From My Perspective - - -
The Economic downturn is affecting most industries. If it continues, it will also start impacting the fast food sector as well. Just suppose, in order to maintain a customer base and address the financial concerns of the customer, a new Menu Entrée was introduced – “Dumpster Delicacies”. People place their order and consume as much food as they can – but – untold amounts of uneaten food is deposited in the Trash Containers. In order to capitalize on this situation, innovative Managers have decided on a Food Recycling Program. They hire a worker whose task is to retrieve discarded food from the Trash, wash it (if needed), reheat it, and offer it at a lower price – perhaps at half-price - to a willing customer. How many customers would frequent the establishment offering “Dumpster Delicacies”? How many people would line up for the opportunity to buy recycled food? This new concept might receive the approval of some political and religious leaders as they construe to compassion for the economically disadvantaged and an attempt to begin an equalization effort or a level-playing field philosophy. Why would they think this way? How would they arrive at this place?
Wikipedia contains this brief, but apt, paragraph that has some bearing and significance: “Liberation theology is a movement in Christian theology which construes the teachings of Jesus Christ in terms of a liberation from unjust economic, political, or social conditions. It has been described by proponents as an interpretation of Christian faith through the poor's suffering, their struggle and hope, and a critique of society and the Catholic faith and Christianity through the eyes of the poor, and by detractors as Christianity perverted by Marxism and Communism. Although liberation theology has grown into an international and inter-denominational movement, it began as a movement within the Roman Catholic Church in Latin America in 1950-1960. It arose principally as a moral reaction to the poverty caused by social injustice in that region. It achieved prominence in the 1970s and 1980s. The term was coined by the Peruvian priest Gustavo Gutiérrez, who wrote one of the movement's most famous books, A Theology of Liberation (1971)…The influence of liberation theology diminished after proponents using Marxist concepts were admonished by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) in 1984 and 1986. The Vatican documents criticize certain strains of Liberation Theology for focusing on institutional dimensions of sin to the exclusion of the individual; and for supposedly inaccurately identifying the church hierarchy as members of the privileged class…”
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI), who was prefect of the CDF at the time when the Instructions were issued, published his own personal criticism of the movement in 1985. In this document Ratzinger claims that in certain forms of Liberation Theology, the meaning of basic theological terms is changed - terms such as hope, love, and salvation are assigned a Marxist interpretation in terms of class struggle. He also argued that Liberation Theology is not originally a grass-roots movement among the poor, but rather, a creation of Western intellectuals: an attempt to test, in a concrete scenario, ideologies that have been invented in the laboratory by European theologians and in a certain sense itself a form of cultural imperialism. He saw this as a reaction to the demise or near-demise of the Marxist myth in the West…” One can agree that the Pope’s assessment is correct. The clear and precise Purpose of the Ministry of Jesus Christ is stated by Jesus Himself in Matthew 11:2-6, “Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him: Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another? And Jesus answered them: Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me."
The current trend of Liberation Theology in our culture is a Dumpster Delicacy. It is a reworked and rehashed teaching that is being intellectualized today at bargain and discount prices. Don’t be deceived – it has been retrieved from the Trash Bin and is not what you should line up to secure. It is not good for you and can result in personal jeopardy and harm. Consider these things with me!
The Economic downturn is affecting most industries. If it continues, it will also start impacting the fast food sector as well. Just suppose, in order to maintain a customer base and address the financial concerns of the customer, a new Menu Entrée was introduced – “Dumpster Delicacies”. People place their order and consume as much food as they can – but – untold amounts of uneaten food is deposited in the Trash Containers. In order to capitalize on this situation, innovative Managers have decided on a Food Recycling Program. They hire a worker whose task is to retrieve discarded food from the Trash, wash it (if needed), reheat it, and offer it at a lower price – perhaps at half-price - to a willing customer. How many customers would frequent the establishment offering “Dumpster Delicacies”? How many people would line up for the opportunity to buy recycled food? This new concept might receive the approval of some political and religious leaders as they construe to compassion for the economically disadvantaged and an attempt to begin an equalization effort or a level-playing field philosophy. Why would they think this way? How would they arrive at this place?
Wikipedia contains this brief, but apt, paragraph that has some bearing and significance: “Liberation theology is a movement in Christian theology which construes the teachings of Jesus Christ in terms of a liberation from unjust economic, political, or social conditions. It has been described by proponents as an interpretation of Christian faith through the poor's suffering, their struggle and hope, and a critique of society and the Catholic faith and Christianity through the eyes of the poor, and by detractors as Christianity perverted by Marxism and Communism. Although liberation theology has grown into an international and inter-denominational movement, it began as a movement within the Roman Catholic Church in Latin America in 1950-1960. It arose principally as a moral reaction to the poverty caused by social injustice in that region. It achieved prominence in the 1970s and 1980s. The term was coined by the Peruvian priest Gustavo Gutiérrez, who wrote one of the movement's most famous books, A Theology of Liberation (1971)…The influence of liberation theology diminished after proponents using Marxist concepts were admonished by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) in 1984 and 1986. The Vatican documents criticize certain strains of Liberation Theology for focusing on institutional dimensions of sin to the exclusion of the individual; and for supposedly inaccurately identifying the church hierarchy as members of the privileged class…”
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI), who was prefect of the CDF at the time when the Instructions were issued, published his own personal criticism of the movement in 1985. In this document Ratzinger claims that in certain forms of Liberation Theology, the meaning of basic theological terms is changed - terms such as hope, love, and salvation are assigned a Marxist interpretation in terms of class struggle. He also argued that Liberation Theology is not originally a grass-roots movement among the poor, but rather, a creation of Western intellectuals: an attempt to test, in a concrete scenario, ideologies that have been invented in the laboratory by European theologians and in a certain sense itself a form of cultural imperialism. He saw this as a reaction to the demise or near-demise of the Marxist myth in the West…” One can agree that the Pope’s assessment is correct. The clear and precise Purpose of the Ministry of Jesus Christ is stated by Jesus Himself in Matthew 11:2-6, “Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him: Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another? And Jesus answered them: Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me."
The current trend of Liberation Theology in our culture is a Dumpster Delicacy. It is a reworked and rehashed teaching that is being intellectualized today at bargain and discount prices. Don’t be deceived – it has been retrieved from the Trash Bin and is not what you should line up to secure. It is not good for you and can result in personal jeopardy and harm. Consider these things with me!
