Inbox: Middle Class Values

What practical choices do you make that are odds with Middle Class life? How are they perceived?

I greatly appreciate the spirit of the question being asked and obviously such concerns resonate with me. On a practical level it is however difficult to answer as I believe each person has to work out these things for themselves.

As anyone familiar with my writings will already know I believe the heart of middle-class life and thought is rooted in security and respectability, values I believe that contradict the ethics of the New Testament.

My work takes me into people's homes on a regular basis and this class all but exudes these impulses and proclivities. I also had them ingrained within me growing up and they are not quickly or easily dispensed with. It takes time.

For me the path was one of frustration, bitterness and then finally peace. I finally acquiesced to Providence. The path that is my life while it has not always been pleasant has been for my own good. The adversity has at times been miserable and I have not always responded to it as I should. My heart has often been wrong. And yet through this God has taught me a great deal. Finally I realised that the path I was on and foolishly resented was actually the right one.

Why were my principles leading to frustration, defeat and ostracisation?

Because that's what being a Christian in this world is. It took me almost two decades to learn this. I'm a little slow.

I have 'got a new Bible' on more than one occasion. At various points your eyes are opened to something you had previously failed to grasp and then re-reading Scripture more, it's like reading it anew. Things are all but leaping from the page. And so then one most work through the new reality especially given that in many cases the Christian world around us is often teaching something not only at odds with Scripture but in not a few cases it's teaching something antithetical to Scripture.

One pastor I know accuses me of suggesting that everyone needs to quit their job. That's not what I'm saying but I will say that every Christian needs to at least wrestle with the possibility and be willing to drop it for the sake of following Christ. I have watched several friends who started out as anti-materialistic, who in their twenties and even thirties were desirous to live a life of personal sacrifice and devotion who now more than twenty years later have 'sold out' in my book and have settled into nice Middle Class lifestyles with expensive homes, tastes and sensibilities. They have invested themselves heart and soul into a life, lifestyle, ethos and system that they are unwilling and perhaps even incapable of breaking away from.

When it comes to how their lives are structured, they are unwilling to appear 'odd' or different. Stability and advancement are at the core of their thinking and how they raise and prepare their kids. Success is defined by the world, not the New Testament.

To live in a house like I live in would be unthinkable to them. Not just the practicalities, the lack of luxury and creature comforts but the disdain is what would really upset them. My income is quite low by Western standards. I live in a rural area because the cost of housing is so reduced I can live on an income that is ¼ or even less of what many people I know make. My wife stays home which we believe is what the New Testament teaches. In terms of my work I don't have the sort of vehicle and accoutrements that earn respect. The respect I gain is due to my character and work. Of course I may be kidding myself in that many of the people I work for hire me simply because I'm inexpensive when compared to others. My pricing is not to undercut competition but rather because I want to be fair and as much as possible I want to be employed by working class folks.

Why have I made these choices? I am guided by my conscience and convictions which I base on Scripture.  For a long time it was a real burden. I too was tormented by the disdain and lack of respect. At times it has been quite palpable and very wounding to one's hubris. My wife could tell you all about my episodes of exasperation.

But as I continued to study Scripture and wrestle with where all these attitudes come from I have found a degree of peace. I realised the Scriptures nowhere teach us to seek or expect security and respectability. Quite the opposite actually. Time is perhaps the most precious commodity we have and my choices afford me that... sometimes. Other times, like yesterday I'm out working on a rainy Saturday because I'm in desperate need of some extra money. That was unfortunate. But, unlike my corporate friends (who are now mostly distant acquaintances) I'm not a slave to a smartphone connected to a manager. Working for myself I set my own hours which has been a real blessing. If we have something we need or want to do as a family, I do it. I don't need to ask permission.

Eyebrows are raised when it comes to our kids. I have four teenagers and to be honest I don't care if they amount to anything in the world's eyes. In some ways I would be disappointed if they did. I want them to remain Christians and beyond that if they end up working low-end jobs that hardly matters. Don't misunderstand me I'm not wishing a low-income on them, rather I have taught them to focus first on obedience to Christ, that worldly success is not really an option (in most cases) and that things like houses and money don't matter. They feel it too. I bring them to work with me when I can and they've seen the homes of other people, how they live and how in many cases they have more value in the extra vehicles, toys, tools and junk in their garage than everything we own.

When asked about my kids by other people I make sure to emphasise that as Christians were in a state of antithesis with the world. The system is corrupt and thus it is impossible that we will flourish within it without compromise. I don't accuse them directly but some understand what I'm implying. Of course many wealthy people don't consider themselves as such. They think they struggle. In reality their problems are made up, often just due to some overspending and are easily remedied. I hear it all the time in the car when I tune in to so-called 'Christian' financial shows. They have nothing to say to working class and poor people. They're geared toward Middle Class people and their problems with credit cards, retirement funds and financial portfolios. They use the term 'Biblical' constantly but it's clear they actually know precious little about what the Bible actually says.

The Middle Class people I work for and encounter at church are quite excited about all their plans for their kids becoming successful lawyers, insurance agents, businessmen and women etc... and my way of thinking disturbs them to say the least. It's not a message people want to hear. I don't usually share it but our kids are at that age that people tend to press.

It's no wonder Dominion theology and all its variations have taken such a hold. It ratifies and blesses the world's aspirations and goals. It just dresses them up in Christian language and thus people can feel justified in how they're living. They can be at peace with the compromises they've made and they can harden their hearts and consciences to the sinful system they're part of and feed on.... a system built on theft, murder and lies.

Now I say this but of course I am painfully aware that I too am guilty. To earn a living I often have to work for people that have gained their money from the very system I'm condemning. They have become wealthy by means of the Wall Street-Military-Corporatocracy that is at the heart of the Western Beast. While I would never do their jobs or take a paycheck from the institutions they serve I nevertheless am earning my living by the fruits of their participation in the system.

It makes me sick and I feel quite the hypocrite because of it. At the end of the day I would rather live doing something even more simple, tending sheep or subsistence farming but the world has changed. Since the industrial revolution and the increase in world population that sort of life is scarcely possible anymore... at least in the techno-industrialised West. Obviously all people cannot live that way and I don't expect them to. The world will build its version of Babel and chase its dreams. The Christian ethic has nothing to do with them nor will it make sense to them. As an aside, even the many Amish that live in this region are struggling with modernity and many if not most are being forced to abandon the agrarian life.

What's the answer? I don't know but I continue to wrestle with it. I find that most people are not only unwilling to engage this question but every ounce of their being resists even entertaining it.

I am not for a moment suggesting that Middle Class Christians are counterfeit and going to hell. But when one considers the teaching of Scripture, and how the nature of saving faith has been perverted and how Sacralist Christianity (both Roman and Protestant) have made peace with the world, blessed power and sanctified the violence it requires... one wonders about the real state of things.

As long as someone is still alive, God is not done with them. Often some will begin to wrestle with these questions and their troubled consciences will move them, but very slowly. Over decades they may only move the first step or two and then as they near retirement they become more troubled by the system they have invested in. Finally in the autumn of their lives as they take a pension or live off dividends they (in a few cases) will realise that perhaps it was (in the end) all wrong. But by then it's too late. And the thought of abandoning those profits and all those ill-gotten gains is unthinkable.

Do I think they're wrong? Of course but I too am a sinner and a foul one at that. In other areas these Christians may run circles around me, if I can use such an expression. I don't know and in one sense don't care. For me I want to press on, and know God through His Word and seek the Kingdom He has established. God is a God of grace and mercy. I think some of these folks will be in for a shock of the Matthew 7 variety. I think some of them have never grasped the teachings of Scripture. Some have mis-read it on a massive and catastrophic scale. I'm even speaking of many within Conservative and Confessional circles. Others have been choked and deceived by the riches and cares of this world. Whatever faith they once possessed they have by their works and desires all but denied it.

How to live out the Gospel in the world? It's an endless question and one we have to wrestle with as congregations and as individuals. I don't believe rules are the answer. That just descends into legalism. But I will say this and with a great deal of confidence. A careful reading of the New Testament, paying the utmost and careful attention to every passage that touches on ethics, Christian living and our relation to the world will leave many with a troubled conscience. The idea that we're to seek the welfare of others and not ourselves, that we are not to repay evil for evil and that we should never seek to profit off the suffering and misfortune of others... well, that right there is to turn one's back on the system under which we live. To apply such principles means rejecting the bulk of the Western economic sector. It's hardly a formula for success, is it?

How then to survive and earn a paycheck under this system? That's the question. There are degrees of sin and wickedness within the world system. And as operators within it we will not always grasp what's going on. What seems to be a good job (in terms of conscience) one year will seem wretched five years later as we learn more and the nature of how it operates is opened to us. Even then, we might be able to keep the job. We can't fix the world's problems and yet there are points in which I would say a line has been crossed. Working here means I am making my money exploiting other people. Or my paycheck comes from a company that is basically involved in deception and theft. Of course others won't see it that way.

I believe in what I've dubbed the Cognizance Imperative. As Christians we are commanded to live in a state of self-examination and we are to live with renewed minds that do not conform to this world. We cannot shut our eyes and ignore what is happening around us. We are morally bound to act upon what we learn and discover. The common 'cruise control' attitude that many take who work in big institutions is from a New Testament perspective unsustainable. They must examine, reflect and act and if that leads to them being fired or quitting, then that's what they're called to do. Acting in terms of the New Testament is not political but prophetic. We are to speak, expose, indict and cast down all ideas that oppose the truth of God's Kingdom. It is not for the purposes of gain (political or financial) but to be salt and light to a lost world. This does not always have to be done in a provocative or ostentatious manner. In fact it's probably more effective when we don't do it that way but how to apply this is something each person has to wrestle with. There is no formula.

But like I said even my arguments seem to fail when I as a self-employed independent must work for and take money from people who work for the state, the banking industry, who are lawyers and ex-military people. My paycheck (paltry as it is) comes indirectly from Wall Street, the imperial coffers, the Pentagon and usurious behaviour.

At some point we are forced to admit (in crushed defeat) that we cannot escape the world system. I guess in my case I'm trying (as much as possible) to put some distance between my life and the sources of evil. I'm not going to just shrug my shoulders and say 'That's just how it is, if I can't beat it, then I might as well join it'. This is essentially the ethic I've heard on one Christian financial programme, a very popular one at that. It's sickening.

As far as taking money from the wicked, this is the best justification I can come up with. You could also look at it this way.

If I were a farmer selling my harvest at a fair and reasonable price, I could do that job with a good conscience, right? If I sell my goods at a market I can't tell who's buying my crops. Their money is coming from all over, from all sectors of society. At that point it's not possible for me (nor am I obliged) to figure out just who they are and whether I want to take their money. My obligation is to treat them in a fair and honest manner and to put their welfare above my own.

This thinking applies to my largely service-sector job and yet in my case I am often forced to form more of a relationship with the client. I am in their home and often work for them for an extended period of time, sometimes a few days, other times a few weeks or even longer.

This is probably where the 'hypocrisy' label applies most to me. I am friendly and I have no doubt that many of them think they've established something of a friendship with me. While on one level I may develop a certain 'liking' for these people, all too often I actually despise and reject who and what they are and certainly the values they live by. In that sense I often feel myself to be the most vile of salesmen akin to the brokers I used to watch in my father's office.

They kept files on clients (investors) and I would watch them converse over the telephone referencing children's names, sports teams, birthdays etc... It was all disingenuous. They kept data files for the sake of feigning friendship. In reality they wanted the investor's money and if the money dried up they would no longer express an ounce of care or regard. Suddenly the ups and downs of the favourite baseball team would no longer matter and the fact that Johnny was at Rutgers and Suzy had been accepted at Notre Dame would no longer be of concern. The 'relationship' was based on an acting performance that relied upon careful note-taking for the purpose of getting money.  

I found those salesmen to be repugnant human beings and I don't want to be like them. Of course the investors weren't always a lot better.

I cannot provide concrete answers to these ethical questions and to be honest I don't believe there is a uniform consistent answer to these problems and dilemmas. Like I said, most Christians aren't even entertaining them and are unwilling to do so. If I encounter a person who is even prepared to entertain these questions I am immediately encouraged.