I would submit to you that in a free market environment success can be afforded to all and it is equally available to all those willing to pursue it. However there are two factors working against success in our example, (1) government interference and instrusion messing up the works of the market and (2) lazy people who want to live off someone else’s back.

When I refer to lazy people, I am not refering to the poor - being disabled in any way, or unable to work or provide for your own family should in no way be viewed as being “lazy” and I believe it is the role of the Church, not that of the government to take care of those less fortunate than us who end up in poverty due to either addiction or other reasons, but let us not confuse that with those who want to practice the Robin Hood philosophy and take from those who spend their lives working hard in order to give to others. Redistribution of wealth and income is probably the most wicked, unethical and unjust things taking place in the world today, and if you will say that you do not trust the market to take care of the poor, well I can say that I do not trust the government to do the same. It is not the job of the market or that of the government to care for people - it is the job and purpose of believers (as you rightly pointed out).

Emergent is revitalizing this point, mostly because it has been abandoned by so many Christians, but taking the responsibility away from Christians and turning it over the a government is NOT a solution, and if that is where emerging Christians are heading with this, I want no part of it.

Regarding the Year of the Jubilee, that is an interesting question. Many of the bankrupcy laws are based on the Old Covenant idea of forgiveness of debts and freeing of slaves, however the Year of the Jubilee point to a higher spiritual reality as far as I understand. To quote from a recent article I wrote:

“I pointed out how Jesus read Isaiah 61 and proclaimed it fulfilled on that day. Isaiah 61 speaks about good news for the poor, sight to the blind and freedom for prisoners. What is interesting though, is that Isaiah is simply reiterating Leviticus 25:10, which defines the Year of the Jubilee, which Israel was to celebrate every fifty years. This was a year when slaves and prisoners would be freed, when separated families would be reunited, and everyone would party and celebrate because the ultimate Sabbath was there.

The Scriptural and historical examples never cease to amaze me. In 586 B.C. Israel lost its land and was forced into slavery, into a foreign land. Exactly fifty years later, Cyrus issued a decree that freed all the Jewish prisoners and allowed them to return home and rejoin with their long-lost friends and families. Therefore the Year of the Jubilee, and Isaiah’s words read by Jesus had a special place in the hearts of the Jewish people. By proclaiming those words fulfilled again, Jesus reiterated God’s absolute and unreserved love for mankind, his crush on us that does not seem to end.

Jesus proclaimed this reunion and recreation when he read Isaiah 61, yet many Christians continue to wait and long for a future that is already here. The poem of Creation has at its Hebrew center a message of celebration and joy, not one of Western desperation and brokenness. The seasons (or feasts of celebration) at the center of Creation are the same seasons and feasts celebrated by Jesus as having been fulfilled; they carry a message of love, joy and grace, a message that fulfills, not one that empties.”

I believe this age in which we live now is a day and the Year of the Jubilee that Jesus was speaking of and implying when he read Isaiah 61. It is spiritual in nature, but it can and it should have physical implications. It should prompt us all to WANT to help the poor, give sight to the blind and free those in debt and slavery. By the same token, I also believe God wants our WILLING hearts to do those things, not coerced hearts. I guess it is there where we differ in our approach and understanding of those passages.