Or do we all have the same impact?
I dont’ think theism is good news to the poor. That Jesus is Lord and his upside-down, peaceful revolutionary Kingdom is coming is good news to the poor. But there is nothing in “theism,” no matter its degree, that gets you to a risen Messiah.
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For me I normally don’t even bring up all the possibilities of various interpretations of things in genesis when sharing the gospel with the most unless they bring it up. I teach from the gospels including acts about sin, repentance, baptism, confession, and faith all centered on Jesus as the son of God.
Then over the weeks or months of studying those topics as they come to issues I will dive more deeply into the doctrines laid out in the epistles and the old
Testament. If they come from a more agnostic or atheist position the discussion tends to head more into subjects like what BioLogos covers and textual analysis and why we can trust in the word despite the issues it has.
If they are Jewish or Muslim the discussion tends to head more into Torah based arguements like the Coniah bloodcurse sbd biblical patterns and so on.
Didn’t it come 1990 years ago Christy? What are we waiting for?
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The whole world to get with the program.
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Before trying to answer your question, I would hope for a bit more information. Based on the way you’ve posed the question, I infer that you believe epistemology always comes before theism. But that may not be what you mean. Your wording also makes it sound as if all theisms and all epistemologies lie on a single spectrum. But again, that may not be what you mean.
As for the disadvantaged – not just the poor, but also those with disabilities, major health issues (both physical and mental health), abusive family situations, and so on – we know that God loves everyone equally regardless of their circumstances. Isn’t this the core of Jesus’ teachings?
Somewhere hot will freeze over before that Christy. So we can do nothing until then?
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You get me Jennifer. Epistemology comes before every belief does it not? I can envisage two axes, one each for theism and epistemology, not sure what the plots would look like. Won’t one axis do?
Aye, that’s the core. Aren’t we His hands, feet, arms, hearts, ears, mouths, wallets?
Christians believe Jesus will return, and all things will be made new. In the meantime we are to live under the new reality that Jesus’ resurrection ushered in to our world, which includes the possibility of being united with God through the Holy Spirit and the power to serve others in love and work for justice and peace on earth. None of that is “theism.”
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I also can’t tell if part of the implication is that their may be a more literal interpretation of those who understand science less which may be related to lower education that possibly is found in higher concentrations in areas considered poor.
Not that I think the generalization is wrong as far as statistics is concerned. But yes in general areas that seem to have more problems with poverty seems to typically have a more struggling academic reality. Typically it’s in these areas I come across the most literal interpretations. But like with ehh anything, it doesn’t mean the people are stupider just not as educated on some things and have to focus more on the day in and out struggle to survive in our modern living system. If the person seems to have a literal interpretation of the Bible it won’t come into play usually with me sharing the gospel to them. There are also always outliers who don’t fit the typical bar ales we see.
I’m more interested in how incarnational people are; what they do with what they’ve got. Those further down the socio-economic scale do disproportionately more I reckon.
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