Sunday, March 28, 2010

Welcoming "Reform"

"Let's look at the word "reform."  In essence, it is an attempt to fix what is broken.  The health care system was working for some and not working for others.  All this unnecessary drama over something that was broken and needed fixing.  Let's have some civility here and stop the name calling.  This is not socialism, Marxism, or Fascism, or whatever -ism is your favorite hate-filled word.  The best of what government can do is to look out for the well being of all people, not just the privileged few.  It won't always get it right, but I like to see the government at least try." (taken from a blog post by Dr. Soong-Chan Rah)

Too often we emphasize individual sin and neglect systematic/structural sins in our society.  If we ourselves as individuals are sinful, the systems we create are by default sinful as well.  It seems then that "reform" (aka 'an attempt to fix what is broken') should be something that we welcome instead of resist.  Whether it's reform to our education, immigration, criminal justice, or health care systems (etc.).

As Christ followers, instead of reacting with hostility and angst when the word "reform" gets tagged alongside anything, let's welcome it recognizing that the sinful systems we've created will always need to be reformed.

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