Good Wednesday morning, my friends.
On Monday I posed the question: Are we the rich oppressors James refers to in his opening remarks to Chapter 5 (James 5:1-5). That question garnered a number of interesting responses. Here are a few:
I feel it's sometimes a "Don't ask, don't tell" scenario. It shouldn't be, but it is. The big question is how much do I dig, looking for cases of injustice in my purchasing? Do I dig or do I just make an ethical decision when the information drops in my lap?
I wonder if Jesus would have offered a sacrificial dove in the synagogue / temple if He'd known that it had been raised by people born into slavery?
I don't know what the answer is, but I know it's easiest to just pretend that nothing's going on and keep on living life. At the same time it could be easy to swing to the other extreme and be so transfixed with injustices on the other side of the world (either real or imaginary) that you could never drink a coke or send an email or kick a soccer ball or wear a shirt without being paralyzed by guilt.
So, I'm not sure what the answer is...!
I think you are on to something! We, the "rich" are complicit in the crime of perpetuating slave labour every time we buy products from companies / countries who permit slave labour-like conditions. I think we as Christians should fight for fair treatment of all workers. Christian faith was the motivation behind William Wilberforce's campaign to abolish slavery in England. Although that type of slavery was a much more obvious, the situation you identify is not really that much different. We are removed from the direct witnessing of it now with the "global" world we currently live in, but we are essentially saying "this practice is ok" every time we purchase products from these countries / companies. Now that I have said my two cents worth, I am more convicted about this than ever. I now need to change my buying habits.......I have to put my "money" where my mouth is!
An interesting question...
I would say that, in general, you're on safe moral ground buying your firepit from Walmart. The Chinese surely do have a deplorable human rights record but the products that come from the forced labour system are a bit unlikely to find their way into the Walmart stores due to the buying power of that company as well as its fairly strict moral outlook of the corporate founders.
You raise an interesting point about child labour however , one of the most common misconceptions in the Western world is that so-called child labour is a horror to be stamped out at all costs. One of the unfortunate side-effects of such a point of view was seen in India during the early 1990's where a concerted effort was made to stop purchasing products made by children – thereby depriving both them and their families of any source of income. As with most blind good intentions, this one lead to desperate poverty amongst the affected individuals and the children increasingly had to turn to the child sex trade to support themselves and their families. I think I'd make an effort to end child abuse but it's an open question if the child in question who is assisting an older relative to weave clothes or to carve decorations is actually 'abused' when that practice may go back dozens of generations quite successfully.
I really appreciate the thoughtful comments and questions. Personally, I feel we should always be prepared to ask questions about our faith and about how our life is glorifying God. The question I ask myself when confronted with something like this is: "How will this affect my relationship with God?"
So – what decisions will you make today (what to buy, what to invest in, what to read, what to watch, what to say, etc.) and how will those decisions affect your relationship with God?
Grace and peace be yours in abundance,
Gracious God, it is time. It is time to make the hard decisions.Sometimes I'm scared, sometimes I'm confused and sometimes I just don't want to believe that I have to make a decision.Help me to trust You. Give me strength and wisdom so that whatever happens honors my loved ones and You.Thank You for hearing me and answering my prayer.Amen.
 | Bruce MacPherson |
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