This is a parable called the River.
A group of people are standing at a river bank and suddenly hear the cries of a baby. Shocked, they see an infant floating--drowning--in the water. One person immediately dives in to rescue the child. But as this is going on, yet another baby comes floating down the river, and then another! People continue to jump in to save the babies and then see that one person has started to walk away from the group still on shore. Accusingly they shout, "where are you going?" The response: "I'm going upstream to stop whoever's throwing babies into the river.
The moral of the story is to get to the root of the problem, right? If we get to the root of the problem then all will be well.
I don't have to travel all the way upstream to tell you what the root of the problem is. I can tell you now. The problem is sin. The problem is always sin. And the problem will always be sin.
If I go upstream and find an evil man throwing babies into the river I cannot take the evil out of the man. If I kill the evil man, there will be another to take his place. If I go upstream and find a daycare built against the river with no barrier between the children and the river and see children falling in the river, I can talk to the owner. I will find a lazy or greedy establishment, unwilling to do the work or spend the money to provide a fence. If I build a fence to protect the children at this establishment, another establishment will be erected further up the river with lower costs, and there will be no fence. Babies will continues to fall into the river.
We cannot depend on government to save us. We cannot take greed or sloth or vanity or wrath or envy out of government any more than we can take it out of a man. Only Jesus can change a heart.
We cannot do anything about the root of the problem. Only Jesus can fix the problem. All we can do is jump in the river and pull out as many babies as we can. When we, the Church, agree to waste its time searching for and attempting to fix the root of the problem we are only spinning our wheels and wasting our time and resources. There will always be sin in the world until Jesus returns.
The Church is the body of Christ, just as the Bible describes. Jesus met individuals where they were and in the condition they were in, he didn't meet with political figures and try to change the system. I believe Jesus said something like, pay your taxes or render unto Caesar that which belongs to Caesar. I believe the religious / political leaders didn't care too much for Jesus. They rejected him.
So all you ministers, pastors, priests, Sunday school teachers, Christians who are promoting or participating or beating a drum for OWS. You are not being the body of Christ. Jump in the river. Save a baby. Social justice is a waste of your time here on earth.
A group of people are standing at a river bank and suddenly hear the cries of a baby. Shocked, they see an infant floating--drowning--in the water. One person immediately dives in to rescue the child. But as this is going on, yet another baby comes floating down the river, and then another! People continue to jump in to save the babies and then see that one person has started to walk away from the group still on shore. Accusingly they shout, "where are you going?" The response: "I'm going upstream to stop whoever's throwing babies into the river.
The moral of the story is to get to the root of the problem, right? If we get to the root of the problem then all will be well.
I don't have to travel all the way upstream to tell you what the root of the problem is. I can tell you now. The problem is sin. The problem is always sin. And the problem will always be sin.
If I go upstream and find an evil man throwing babies into the river I cannot take the evil out of the man. If I kill the evil man, there will be another to take his place. If I go upstream and find a daycare built against the river with no barrier between the children and the river and see children falling in the river, I can talk to the owner. I will find a lazy or greedy establishment, unwilling to do the work or spend the money to provide a fence. If I build a fence to protect the children at this establishment, another establishment will be erected further up the river with lower costs, and there will be no fence. Babies will continues to fall into the river.
We cannot depend on government to save us. We cannot take greed or sloth or vanity or wrath or envy out of government any more than we can take it out of a man. Only Jesus can change a heart.
We cannot do anything about the root of the problem. Only Jesus can fix the problem. All we can do is jump in the river and pull out as many babies as we can. When we, the Church, agree to waste its time searching for and attempting to fix the root of the problem we are only spinning our wheels and wasting our time and resources. There will always be sin in the world until Jesus returns.
The Church is the body of Christ, just as the Bible describes. Jesus met individuals where they were and in the condition they were in, he didn't meet with political figures and try to change the system. I believe Jesus said something like, pay your taxes or render unto Caesar that which belongs to Caesar. I believe the religious / political leaders didn't care too much for Jesus. They rejected him.
So all you ministers, pastors, priests, Sunday school teachers, Christians who are promoting or participating or beating a drum for OWS. You are not being the body of Christ. Jump in the river. Save a baby. Social justice is a waste of your time here on earth.
