Compassion Loses Its Compassion

Well it seems that even so-called "Christian" organizations are not immune to the lustful greed prevalent in large multinational corporations. Could it be that the bigger they get, the more they resemble the world?

Throughout this month and possibly beyond, Compassion International will be laying off its IT staff in Colorado so they can outsource to Red China where the work is substantially cheaper. Of course we’ve come to expect this kind of behavior from the secular world, but is it really appropriate for a parachurch organization to behave this way?

There is little more frustrating than to be forced to train your replacements and this company in particular has apparently forsaken it's namesake in pursuit of the "bottom line". Clearly, Compassion International has more compassion for the children their ministry supports than it does for the Christians working there. And apparently it also values enemy China more as well.

So how is a Christian supposed to react to this?

Now I'm not saying that nobody should ever be laid off if there is a business failure eminent or for good cause. I’m sure the decision makers will tell you they have no choice; that they must remain "competitive". And it may be that these job terminations are a combination of circumstances, most likely poor planning and management incompetence. But that’s not what I’m talking about.

I've heard more than one Christian applaud outsourcing decisions describing them as being "shrewd". They may even say the company is "doing God's will" because donor's dollars become more efficient and that way more poor people can be helped.

Let's examine that last thought (and please excuse me while I swallow the vomit in the back of my throat). Are Christians to be "shrewd"? Are they to take from one people to give to another - taking even from their own brothers?

Sure, we are to feed the poor and widows. But are we to accomplish that by harming others - especially other Christians? What do the scriptures say about this?

The Desert

Recently a famous pastor posted this on his blog:

"Then all his disciples deserted him and ran away." This is a stage that has to happen to all of us if we want to be crucified. No reason to blame "the disciples." All of us have to die on our own crosses with our families and mockers watching, "disciples" claiming not to know you.

- Ted Haggard

Of course, the writer is referring to Jesus & the scriptures describing His desertion by the very disciples whom He had trained and loved, and who professed to love Him. And the quote coming from someone who has experienced the most extreme example of "friends" deserting him in modern times (Ted Haggard), the point is well taken.

Jesus had experienced yet another kind of persecution. This type is rarely if ever done in public - it is done behind the scenes and behind our backs. It is the worst kind of attack because it comes from those who profess to "love you, brother". It is betrayal, plain and simple.

Where I've run into trouble on this issue is that I expected the church to be a place where I would find refuge from this type of behavior. For example, I had hoped that Galatians 6:10 would be lived out loud and that the church, of all places, would be a place where people worked hard at least trying to implement this scripture in their lives.

I was wrong.

In fact, I found that the church can be a breeding ground for false accusation, rumor and innuendo, lust, pride, competition and even outright lies.

Just like the rest of the world.

Maybe even worse because of the hypocrisy involved.

Jesus Himself felt deserted by God in His wilderness experience. Indeed, the church itself can be a desert - a wasteland where we can find ourselves wandering and even doubting our faith.

Yes, I was wrong about the church.

But not in the way I used to think I was wrong...

I was wrong because I saw myself as a victim. I used to fight my own battles instead of allowing God to fight them for me. Then it occurred to me (and brother Ted) that perhaps God allows this type of persecution to occur in our lives to help us to identity more with His son.

It is apparently a hard lesson we must all learn. Although we should try to create an atmosphere of trust and love, ultimately we cannot find refuge in the church, or anywhere else in this world.

There is only one refuge - Jesus Himself.

When Satan Uses Christians

Have you ever seen a Christian manifest?

Many Christians act like they are not only "of this world", but perhaps something more. I am sure I have been used many times without even being aware of it.

Recall when Peter was used by Satan:

Matthew 16:23 - Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."

I bring this up only as a reminder to all believers - don't be so sure you are on the right track all the time.

If we don't take our thoughts captive, someone else will.

Praising Inequality

So here's what Brian Griffiths of Goldman Sachs says:

We have to tolerate the inequality [between Wall Street bonuses & Main Street pay] as a way to achieve greater prosperity and opportunity for all

He was commenting on the $16.9 BILLION paid to Goldman Sachs for the 1st 9 months of 2009 after receiving billions in TARP funds from the US government.

Is this the kind or "free market" Christians should embrace?

Christian Robin Hoods

Suppose I gamble in the stock market and the company I "invest" in starts laying off hard working American engineers, not because of tough economic times, but because they are replacing them with just as hard working cheap foreign labor which is one tenth the cost. By doing this, they increase "shareholder value". After all, we "investors" demand quarterly results whereby our companies are working diligently to improve the bottom line, right?

Let's make it more interesting - more holy.

Suppose the company is a non-profit para-church organization. By laying off the Christian American engineer and hiring several remote Indians (or say Chinese or better yet, Burmese) programmers, the company then uses those savings to help the poor and needy.

A shrewd move, eh? Making "wise" use of what God has entrusted to us? Aren't we just "being a good steward" like the parable of the talents says to? Sounds pretty holy to me…

Many Christians would applaud such tactics - as long as the lost job isn't theirs. But that is the subject of another post (see "As Long As Its Not My Job"). What I want to focus on here is the notion that such thinking is moral.

Is it?

Or is it really just "ends justifying the means" thinking all gussied up as "doing God's will on earth"?

Is our motivation really to help the poor - or is it to increase the income stream of the corporation, thereby our own potential future profits? Or perhaps the motivation is simply pious - to make ourselves "look better" to both God and to the world.

The notion of choosing to bless one set of people over another...Does God ask us to do this? Would God do this?

No. God wants us to spread the Gospel (by living the gospel), to feed the poor and the widows - but not at the expense of other people - especially Christians. Our role on earth is not to behave as some sort of “Christian Robin Hood” stealing from the "rich" - even if it is helping the poor.

As Christians formulating our world view, let's make sure we get this right: God does not favor one group of His children over another - no matter what their earthly circumstances are. The God of the Bible would never do such a thing. Nor would He support such wrong thinking.

And neither should we.

As Long As it's Not My Job

We've all heard people comment on the misfortune of others. When someone suffers as the result of some event beyond their control, we often express some form of condolence.

But for some reason, Americans tend to be less sensitive when such suffering comes as the result of someone getting laid off from work. Sometimes we react as though the victim somehow deserved their misfortune.

Now I'm not talking about situations where people are let go for cause or normal market conditions. I'm talking about layoffs as a result of situations like mergers and outsourcing. When euphemisms like "increasing shareholder value" are used to say boost quarterly profits while corporate officers take home more pay in a week than all of those they lay off receive in a year.

None of this is particularly surprising. Economic theory teaches us that people always behave in their own self-interest, even when it harms others.

But that's not what Jesus says. To the contrary Christians are to love their neighbors as themselves and even to place the needs of others above their own - that is how the world is to distinguish them from others.

Instead, we find the majority of Christians holding to a kind of "bottom line theology" when it comes to marketplace issues. The notion that dollars are more important than people is well entrenched in the typical evangelical church of today.

Because they are social conservatives, many Christians fall into the trap of being excessively fiscally "conservative".

The emotional reaction of blaming people for getting laid off is the result of a combination of jealousy and self-pride - clearly not traits becoming of a Christian. But it's even worse when seasoned with a good dose of hypocrisy - when we are okay with layoffs as long as it's not our job.

Wow. That's not only an ineffectual testimony to Christ, it's actually worse than a worldly stance.... like doing Kingdom work in reverse.

God Blesses My 401k?

So today I ran across a fellow Christian. Somehow we got on the subject of the stock market, which I had insensitively labeled a gambling institution. While he disagreed with me, I expected him to challenge me as I was prepared to sharpen iron. Instead, he went on telling me all about his investments and encouraging me to "invest" while I was still young (which by the way, I am not).

He was completely oblivious to the fact that I had just called him a gambler.

Many in the church today see nothing wrong with serving God and money at the same time. In fact, they believe that God wants us to prosper, and that He actually encourages us seeking prosperity. It is this kind of wrong thinking that leads to the "prosperity gospel" and to passivity about issues like globalization. As long as my 401k is rising, what could be better than that? It's a win-win gospel. This is surely God's will. He wants to give us the desires of our heart anyway, right?

Now I'm not saying that God doesn't want the best for us. For some of us, His plan may indeed allow for us to become fabulously wealthy.

But what if your investment harms God's environment? Or causes a hard working engineer in America to lose his job - indeed his entire occupation category - to cheap foreign labor - permanently? Or ends up funding radical terrorists who murder innocent people?

In other words, what if our "investments" cause the suffering of others?

Is that OK?