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courtesy of Timothy J
This is an article that was emailed to me by a secular coalition on homeless who got it off the Christianity Today website. To me that is strange. Anyway I think it is worth a read so I have copy pasted it below.
“Together with Tim Costello, CEO of World Vision Australia and representatives from the Micah Challenge they launched ‘The Poverty and Justice Bible’, published by the Bible Society in association with World Vision Australia.
“I congratulate those who have put together this extraordinary work. I congratulate those who have seen fit to assemble a version of the Bible which draws starkly to people’s attention the challenge of Micah, the challenge of John, the challenge facing us all as an informed community of faith,” said Mr Rudd.
The Poverty and Justice Bible uses the Contemporary English Version of the Bible and highlights in orange over 2,000 verses that deal with the issues of poverty and justice.
“When you actually flip through this, as I did last night at The Lodge, and see the extraordinary shadings of orange all the way though, it catches your eye, and I’m sure that’s what those who have put together this particular edition of the Bible have had in mind,” Mr Rudd said.
In the Poverty and Justice Bible passages that talk about the poor are hi-lighted in orange. There are over 2000 hi-lighted passages.
Speaking at the launch, Tim Costello from World Vision said, “It was US pastor and writer Rick Warren who laid the foundations for The Poverty and Justice Bible. He’d discovered that there were 2,000 verses on poverty – and couldn’t believe he’d never noticed before,” Mr Costello said.
From this initial idea, a team of Bible Society researchers read the CEV to identify every verse that’s specific about God’s take on social injustice. These range from Old Testament prophecies to Jesus’ radical teachings. “This Bible is proof that, on issues of social justice, God has plenty to say,” said Mr Costello.
In his address at the launch, Leader of the Opposition, Mr Turnbull challenged Australians to act to relieve poverty and suffering.
“I come to you today with a slightly different approach. My challenge is directed to all Australians: that if you believe strongly in justice, then you should act to alleviate poverty and suffering, give something of yourself to others. You can donate, you can give money and we should all do that when we can, and of course there are various ways to do this, but it is also important to support the work of organisations who are on the ground, working in poor communities to give them food, water, skills for life, but also hope,” Mr Turnbull said.
The Poverty and Justice Bible also contains endorsements from Church and community leaders including US based Jim Wallis, Christian activist and author and Dr Lowitja O’Donoghue, Australian Aboriginal leader. A companion journal is also available.”
On the web: www.povertyandjusticebible.org.au
Magpie, 6 O'clock hight!
Liz and I don’t have internet at our house. So when I don’t have uni (thankyou academic strike) I have to head up to maccas to use their free internet. It is not far: 1.7km, and it is usually an uneventful trip…
I got on the bike and started riding, about 300m into the trip something hard his my helmet, BANG! “What the heck?” did I just ride into a low branch? But there weren’t any branches low enough for me to hit! Maybe it was a ball I cleverly concluded and kept riding.
Another hundred metres passed and BANG. Something hit my helmet again. Was my helmet lose? Did I go over a pot hole that reverberated to my helmet? Did I get hit by a ball? What was happening. To be honest for a few seconds I was convinced there were some kids throwing a ball at me, kids with good aim and an ability to hide the ball straight after it hit me.
Rascally kids!
Another hundred metres. BANG! What the???
I kept riding but decided that maybe something was falling from the sky! An old Russian satellite? A plane maybe?
I looked up.
A big magpie and three other smaller birds were following me at 6 o’clock high (thats just above and behind for those who haven’t been in the navy or watched a lot of war movies)
BANG! They swooped again! Good thing I always wear a helmet! I kicked it up a gear and peddled hard, ever since I saw Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds” I have had this irrational fear of birds pecking my eyes out…
But it wasn’t going to be today birdies, not today! I would be too quick for you to get me!
The Birds eye view of my helmet, obviously magpies don't like the poor!
I quickly realised that I wasn’t going to be able to out run them, they were good! But in the end I didn’t have to, they must have telepathically got my message that my eyes were not going to be their dinner. They backed off. Retreated to the top of a telegraph pole and just watched.
Jeremy: 1. Magpies of the world: 0.
But the ultimate philosophical question remained… Why?
Well if you look at the picture of my helmet on the right you will clearly see my MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY sticker. Thats it! These magpies must not like the poor! How cold hearted is that! I bet they dive at puppies and kittens too.
Anyway… while I continued my ride to Maccas thinking about this strange battle with the magpies I saw a guy with an eyepatch!
Now I know that it was wrong of me to become instantly excited when I see a guy with an eyepatch, “maybe he just had an eye operation” you may say.. well maybe. But this eyepatch man also had a gold earing in his left ear! Thats two out of the three things you need to be a pirate!
eye patch + gold earing + ship = pirate!
Maybe his ship was docked down at the Meadowbank ferry wharf !Maybe it wasn’t a magpie that hit me? Maybe it was the pirates shoulder parrot that was dressed in a tuxedo trying to stop me from discovering that there was a pirate in Meadowbank..
It didn’t matter, I had seen a real pirate! Another one of my life long goals accomplished!
Anyway, that was my trip to maccas.
What is the moral of the story?
With so many pirates around, always make sure you wear your helmet!
Cadbury has just announced a plan to become Fair Trade certified by Easter 2010! This is really excellent news and something that we should definitely celebrate. However having said this there is very little celebrating happening and I think that is because there is still a lot of ambivalence and ‘vagueness’ about Fair Trade and so I thought that I would write a brief post simply outlying what is Fair Trade and Why it is important to buy fair trade. Enjoy.
Martin Luther King once said:
“Before you’ve finished your breakfast this morning, you’ll have relied on half the world!”
King was right then and he is still right now. The world is more connected than we all realise; every cup of coffee, tea or hot chocolate connects you to a farmer overseas who produced the bean! You are connected through your reliance on them to produce the beans that is used in your beverage and the unfortunate reality is those that producers are often exploited and oppressed. The most common form of exploitation occurs when buyers intentionally wait to the very end of the season– when sellers have to sell their stock or receive no income from their harvest – to buy the stock. This desperation forces farmers to sell their stock at a cheaper price, an unfair price. The income from that harvest is regularly so low that they don’t do much better than simply cover the expenses of farming the beans in the first place (sometimes they can’t even do this). This of course has ongoing effects as people aren’t being paid a living income – it keeps people in poverty.
look for this Logo on products to be certain that it meets the Fair Trade criteria
Fair Trade is an international movement which ensures that producers in poor countries get a fair deal. This means a fair price for their goods (one that covers the cost of production and guarantees a living income), long-term contracts which provide real security; and for many, support to gain the knowledge and skills that they need to develop their businesses and increase sales.
Fair Trade is essentially an independent body that assesses whether organisations have earned the Fair Trade Certification. It is similar to the heart tick of approval. It is important to know that Fair Trade is not a brand. Many people say to me that they would like to support fair trade, but it just doesn’t taste as good! However Fair Trade is not the problem, that blend of coffee/tea/chocolate is the problem! When people say this I always tell them to try a different type of Fair Trade certified coffee/tea/chocolate.
Well that is what Fair Trade is… but why should every Christian buy Fair Trade?
1/ To receive the certification, organisations have to guarantee a fair wage for Third World Produces. By buying Fair Trade you know that you are not involved in exploitation.
2/ Fair Trade forms real partnership between organisations and farmers to secure long term security for the producer, allowing them to escape the cycle of poverty. Fair Trade also emphasises transferring knowledge and farming skills to help produces develop their businesses and increase sales.
3/ Fair Trade has ongoing effects to families and communities, allowing children to go to school (as they don’t have to work in the farms) and fair wages giving people the opportunity to access health care.
4/ As a consumer, buying Fair Trade shows organisations that you think it is an important issue. Organisations respond when people vote with their shopping trolley – this is one of the main reasons that Cadbury is going Fair Trade.
5/ It is not more expensive and it does not tastes worse than non fair trade coffee – both these things are simply untrue. You can access a fair trade products at major supermarkets and as more organisations see the importance of it (see the point above!) there will be an even wider distribution of Fair Trade products.
Christians like William Wilberforce were the leaders in the movement to abolish slavery. Christians like the Earl of Shaftesbury were the leaders in the movement to abolish unethical child labour. Christians like Martin Luther King were the leaders in the black civil rights movement in the United States. Christians should be the leaders in the movement to Make Trade Fair!
Do you use Fair Trade? Does your church? Your workplace? Your local cafe? Maybe you could be a leader in the movement to make Trade Fair!
If you would like some more information then you can check out these websites:
http://www.cadbury.com.au/About-Cadbury/News.aspx?newsID=45
http://www.tear.org.au/downloads/resources/resourceMagazineHarambee2009July.pdf
Its now time for our weekly segment here at Micaiah Sells Out called:
“4 quick questions and 1 strange one with…”
This week’s “4 Quick Questions and 1 Strange one with…” is with John Mckinnon. John has been working for TEAR Australia as the NSW State coordinator since 2005. Before that he worked in investment management with his firm handling over $10b! John obtained his MA in biblical studies (New Testament) while working at the investment firm and is a keen preacher, bible teacher and a regular contributor in TEAR publications and other Journals. John is married to Sue and they have four children, he is also a keen cyclist and regularly cycles from his house in Engadine (near Waterfall!!) to the TEAR office near central station – a ride that takes about an hour and a half!
1) John, what is your background and how did you come to be involved in TEAR?
I grew up in a Christian family and as a teenager accepted Jesus as my Lord and saviour. At uni I led a Christian group on campus and together with my now wife wondered how to make our lives different to the world most of our uni friends were heading off into. I remember idealistically dreaming of “not conforming to this world.” After studying maths I worked in the finance industry and in 1995 I co-founded an investment management firm (GMO Australia). I ended up as senior partner and the business was extremely successful. When I left in 2005 we were managing over $10 billion for many large super funds and banks. During that time I did some bible college study, mainly for my own edification. However, God had other ideas and through that study I discovered just how much God was concerned for the poor and how my work, to essentially making the rich richer, was perhaps not representative of the life of radical discipleship I had once dreamed of. I became very uncomfortable with my work life and felt a strong call to work for justice and God’s kingdom. I had financially supported TEAR for some years and knew them to be an organisation of integrity that engaged with the complexity of issues from a biblical perspective rather than simply try to raise maximum funds. Just as I started thinking “I would love to work for TEAR”, I saw my current job advertised and the rest is history.
2) Economics seems to play a pretty big part in the fight against global poverty. As someone who has an understanding of economics could you please let us know how economics plays into maintaining global poverty and why we still have extreme poverty in the 21st Century?
Our word economics comes from a Greek word that means “household management”. That means we are all involved in economics. Most of our daily activities have an economic component – involving our money and household assets. The big picture of global economics is just the same – it is about managing the world’s assets and income. On the whole, the world isn’t doing this very well – most of the world’s wealth is in the hands of a few and over 1 billion people are going hungry each day. In my view, the economic system we operate under, one where allocation of the world’s resources is largely by “the market” is largely to blame. It is perhaps over-simplistic but generally the market rewards those with existing wealth and power. The latest edition of TEAR’s Harambee gives some more detailed explanation (see http://www.tear.org.au/resources/items/harambee-july-2009). Of course, the answer is not to choose another “ism” (capitalism, socialism etc) but to ensure that whatever the system, the well-being of all people is the aim.
3) Does the way we live here in Sydney affect people living in extreme poverty? If so, in what ways can change our lifestyle to minimize this affect?
The thing about globalisation is that the world is a small place and actions here do affect others around the world. The most obvious example is climate change where our emissions impact the climate experienced by the rest of the world. However, nearly every purchase we make involves many others in far away places. Our clothes are often made in sweat shop factories, our coffee and chocolate is often grown by people receiving less than they can reasonably live on, our government receives interest on loans made to poor developing countries, our companies exploit resources in developing countries and we enjoy their dividends and rising share prices.
What can we do? We can start to be careful about what we buy. Fair trade goods are now more available (see http://www.tear.org.au/resources/items/harambee-july-2009), we can cut our emissions in many different ways, we can consume less as a challenge to the system that worships growth, we can lobby our government to cancel debts, we can lobby or boycott companies that exploit the poor. The more we learn about the links between our lives and the world’s poor, the more ways we will see to act.
4) Do you think it is actually possible to make poverty history?
I suspect no, this side of Christ’s return. While human sin remains in the world, people will always be exploited and the powerful will always seek to maintain their position. However, that is not a reason not to try. As Christians we are called to live prophetically, to point to that time when “God will wipe away every tear”. Our calling is to demonstrate God’s love and justice, to show the world there is another way. If our prayer is “Your kingdom come” then our lives must be working towards exactly that reality as well.
5) John you cycle from Engadine to Central to get to work – a ride that takes you around an hour and a half! You have also just started playing the bag pipes! Which do you think makes your legs look better, the kilt of the bike shorts?
The cycling keeps the legs in good shape for the kilt.
