Eventually a convict named Joseph interprets the dream as an omen of seven years of bountiful harvest followed by seven years of famine. And Joseph has a plan. To prepare for the seven gaunt years, the king should tax heavily during the good years. The king likes the plan and even puts Joseph in charge of implementing it.
There are any number of lessons in the Bible we would do well to learn. Lessons about caring for the stranger, loving your neighbor and even your enemies. Many of my fellow believers have decided that these lessons are not worth following when Herod has built them a temple in exchange for their breaking these principles. Maybe they will eventually come around, but it doesn't look promising.
The lesson of the cows is another one they would just as soon forget. They seem to believe that it is best to take from the skinny cows to feed the fat ones.
We have heard much of how bountiful our economy is at the moment. And to prepare for the times when things aren't going so well, our congress has provided fodder for the fat cows and set little to nothing aside for the skinny ones. Even resources we don't have are being provided to the fat cows. We charge our children and grandchildren for the fat cows' feed bill. After all, fat cows are comfortable being fat and like getting fatter. Rather than tax the fat cows to feed the skinny ones, we tax the skinny cows to feed the fat ones.
So-called evangelical leaders spread a prosperity gospel. Their good news is that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer (unless they call this toll-free number and donate). Their gospel excludes the downtrodden and the downcast. They have their temple in Jerusalem, so the cruelty and hypocrisy of its giver is of no account. They sing, The Lord has lifted up the rulers on their thrones, but has brought down the humble!
But they also preach an austerity gospel. When things are tough, they insist the skinny cows be the ones to give up their feed. If fat cows are rich because they have been blessed by God, then clearly the skinny, unblessed cows should be the ones to foot the bill!
It's a simple story, with a simple lesson. But we turn it upside down, and then sell that perversion as Gospel.
God have mercy.
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There are those whose teeth are swords and whose jaws are set with knives to devour the poor from the earth, the needy from among mankind.
-Proverbs 30:14
Man is inherently selfish. That is why were created laws: to defend the weak. So, we need more laws, regulations, taxes and more laws to enforce those laws, if we aspire to a really democratic society.
ReplyDeleteThe wicked maneuvering of the extra-selfish conservatives, have obtained the almost anarchy in control of our financial system.
The wealthier the upper crust of society get, the more selfish and totalitarian are becoming. What is worst, correct ethics and moral values are being trampled, and immorality becomes divine, as the article describes.
I see even possible an easement into subjugation and bondage via a binary society, the 1-Percenters and the 99-Percenters. Which at some extent is happening in some realms.
Obviously for an earnest society and for our children's sake, we must confront that decline, and soon.