Time To Speak Up!

Oppression - The act of using power to empower and/or privilege a group at the expense of disempowering, marginalizing, silencing, and subordinating another. It is particularly closely associated with nationalism and derived social systems, wherein identity is built by antagonism to the other. The term itself is derived from the idea of being “weighted down”

The word oppression is a word that for the past several weeks I have been unable to get out of my head or my spirit. It is a word that I, as an American, realistically have no familiarity with. Only recently have I come to realize that much of the world’s population is all too familiar with the reality of it. This is especially true in India, where my thoughts have often been. India is a land of people who are mostly of the Hindu religion. The caste system plays a huge role in the oppression of the poor in India. It is something few Americans have any knowledge of, but in a quick summary it is basically a division of social classes. The poorest of poor are beggars, plumbers, garbage men, etc. The wealthiest are government officials, etc. Children who are born into these castes often never supersede their current caste. They are really offered no assistance in advancing from their current caste because this is considered their “karma” or “lot in life”. Many Hindus believe that these people are getting exactly what they deserve, wherever they fall in the system.

I posted a blog back in January titled “American Mentality” which pretty much explains why Americans are either unaware of the world around them or we just don’t care.

With that being said, I had to do a little research on what the Bible says about oppression and what we as children of God should be doing about it. This is what I’ve found so far:

Proverbs 28:27 NLT –
Whoever gives to the poor will lack nothing. But a curse will come upon those who closed their eyes to poverty.

Luke 1:52-53 MSG –
He knocked tyrants off their high horses, pulled victims out of the mud. The starving poor sat down to a banquet; the callous rich were left out in the cold.

Ezekiel 22:29-30 MSG –
Extortion is rife, robbery is epidemic, the poor and needy are abused, outsiders are kicked around at will, with no access to justice. I looked for someone to stand up for me against all this, to repair the defenses on the city, to take a stand for me and stand in the gap to protect this land so I wouldn’t have to destroy it. I couldn’t find anyone. Not one.

Jeremiah 5:24-30 MSG –
It never occurs to them to say, “How can we honor our God with our lives, The God who gives rain in both spring and autumn and maintains the rhythm of the seasons, Who sets aside time each year for harvest and keeps everything running smoothly for us? Of course you don’t! Your bad behavior blinds you to all this. Your sins keep my blessings at a distance. To Stand for Nothing and Stand Up for No One “My people are infiltrated by wicked men, unscrupulous men on the hunt. They set traps for the unsuspecting. Their victims are innocent men and women. Their houses are stuffed with ill-gotten gain, like a hunter’s bag full of birds. Pretentious and powerful and rich, hugely obese, oily with rolls of fat. Worse, they have no conscience. Right and wrong mean nothing to them. They stand for nothing, stand up for no one, throw orphans to the wolves, exploit the poor. Do you think I’ll stand by and do nothing about this?” God’s Decree. “Don’t you think I’ll take serious measures against a people like this? “Unspeakable! Sickening! What’s happened in this country?”

More on this vein of thoughts later...