jesus | The Overflow

Dec 21 2009

Current Events, Devotional Thoughts, Resources

John Piper on Jesus & Truth + Priest Encouraging Impoverished to Steal

Couple of items I’d like to share with you today.

First, I ran across a good article from John Piper on Christianity.com today. In it, John points out four aspects of Jesus’ “bearing witness to the truth:” 1) Speaking the Truth, 2) Being the Truth, 3) Dying to Establish the Truth, and 4) Sending Us to Witness to the Truth. It’s short and worth the read – check it out.

Second, this story made me chuckle today. A priest in England encouraged poor congregants to steal over the holidays. Here’s an excerpt:

Father Jones told the congregation: ‘My advice, as a Christian priest, is to shoplift. I do not offer such advice because I think that stealing is a good thing, or because I think it is harmless, for it is neither.

‘I would ask that they do not steal from small family businesses, but from large national businesses, knowing that the costs are ultimately passed on to the rest of us in the form of higher prices.

‘I would ask them not to take any more than they need, for any longer than they need.

‘I offer the advice with a heavy heart and wish society would recognise that bureaucratic ineptitude and systematic delay has created an invitation and incentive to crime for people struggling to cope.’

He added that he felt society had failed the needy, and said it was far better they shoplift than turn to more degrading or violent options such as prostitution, mugging or burglary.

He continued: ‘My advice does not contradict the Bible’s eighth commandment because God’s love for the poor and despised outweighs the property rights of the rich.’

The local police disagreed:

‘First and foremost, shoplifting is a criminal offence and to justify this course of action under any circumstances is highly irresponsible.

‘Turning or returning to crime will only make matters worse, that is a guarantee.’

I see the priest’s point and understand where he’s coming from, but believe this is bad advice.

… but wait a minute – if they end up in jail, they’ll get three squares a day, right?

Hey, maybe this priest is on to something!

Read the full story here.

Tagged 'My advice to poor is to shoplift', Anne McIntosh, British Retail Consortium, christ, Christ and the Mile-Long Buffet of Worldviews, christianity.com, Christmas, Christmas Truth Christ and the Mile-Long Buffet of Worldviews, father jones, Father Tim Jones, impoverished, jesus, jesus christ, john piper, jones, Local Tory MP Anne McIntosh, North Yorkshire Police, piper, Playboy stationery, poor, poverty, Priest outrages police by telling congregation: 'My advice to poor is to shoplift', Richard Dodd, steal, stealing, tim, Tim Jones, Truth

Dec 10 2009

Is Jesus Worth It?

My friend Doug L. sent me this video from JesusIsWorthIt.com – check it out:

Is He really worth giving up everything?

You bet.

Powerful video – share it.

Tagged jesus, jesus is worth it

Dec 03 2009

1 Comment

Devotional Thoughts

Tozer on the Burden of Pretense

[The meek man] will get deliverance from the burden of pretense. By this I mean not hypocrisy, but the common human desire to put the best foot forward and hide from the world our real inward poverty. For sin has played many evil tricks upon us, and one has been the infusing into us of a false sense of shame. There is hardly a man or woman who dares to be just what he or she is without doctoring up the impression. The fear of being found out gnaws like rodents within our hearts. The man of culture is haunted by the fear that he will someday come upon a man more cultured than himself. The learned man fears to meet a man more learned than he. The rich man sweats under the fear that his clothes or his car or his house will sometime be made to look cheap by comparison with those of another rich man. So-call “society” runs by a motivation not higher than this, and the poorer classes on their level are little better.

Let no one smile this off. These burdens are real, and little by little they kill the victims of this evil and unnatural way of life. And the psychology created by years of this kind of thing makes true meekness seem as unreal as a dream, as aloof as a star. To all the victims of the gnawing disease Jesus says, “Ye … [must] become as little children” (Matthew 18:3). For little children do not compare; they receive direct enjoyment from what they have without relating it to something else or someone else. Only as they get older and sin begins to stir within their hearts do jealousy and envy appear. Then they are unable to enjoy what they have if someone else has something larger or better. At that early age does the galling burden come down upon their tender souls, and it never leaves them till Jesus sets them free.

A.W. Tozer
The Pursuit of God: The Human Thirst for the Divine, pgs. 107-108