Unequal Outcomes

 Thomas Sowell observes, "Much of the social retrogression that took place on both sides of the Atlantic is traceable to the central tenet of the prevailing social vision, that unequal outcomes are due to adverse treatment of the less fortunate."

Many Christians assume poor people are poor because the rich are mistreating the poor. After all, Jesus gave us the story of the rich man and Lazarus, a story constantly harped on by Christian Fathers and Doctors of the Church. But none of Christianity's preachers spend much time on the tower of Siloam, in which the laws of nature inflict unequal outcomes on the victims. Natural calamity is either attributed to Satan's malevolence (e.g., Job) or quickly passed over without direct comment (e.g., the man born blind). Job and the man born blind both suffered, but the wealthy were not the cause of their suffering. 

While Christianity opposes the wealthy adversely treating the less fortunate, Christianity actively promotes unequal outcomes. When someone chooses to be an idiot (e.g., the adulterous woman), Jesus absolves the idiot of the consequences of being stupid. The adulterous woman acts to pull down destruction on her own head, in much the same way that the blind Samson pulls down a building on his own head, but the former is forgiven, as long as she promises to stop acting the fool, while the latter is celebrated as a Hebrew hero.

Yet, just as God uses mud to heal the blind man, so do the rich (wealthy in intellect or resources) develop and use tools to protect everyone from natural calamity. Technology better than money, for we benefit immediately from technology in a way that we do not from money. I may be born rich, but the wealth buys me nothing until I purchase something. However, if I am born into a high-tech society, I benefit from that society from the moment of my conception. Indeed, insofar as the pre-conception lifestyle of my parents influence my conception, I benefit even before my conception. 

"Stressful events could change your genes in ways that can be passed down to future generations. Yes, that is correct, stress and genetics can be passed down. In most cases, the effects seem to last just one or two generations, but further research might find longer-lasting impacts."

Industrialization and technology is the rich man's way of showering good things upon Lazarus. The rich use tech to drive down the physical cost of everything, thus showering their wealth on the maximum number of poor. There is no parable that corresponds to this, apart from, perhaps, the workers in the vineyard or the investment parable of the talents. Since these positive effects of capitalism, technology and wealth distribution have historically not been well-understood by ordained men, it is never the subject of sermons, and therefore never noted.

Then again, God is often willing to use the natural world to punish people. Famine, plague, war, death... these are often explicitly referred to in Scripture as God's just retribution upon the wicked. God scourges the child he loves, and Scripture teaches that suffering is necessary to make a man perfect. In this case, when unequal outcomes are due to adverse treatment of the less fortunate, it may be precisely because justice is being served. We are told of the people who called upon the Lord Jesus and were rewarded, but not all who call upon the Lord are, for not all who cry "Lord, Lord" will be rewarded.

Christians argue that it is just for God to reject the pleadings of the latter, because only God can truly judge. For these people, God's justice triumphs over his mercy. So, if we act in God's image, we know that it is sometimes perfectly reasonable to apply unequal outcomes, even negative physical outcomes, to the less fortunate, to let our justice triumph over our mercy. The prevailing social vision has no way of adjusting for this fact, nor - to be perfectly fair - does Christian theology. We do know it is often appropriate to deal out justice rather than mercy, but since we do not have God's mind, we cannot know when it is in everyone's best interest to meet out justice instead of mercy.

Thus, the rich shower mercy indiscriminately on all via the widespread utilization of technology that lifts everyone out of the abject poverty all of mankind experienced prior to 1800. But when some of that rain does not reach every last corner of the desert in a way sufficient to meet the high standards of social justice warriors, that is seen as an assault by the rich upon the poor. No thought is given to how difficult it can be to send rain even into deserts. No, as with Job, the capitalist rich are instantly compared to the acts of Satan, and poor Job's afflictions are seen as unjust, even though the foolishness of the poor is as scarlet.