with us consuming responsibly. Using the excuse of ignorance on how our products travelled the road from production to our home no longer flies. We are responsible if another human was oppressed to produce a product we consume. We have brothers and sisters all along the path of production who need our help in making sure they have a livable wage. Let us not shirk our responsibility to God, which we can honor by loving our fellow man.