writing grievousness and unrighteous decrees, 2

“…The heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live…”
(Ecclesiastes 9.3)
 
Wherewith shall I come before the LORD,
and bow myself before the high God?
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good;
and what doth the LORD require of thee,
but to do justly, and to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with thy God?
​(Micah 6.6, 8)

america's mad state of rebellion: writing grievousness and unrighteous decrees, 2
​14 february 2022

There is so much that is wrong with the conduct reported in the following that one hardly knows where to begin.
 

“Thanks to a tax code that favors corporations and the wealthy, Amazon was able to dodge billions of dollars of federal income taxes in 2021, a new report has found.
 
“According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), the tech behemoth reported record profits last year, raking in $35 billion – 75 percent more than they made in 2020, which was also a record year for the company.
 
“Despite these record profits, the company paid a federal income tax rate of 6.1 percent, or $2.1 billion, in 2021. If the company hadn’t benefited from tax breaks and had paid the already low statutory corporate tax rate of 21 percent, it would have paid $7.3 billion in federal tax. This means that the company successfully dodged $5.2 billion in corporate taxes last year.
 
“Since 2018, the company has only paid an average effective tax rate of 5.1 percent. In 2018 and 2019, Amazon’s tax dodging was especially egregious; in 2019, the company paid 1.2 percent in federal income taxes. The year before, the company paid a negative 1.2 percent tax rate, meaning that it received more money from the government than it paid in taxes” (Amazon Dodged $5.2 Billion in Taxes Last Year, Report Finds, Sharon Zhang, Truthout).
 
​
We begin our survey of this wickedness with these words of Isiah, now familiar to those who regularly visit this space.
 
“Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees,   
   and that write grievousness which they have prescribed… “
 
The wickedness reported above is certainly an example of governments at all levels—local, state, and federal—having “decree[d] unrightous decrees” and “writ[ing] grievousness” so as to make immoral behavior “legal.” “What,” you ask, “is so immoral about laws that allow companies to escape taxes?” “What,” you mean, “is so immoral about companies being freed from contributing meaningfully to society’s welfare?” Let me count the ways. We will return to our now familiar Isaiah passage.
 
“Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees,   
   and that write grievousness which they have prescribed; 
to turn aside the needy from judgment,   
   and to take away the right from the poor of my people,  
that widows may be their prey,   
   and that they may rob the fatherless!” (Isaiah 10.1-2)
 
The needy, the poor, the widowed, the fatherless, and all other vulnerable citizens suffer as a consequence of unrighteous decrees and grievousness. That’s one. Such laws put a huge target on the back of the most vulnerable in our society.
 
Decrees of unrighteousness and grievousness endanger not only the vulnerable, they endanger all of us. They endanger democracy. With all their resources, the wealthy gain unequal access to lawmakers. With this access, they influence the legislative process to write and pass ever more unrighteous decrees and grievousness which widen the gap in both resources and influence between the powerful and powerless. As Harold Laski, a British political theorist, observed over a hundred years ago,
 
“A State divided into a small number of rich and a large number of poor will always develop a government manipulated by the rich to protect the amenities represented by their property.”
 
Though it is worthy of its own treatment in any discussion of America’s mad state of rebellion (something we have done elsewhere), we should mention the evil that economic inequality represents, especially that which is legalized through unrighteous decrees and grievousness. It was none of than God, Himself, who named economic inequality for the sin that it is.
 
“It is not given that one man should possess that which is above another, wherefore the world lieth in sin” (DC 49.20).
 
“Thus we see” that unrighteous decrees and grievousness that make it possible for the wealthy to escape taxes and their responsibilities as less fortunate citizens corrupts the very beneficiaries of those decrees, makes sinners of them, and puts a big target on their backs as well.
 
“Wo unto you rich men, that will not give your substance to the poor, for your riches will canker your souls; and this shall be your lamentation in the day of visitation, and of judgment, and of indignation: ‘The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and my soul is not saved!’” (DC 56.16)
 
How long can a society in which every citizen, poor and rich alike, has a target on their back endure?
 
Those who decree unrighteousness and grievousness along with those who use them to prey upon their less fortunate fellow citizens imagine they can hide from God and the consequences of their wickedness.
 
Haughtily, the wicked vehemently pursues those already down and out.
   The poor are snared by the plans the wicked conceives.
For the wicked finds joy only in satisfying his appetites,
   and calls blessed, one accumulating unjust profits--
      one who holds YHWH in contempt!
 
He says to himself, ‘I cannot be toppled.
   My future holds no misfortune.’
 
He sits in ambush outside villages.
   From concealed places he slays the unsuspecting innocent;
      his eyes peer out at his unfortunate victim.
Like a lion, he lies in wait from a concealed place in the brush.
   He lies in ambush to seize the poor--
He seizes the poor, dragging him into his lair.
   He crouches low, he hunches down
      and falls upon the bones of the vulnerable.
He says to himself, ‘God is oblivious.
   He’s absent. He sees nothing, ever’” (Psalm 10.2-3, 6, 8-11, author’s translation).
 
But He who is holy and lives in heaven observes all, including this preying upon the vulnerable.
 
“I have heard your prayers, and the poor have complained before me…”
 
The day of visitation will come. We have prayed for it before and will again. It has become a common refrain in our prayers.
 
“And what will ye do in the day of visitation,   
   and in the desolation which shall come from far?   
to whom will ye flee for help?  
   and where will ye leave your glory?” (Isaiah 10.3)

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!