Video Transcript: Critical Equality Theory

Henry - We're back. So, Topic number four, critical equality theory.  

Steve- Number one, everything relates to equality. Number two, those with the  power are use their power to keep those who do not have the power from the  goodies of life of life. Current social manifestations of this whole critical equality  theory are gender equality, pay and job related equality issues. And probably the biggest topic, at least in the United States these days is socialism versus free  enterprise.  

Henry - So, the critical equality theory, in many ways, is a economic theory, a lot  of philosophy involved in that. But it's something that becomes a trope, the trope meaning a kind of a pattern of analysis. So whenever you can make something  

like an economic thing, it even becomes higher, important thing to talk about, if  you can establish that somebody is gaining more financially in this situation or  less in that situation, right.  

Steve - So it's not just economics, it's the fairness of the economic situation, the  equality issue is about fairness and unfairness. And we see this right away in the Bible, in Genesis 4:5. This is the first family the Lord looked with favor on Abel  and his offering. But on Cain and his offering, he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. So what does that mean? It means  fairness or unfairness is been an issue since since the beginning, since this is  right after the fall, this is the very next chapter after the fall, and it's about  fairness and unfairness. And some of the evidence of that issue being  manifested is anger. Right now, do we have a culture right now that has anger?  Anger is being shown and displayed at every quarter and there's this sense that  things aren't fair. They're not equal. Right? So in the big scheme, is sort of this  socialism and free enterprise, and socialism is, is trying to be fair, equality. But  then who pays? Free Enterprise, there's competition, there's potential reward  tied to what you do. But it sometimes seems to lead to inequality. So for  example, the church. 

Henry – The church! How does the church have anything to do with this?  

Steve - In some ways church is, is sort of on the socialistic side, because we  everyone comes to church, everyone gets an equal seat, right? Everyone gets  the same heat. And it doesn't matter if you pay a lot into the collections plate or  you don't pay a lot, they all get the same sermon, they all get the same services. When you join the Bible study, everyone gets, it feels like that, which is a good  thing. Yes. Heaven seems like it might be more of a socialist place. I mean, what are we going to be competing for bigger clouds are? Now there is that passage  that talks about you'll be rewarded for what you've done. Right? And so but we 

don't have we have any no idea how that works? Are we going to be playing  sports with you better than I am, I don't know. And then if we move on the  example of brothers, and they're allowance, so this is, this is sort of on the on  the more free enterprise side, or on how complicated it can be. So if fairness is  sort of the goal, so I have two children, okay, two sons. And let's say I'm going to give them an allowance but they have to do work to get their allo wance, so they have to do so much work around the place to get their allowance. Now, I have  one son, who works really hard all week. I got another son who doesn't do a  thing, right. Okay. So if I am to treat them equally, what does that mean? Do I  pay them? Right? And if I paid both of them, Am I treating them equally? No,  because one worked and one didn't.  

Henry – You're almost treating the one that didn't work unfairly.Yeah, the one  that did work unfair, right.  

Steve - So what's fair and what isn't fair, right. So they're good question. It's hard to Sometimes figure out what's good and what's bad for this whole,  

Henry - even with the church we talked about there's social socialism side to the church but in really, it's just the equal opportunity for grace. Anyone's invited, but I can't give someone salvation. I don't have the power to do that, that comes  through their seizing the day and receiving Christ into their heart, right? So it's a  dance between opportunity. But I still can't do it for someone.  

Steve - No. But you know, salvation can seem kind of socialist, because  everyone is accepted. Right? For the opportunity, though. If I did a whole host of really horrible things, and you only did half of those things, we both get the same grace, we're treated the same, even though we don't deserve  

Henry - if we received Jesus, received the gospel. What we're talking about here is, it's complicated, in some ways to try to figure this all out. 

Steve – It's a dance between the two. And right now we have a world that goes  in one way or the other. Right? And we don't know how to dance.  

Henry - Well, I think too, that capitalism, free enterprise, socialism. Now both of  us are philosophers that we studied this long and hard about competing  worldviews. Capitalism comes out of the industrial age out of England. There  were very wealthy barons who made a lot of money and then there were  sweatshops. And then the capitalism really was such an opportunity free  enterprise, capitalistically interpreted back then spread all over the globe of the  English empire, they said, the sun set on British Empire, capitalism spread 

everywhere in the world. But then Marxism, Marx who is himself is German,  those in England or London and whatnot, sees all that, you know, that the  bourgeoisie are in the proletariat, and there's a conflict between them. And so  part of this and then he had a very Marxist materialistic understanding of this  whole question. And he basically that one were dominating the other. And yet,  that even comes today, where you have a new bourgeoisie today, who were the  source now shifting to, in the mix a little, put a little salt and pepper in the race  issue in there. And you can say, white men, like you and me, are basically the  new bourgeoisie who are persecuting other I mean, you can see the whole  theory. And I know that but we referenced earlier, these are just kind of fringe  theories in the 1990s. And today, many people really are into some of these  theories more.  

Steve - And there's a dilemma between the two systems in free enterprise  capitalism. There's a lot of competition, and there's winners and losers. So then  you end up with losers in society. On the socialism side, they're trying to give  everyone something equal, even though they didn't work for it, right, and you got people. And it's like entitlements, you know, so the reward system, which is the  capitalist system, you work hard, you get rewarded for what you do. Socialism  tries to honor everyone, regardless of what they did, or they didn't do. And  there's, there's something good about all of those things,  

Henry - like the strength of entitlements are many, many, many of you are on full disability in, in America. Now, many of you are in Africa, and you're just getting  by, because you don't have that entitlement that comes in America or in Europe,  right. So even while we're here, we can kind of poke the bear on either of them.  But we see a lot of conflict over where someone stems from some of these  rights.  

Steve - And in our country. Now, there's a big fight over these two systems and  in the world, we've had conflict over all these ranges, right? It's created wars  over these issues. So let's talk about what can grace theory do to sort of help us out of this? Well out this is, how does Grace work? The fairness of a reward is  based on what you do. So what So that's like, that's like law and free enterprise.  So a law would be if you do this, then this is the good thing that happens.  

Henry - Right. So that's just to fairness or reward based upon what you do. So  what you're saying there is, obviously, if you earn it, you can keep it and usually  get more of it. And the person that didn't do it shouldn't get any of it. I mean, on  one level, strict capitalism. 

Steve - That's how games are played, right? If you are playing soccer, or the  what the world calls football, if you kick the ball well, and you kick it to your  friend, and he kicks it in the goal, you'll get a goal, right? They will give it to you  for free. You gotta kick it in there, or you don't get the thing. And if all of a  sudden, somebody in the crowd could award a team, a goal for doing nothing,  the game would fall apart, no one would come and watch me really interesting.  Okay, let's move on. The unfairness of being forgiven, regardless of who you  are, and what you've done, see that the grace for all that feels like more like  church, or like forgiveness, right, because you're forgiven, doesn't matter who  you were or what you've done. It has nothing to do your reward, because you  don't deserve any reward, but you got a reward anyway. Right?  

Henry - Because none of us deserve salvation. Right? Okay, so I get I see  where that can feel. Right.  

Steve - So number three, when you receive grace, you know, you don't deserve  it. You don't have it coming to you. No one owes it to you. So you tend to  respond to grace in humble, thankful, service to God, you take responsibility for  your life.  

Henry - Let me get my mind around, you're saying that it's either one or two. It's  not called capitalism, or opportunity ism. Nor is it entitlement, where you're  saying, really, it's, it's a great gift. But once you receive that gift, you become a  minister of service out of gratitude, right? And you actually take responsibility to  know that, that you could not pay for your own sin, and you can save your own  self.  

Steve - I think the reason why we have this struggle in the world over these two  topics, like why doesn't one just go away? Right and good question.  

Henry - But we keep battling over these things. Because there's a measure of  truth to both of them. Right? And but, but when we emphasize only one, then  like, it hits the rocks, you're in a boat, you're gonna hit the rocks, because if you  emphasize just capitalism or free enterprise, and your reward is in what you do.  Then what happens is the downtrodden or the people who don't have  opportunity, or the people who don't have the advantage, they get taken  advantage by the people that have an advantage. And usually the people that  have an advantage, don't see that they have an advantage. They think they've  earned it, but you've earned it, because you had great parents who taught you  great things, and then you ended up earning, right, 

Henry - which is a good thing. We can say that the gift from the Lord are a good  thing and a gift to your family. However, you're making a good point, if you didn't  have that, you'd feel cheated, right?  

Steve - What do you have that you haven't been given by God? So if you have  that attitude, so that's the attitude when you put them both together, that in some ways, I need the free gift of salvation, my sin forgiven as much as anybody,  right? I am, I am in need, just like anybody on the planet, right? And once I  accept that, and see that, now I'm more in the capitalist, free enterprise mode.  Okay, and I want to serve God, I want to take responsibility for my actions. it  doesn't want to give back to others. So it's interesting that once you receive in  some ways a socialist gift. I'd become more free enterprise. To two some more  activist in sharing the opportunity.  

Henry - But first, I received something that I did not deserve. Thank God out of  his riches and glory, sent his son to die for my sins, and to give those riches to  me. I received them by pure grace, critical grace theory.  

Steve - And it's really the heart of the gospel. Right. The gospel has Law and  Grace together. Right. There's no point in having Grace if there wasn't a law that I didn't break in the first place. So they go together. And I think in ministry, you're gonna have people that are on one side of the fence or the other. And your hard  and fast, capitalist, free enterprise, people will not always see the gray side of  things. In fact, one of our mentors, Rich DeVos wrote a book, I think  Compassionate Capitalism that capitalism by itself was not enough. That this  compassionate, I think what he's getting out there is that at the very heart of who we are, is a compassion. And because we received something, we receive the  compassion of God, we can now take responsibility for our lives, more free  enterprise?  

Henry - Well, we are promoting the ministrybiz curriculum that says, really, we're all ministers, and the biz side of ministry is to share in the name of Jesus Christ,  our ministry, but be okay with free enterprise, right? And not make them so  mutually exclusive. What about ministry? Let's talk about that a second. So your  ministry in this current day and age have such chaos and division over this  subject? In maybe you minister to those who have less. So, you know, so you  know, the narrative everywhere, that the rich out there are controlling you, and  there's only a limited amount of resources. That's another fascinating thing, that  this creation has a limited amount of resources. But so how would you minister  in those

Steve – You know I was in the Philippines for a year long ago. We were involved in the whole music program. And the people didn't have Christian songs in their  own language. And they wanted to write songs in English. And we said, No, you  have to write in your language. And when they they took pride in what they had  

done. So in other words, the first thing, I think, what is giving people the grace,  okay, you you don't have but but I believe in you, I believe you have something  to offer. And that's more of that free enterprise. So, yes, I accept you as you are  where you're at, right. But I believe where you're at that God can do something.  

So now, once they and we discovered to that, that when people had a night of  great walk with God, even though they were poor, even though they didn't have  opportunities, once they had a sense of I'm a child of God, and I have gifts that I  can do, then they did. So they were nothing. And then you gave them a sense  that, you know, it doesn't matter who you are, or what background you come  from, you are accepted, you are loved, you are forgiven, you are a child of God,  you have gifts and abilities, then they responded with this sort of free enterprise  mentality,  

Henry - they took pride in the gift that God gave them what they could come out. Now, I also know it like for Christian Leaders Institute, many very generous,  wealthy Christians, like Philemon in the New Testament, the thing that, that  when I ministered to them, and I know the ones that give, they have great  passion for the kingdom of God, they know to one who's been given much,  much is expected. And as a minister, we can relate to the rich or the poor. In  Steve and I, in our various travels have been to some of the poorest slums of  the world, and ministered in so different, or the most wealthy places, and  situations we've been prior to, but the human condition or a human condition,  right? All need grace, all need Grace equally. And to the one group that we  ministered to, we, we expect, if you've been given much much is expected to a  group that have little we're expect that to what is given much is expected.  

Steve - And because you are now discovering you're a child of God, you don't  even know what you have. Right? You're thinking of yourself here but really, God has blessed you in so many ways that you don't even know yet. Where and  

Henry - where we reject the Marxist understanding is that everything about  material and money does not make you a valuable child of God and the envy of  comparing monetary gain or loss dehumanizes you as an image bearer of God.  Well, very interesting topic.