My rights: rights are measured by a standard of truth as a human being; rights flow from being created in the image of God. I have basic rights to dignity and the necessities of life.
My responsibilities: to make sure that all others have equal rights; a combination of truth and love.
Our community: human relationships maintained by justice/equality. Right relationships between God and humans; also human to human.
According to Christian philosopher, C. Stephen Evans, equality---to each according to need, basic necessities of life---is not enough. Community is a higher, more complete goal. Class divisions in society prevent community; class divisions are based on unequal distributions of power, property and prestige. Class divisions equaled injustice.
Biblical examples of justice/community:
1. Job 29:11-17 and 31:16-32: "I was feet to the lame, I was father to the poor. . . . "
2. Luke is profoundly pro-poor and anti-rich. Large gaps between rich and poor violate justice in two ways: the rich oppress the poor , and the rich fail to share with the poor.
3. Acts: After people were filled with the Holy Spirit, their rights to their own private property were no longer primary. Responsibilities to others in their new Christian community became primary. So they willingly sold their surplus private property---houses, land---to meet food needs of the poor. Quality human relationships created Christian community. Justice/equality became the new standard.
4. Modern example: To rebuild poor communities, John Perkins require three things: relocation, reconciliation and redistribution. The American trinity of individualism, materialism and ethnocentrism destroys community.
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