The criminalization of the poor is a real phenomenon. Impoverished people in our society are not only criminalized by those who are well-off. We are criminalized by some of the very poor people we find in our midst.
The Lord God made a sacrifice for my sake I cannot fully comprehend. My best response is to yield myself totally into His most capable hands. Because I am His own, I am safe. But there is more. He calls me by name and leads me to pasture.
Given that the Bible is an authoritative text given to humanity from God to read, interpret, and apply in its entirety, we are now at the point in this journey when we ask: How can we understand what the Bible is saying?
Given that the Bible has been used so often to inflict harm on people and stand in the way of justice, we might ask whether it is responsible to engage with Scripture at all.
I was never one of those kids who could be appeased by the response, “Because I said so…” It was insufficient, to say the least, and did nothing to quell the true curiosity or intent of my question — whatever that question may have been.