Serving

How do we prove any theory, any belief or fact?  Proofs often change in meaning with the changing orientations of the analysts.  Is free trade among nations a good policy?  It is, and it is not.  Whether it is or is not may depend upon the emphasis the debater wishes to take.  Because free trade implies freedom of movement for suppliers it carries with it the concept that the company in trading must meet competition.  To do so the company will tend to move production in the direction of nations with low-cost labor.  Jobs are lost in the advanced countries with higher wages and fall to developing countries.  But that means the loss of jobs in the advanced country so these workers are diminished in buying, leading to drops in employment for advanced nations.  Some matters may be improving for the poor nation, but retreating in the advanced.  The improvement, not accompanied by a society of full consumption in the poor, does not move as fast as the decline occurs for the developed nations.  One developed society begins to shout: Buy American.  Free trade requires freedom of some factors related to business, and that may be destructive for a nation dealing with other nations holding different objectives.  This even works in religion where the nationalistic Islamic nations resist the worldwide evangelistic efforts of Christians.  The tension is between affirmation for some and negation for others – with the same evidence context interpreted differently.  The paradoxes and contradictions are several and not well managed.  Solutions are lost in the conflicts.

One purpose for these Pages is to present Christian principles as useful to the good life, not only for Christians, but for human beings anywhere who practice a universal value system.  God, simply because he is God, is first interested in the redemptive purpose he advanced to meet human hope – immortality.  For those rejecting or disregarding that option he means to provide a favorable management equitable for all mankind.  It is an article of faith that since God created what we have in nature, he means for all earth citizens to get on with life with some decency and dignity.  The two functions, one physical and the other spiritual, occupy most of what God is interested in relative to earth and human beings.  Our objective is to learn how to draw upon that infinite grace, whether in humanistic (secular) or spiritual (divine) context.

A major evidence of all this is found in the doctrine of work and service advanced in Scripture.  In our idiom, the haves are to share with the have-nots – which general social policy infers service.  This matter of mankind’s service to mankind is taken as service to God. (This is a principle repeated from time to time in these Pages.  It is major for Christians, and relates to evangel.  It is assumed that some persons observing Christian service will investigate the reason for caring, and find that it comes from the love/compassion of God.)  Any virtue we gain with God in the world relates to his values for mankind, held at the creation of Adam, and never withdrawn.  God is self-conscious (intelligent), and works (creates).  Man was made, even in mortal context, in the image of such an intelligence and creativity.  God honors the substitute, made for a mortal (short) period lower than angels. (Psalm 8)  God serves – angels serve – mankind serves. Mortals fumble with that calling, fuss about it, make laws relating to it, and fight over it among themselves.  Success (human) for mankind on earth and humane (spiritual) management is dependent upon it.

The mystery and magic in this process is that those bettering the lives of others become better persons.  There is an increasing literature related to research in various contexts of service declaring how the results show a win-win context for participants – both giving and receiving.  The point here is that it is a biblical principle that has been practiced, to varying degrees, for many centuries.  Service is sometimes achieved in physical contexts, like feeding hungry people, or in programs of recovery from disaster, and the like.  It may be in education so to support programs that solve problems both personal and social.  The first service ideal for Christians is to communicate the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as good news from God.  There may be no ready opening for that until the physically hungry persons are fed.