Brilliant

Brilliant?

References:

Snopes - Urban Legends Website - Socialism Grade Averaging

Adrian Rogers quote under new light The Tale of the Economics Professor (unpacking the assumptions)

The following is a story or 'urban legend' that has been remanufactured from a story going back to 1944 (see the snopes link above). Despite the suppositions and assumptions, I show it here for critique.

Read this, it is brilliant

EXCELLENT! More teachers need to do this to teach the future generations.

This teacher is truly a genius!

As the late Adrian Rogers said, "you cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."
This man is truly a genius!

An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had once failed an entire class. That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.

The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama's plan". All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A.

After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy.

As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little. The second test average was a D! No one was happy.

When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.

The scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else. All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.

Could not be any simpler than that. (Please pass this on)

Remember, there is a mid-term election in 2010!

Now, this story seem rather 'cut and dried', very simple and easy to decide which way is right. However, remember this verse from Proverbs:

Proverbs 18:17:
The first to present his case seems right, till another comes forward and questions him. Now, here's a story from the new testament told by Jesus.

Matthew 20 (vs. 1-16)
The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard

"For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

"About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.' So they went.

"He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, 'Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?'" 'Because no one has hired us,' they answered.

"He said to them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard.'

"When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.'

"The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 'These men who were hired last worked only one hour,' they said, 'and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.'

"But he answered one of them, 'Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?'

"So the last will be first, and the first will be last."

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
The "NIV" and "New International Version" trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica. Use of either trademark requires the permission of Biblica.

Isn't this strange? The teacher in the first story is described as 'brillant' and a 'genius', and the second story is one told by Jesus in the bible. In both stories, the student and workers got upset, grumbled, and complained. The first story was a picture of socialism (or rather, communism), and the second story is a picture of the kingdom of God. In both stories, the inborne, God-given human trait of what is just is illustrated. The second story tells how human conceptions of what is just falls short of God's way.

I think the first story falls short because it makes it seem like the students are mainly in college for the grades. The workers in the second story do get paid, but they don't like God's (the landowner) generousity to those who work less. The bible gives no tomorrow for the second story. Would fallen human nature make the ones who worked all day the day before lazy on the next day?

In both cases, the students and workers need to be studying/working as to God and not as man pleasers. They need to be responsible for themselves to God, and not looking over their shoulders at others. The prodigal son's other brother also had this upset feeling about his brother getting undeserved celebration and honor. God doesn't give all people equal talents and wealth. Yet God tell the Israelites (Deuteronomy 15):

4 However, there should be no poor among you, for in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you,

7 If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. 8 Rather be openhanded and freely lend him whatever he needs. 9 Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought: "The seventh year, the year for canceling debts, is near," so that you do not show ill will toward your needy brother and give him nothing. He may then appeal to the LORD against you, and you will be found guilty of sin. 10 Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. 11 There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.

Sometimes we get too attached to the 'American Dream' rather than the Kingdom of God. Laissez Faire capitalism becomes more Darwinian than Christian. This Christianity runs our human nature the wrong way. Does this make sense?

I believe the theory of people getting lazy with hand outs, and losing the motivation to work or create is not at all the way things really are. Grace is getting something that is unearned and undeserved. Why would God in His wisdom call for believers to help other believers, and the poor and needy, if that only acts as a disincentive for individual initiative. Likewise, God's forgiveness and grace, and people's forgiveness and grace, might allow sinners to sin all the more, taking advantage of that forgiveness. However, Jesus tells Peter to forgive again and again. Yes, there are warnings for those believers who take advantage of God's grace and continue to sin, but that's not all the bible says.

What's missing from the professor's story is balance. A student or worker, if a believer, will be studying or working not just for pay, but for the glory of God, to please Him in all they do. Likewise, a believer who sins, knowing the fear of God, will feel sorrow for displeasing the loving Father. Human motivation is more complex than this simple illustration from the professor. God is complex, too. God's ways and thoughts are higher than ours (Isaiah 55:9). Certainly, God (the landowner in Jesus' story) is much more brilliant than this professor.

Jesus said, "So the last will be first, and the first will be last."