Living justly in a
world of
indulgence
indulgence
Because you’re
worth it
An age of indulgence – why?
 The need for ever increasing industrial growth
 Technological developments
 Post-modernity:
• Lifestyle choices
Consumption
Consumption
Consumption
 We are what we consume…….
• The old certainties have gone
 Jobs for life - strong social norms
• We now construct our identity – who/what we are
 How we dress - the home makeover
- the car we drive - the holidays we take
The problem of tooth brushes
So what’s wrong with tooth brushes ?
 What’s wrong with choice ?
• Nothing really - choice is part of what makes us
human - free will and creativity.
 Without choice we could not express our
individuality – we could all look very drab !
• As far as tooth brushes go – nothing except the
choice is totally dependent on the ability to pay
 Not too problematic with toothbrushes .....
 But very problematic with healthcare, education
etc....
 Dire when it is concerned with food and shelter.
 Choice produces - and can be said to rely on
- inequality
Question: How much choice is enough ?
Ratio of lowest to highest disposable income
http://www.econ.umn.edu/~fperri/papers/uk2.pdf
Pattern of Overall Inequality in the UK since 1978
Changes in real income (%) 1998/99 to 2008/09
http://www.poverty.org.uk/09/index.shtml?2
So what about inequality ?
‘... successful enterprise does bring with it
material reward in society. General standards
of living rose steadily and substantially through
most of the Victorian era .... So in looking at
the generation of Victorian entrepreneurs and
the result of their achievements, we need not
feel guilty that their success was at the
expense of the poor’.
Lord Young of Graffham 1985 - then Secretary of State for Industry
(Cited in Walker & Walker 1997)
Question: Is inequality a problem?
Justice and markets
Frederick Hayek - The Mirage of Social Justice
 The spontaneous order.
• The market is organic and can’t be controlled
 Only individual actions can be just/unjust.
• We are only responsible for our direct actions.
 Unintended consequences could not be unjust.
• Some will become rich - some will become poor –
but no one can be held responsible.
Question: Should I be responsible for the
impact of my actions on others?
The bible and inequality
Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue
oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights
and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people,
making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless.
Isaiah 10: 1-2
This is what the Lord says: Do what is just and right.
Rescue from the hand of his oppressor the one who has
been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the alien, the
fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood
in this place. .... if you do not obey these commands,
declares the Lord, I swear by myself that this palace
will become a ruin.’”
Jeremiah 22: 3-5
Differences in Life Expectancy within a small area in London
Travelling east from Westminster, each tube stop represents nearly
one year of life expectancy lost –Data revised to 2002-06
Male Life
Expectancy
78.6 (CI 76.0-81.2)
Canning Town
Female Life Expectancy
84.6 (CI 82.5-86.7)
Male Life
Expectancy
72.8 (CI 71.1-74.6)
Female Life
Expectancy
81.4 (CI 79.3-83.6)
Westminster
Canary
Wharf
London Bridge
River Thames
Bermondsey
Canada
Water
North
Greenwich
Waterloo
Southwark
Has this been updated? Yes
London Underground
1
Jubilee Line
Electoral wards just a few miles apart geographically have life
expectancy spans varying by years. For instance, there
are eight stops between Westminster and Canning Town
on the Jubilee Line – so as one travels east, each stop, on
average, marks nearly a year of shortened lifespan. 1
Source: Analysis by London Health Observatory using Office for National Statistics data revised for 2002-06. Diagram produced by Department of Health
A link to further slides
http://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/resources/other/TSL-slides
How, then, can
we live justly in
a world of
indulgence ?
Jubilee
At the end of every seven years you must cancel
debts. This is how it is to be done: Every creditor
shall cancel the loan he has made to his fellow
Israelite. He shall not require payment from his fellow
Israelite or brother, because the Lord’s time for
cancelling debts has been proclaimed.
Deuteronomy 15: 2
Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty
throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a
jubilee for you. ...... The land must not be sold
permanently, because the land is mine and you are but
aliens and my tenants. Throughout the country that
you hold as a possession, you must provide for the
redemption of the land.
Leviticus 25: 10 & 23
However, I see nothing in the concept
of Jubilee about the deserving and
the undeserving poor
Justice and the Cross
What does
the cross
tell us about
justice ?
Justice
Just.....
Righteous ....
Righteousness ...
Holy ....
Holiness ...
Judgement...
Problem of thinking of a God of
Love and a Just & Righteous God
Justice
Love
Justice set in opposition to Love
Becomes a binary
The one excludes the other
Who is a God like you? You forgive sin and overlook
the rebellion of your faithful people. You will not be
angry forever, because you would rather show mercy.
Micah 7:18
Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked?
declares the Sovereign Lord. Rather, am I not pleased
when they turn from their ways and live?
Ezekiel 18:23
He wants all people to be saved and to learn the truth.
1 Timothy 2: 4
For God so loved.......
The prodigal son ........
It’s in his genes....!!!!!!!
Father isn’t loving in spite of
being Just & Righteous
Father is just because he is
loving and loving because he is just
It was his righteousness that led
him to send his son to the cross
He could not stand back and not
provide a way back to himself
So what about the less
fortunate ?
 I would suggest that we shouldn’t be too quick
to judge:
• Let him that is without sin ........
• We don’t know the circumstance of the individual’s
life
• We can trust Father to deal with them justly
But it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t help:
Meet need where we can
Get engaged - and perhaps, in love, counsel
against unwise actions
Where does the problem lie?
The big debate:
 Are people poor because they fail ?
• Yes, individual circumstances do contribute to
poverty
 Personal circumstances do play a part - people
foul-up
 But some of these are beyond the control of the
individual - physical/mental illness – unemployment
 Are people poor because systems fail ?
• Yes, social, political and economic systems cause
poverty
 The systems that govern our lives have been
devised by sinful men !
 They have a tendency to be unjust.
Structural Sin
A victim of the social/political/economic system?
 Structural sin:
• Sin can have a collective element
 societies sin - the norms and values held
 governments sin - laws and edicts can be sinful
Collective sin can oppress and coerce
Amos 5; 7-12
There are those who turn justice into bitterness and cast
righteousness to the ground.
There are those who hate the one who upholds justice in
court and detest the one who tells the truth.
You levy a straw tax on the poor and impose a tax
on their grain.
There are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes
and deprive the poor of justice in the courts.
Psalm 119 129 -136
Your statutes are wonderful; therefore I obey them.
The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives
understanding to the simple.
I open my mouth and pant, longing for your commands.
Turn to me and have mercy on me, as you always do to
those who love your name.
Direct my footsteps according to your word; let no sin
rule over me.
Redeem me from human oppression, that I may obey
your precepts.
Make your face shine on your servant and teach me
your decrees.
Streams of tears flow from my eyes, for your law is
not obeyed.
Question: What can we do make to make the
social systems just ?
Distributing Justice
In the book of Exodus, the hunger of the people of
Israel is answered by God with the daily gift of manna.
It falls from heaven as a fine flaky substance and
covers the ground like frost. The Jews are told to
gather what they need but no more. They are given this
warning: those who gather too much will find that it
turns to worms by the morning. In Egypt, the land from
which the Jews had escaped, grain was piled into huge
barns. Here wealth was stored for the pharaohs. But
in the new circumstances of the desert God offers a
very different model of economics: there is such a thing
as enough.
Giles Fraser Guardian 17/06/12
Manna manners
Our desire is not that others might be relieved
while you are hard pressed, but that there might
be equality. At the present time your plenty will
supply what they need, so that in turn their
plenty will supply what you need. Then there
will be equality, as it is written: “He who
gathered much did not have too much, and he
who gathered little did not have too little.”
2 Corinthians 8: 13-15
So now what ?
Where do we
go from here?
 Is it time for a paradigm shift?
• Time to reposition our thinking to Kingdom
values ?
• Time to revalue our lives ?
• Time to rethink our relationships with
others - and how we shape society ?
• Time to .....................???
Questions
How much choice is enough ?
Am I prepared to limit my choices ?
Is inequality a problem?
What are we prepared to do about it ?
Should I be responsible for the impact of my
actions on others?
What are the actions that I should be thinking about ?
What can we do make to make the social
systems just ?
Where can I make a difference in the world ?
Think: shopping, taxes, investing, voting,
actions ……
And some web links...
‘Do you think you would be a perfect parent if your were on the
Breadline?’ Deborrah Orr The Guardian 23/06/12
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jun/22/deborah-orrparenting-poverty?INTCMP=SRCH
‘Your money or your life’ Giles Fraser The Observer 17/06/12
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/15/how-much-skidelskymoney-sandel
‘Justice and the limits of justice’. YouTube link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhvH0WbZl9o&feature=related
‘Securing Freedom’ Michael Sandel - Reith Lectures - Radio 4 2011
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/the-reith-lectures/aboutmichael-sandel/
Michael Sandel: The Public Philosopher 3 BBC TV programmes
http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/r4sandel