{"id":2176,"date":"2012-02-07T11:24:14","date_gmt":"2012-02-07T16:24:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/redletters\/?p=2176"},"modified":"2012-02-07T12:22:56","modified_gmt":"2012-02-07T17:22:56","slug":"the-new-aristocrats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2012\/02\/the-new-aristocrats.html","title":{"rendered":"The New Aristocrats"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"For a fascinating and entertaining look at aristocratic life, look no further than the PBS show, Downton Abbey. <\/em>Set in the early part of the twentieth century when the old European aristocratic life was on the decline, Downton<\/em> offers a look into how true aristocrats and “noble” families lived.<\/p>\n

Watching Downton<\/em>, it is hard to believe that the noble Grantham family actually wants to live this way. They are dressed by servants who do everything but cut the food and put it in their mouths. But to the nobles it’s just their normal way of life. <\/strong><\/p>\n

“What is a ‘week end?'”<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>In one of the early episodes, Maggie Smith’s matriarchal character asks that question to a distant relative, a lawyer who works for a living but by chance is poised to inherit the entire family estate and title.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Her clueless question is a killer laugh line. But that laughter quickly turns uncomfortable.<\/p>\n

Could you imagine the global poor asking us questions like:<\/p>\n

What is dry cleaning? <\/em>or What do you mean by “vacation clothes?” <\/em>or You have parks made of water that you play in? <\/em><\/p>\n

Are we the NEW aristocrats?<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>The other fascinating part about Downton<\/em> is how easily you can see why we turn to simple, money-based solutions like aid. Not only is it the easy<\/strong> option, we are positively drowning in money (globally speaking). Our relative wealth and position in the world make money-only<\/strong> solutions to poverty so darn attractive.<\/p>\n

If we just throw some money at it, they’ll use it the way we would <\/strong>(or the way we think they should).<\/p>\n

Take a moment to read this blog post<\/a><\/strong> from one of the richest people in the world. She’s a “ten talent” servant. Take a moment to consider her words, and what sort of servant you would like to be in the kingdom of God.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For a fascinating and entertaining look at aristocratic life, look no further than the PBS show, Downton Abbey. Set in the early part of the twentieth century when the old European aristocratic life was on the decline, Downton offers a look into how true aristocrats and “noble” families lived. Watching Downton, it is hard to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":87,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58,3,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hivaids-2","category-orphans","category-the-poor"],"yoast_head":"\nThe New Aristocrats - Red Letters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2012\/02\/the-new-aristocrats.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The New Aristocrats - Red Letters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For a fascinating and entertaining look at aristocratic life, look no further than the PBS show, Downton Abbey. 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A tireless advocate for fatherless children, Davis has spent most of his adult life calling U.S. believers to become the hands and feet of Jesus Christ to the 143 million orphans living around the world. Through those connections, thousands of orphans now have the bright and hopeful future--one that is filled with opportunities and the love of the one true Father. Davis speaks hundreds of times each year at churches and conferences, mobilizing the church to action on behalf of the poor. He is the author of four books. His most recent novel, SCARED is a fictionalized account of his first-hand experiencing living and working with orphans in Swaziland, Africa. Davis' blog is the premier resource for the latest developments in Christian orphan ministry. Davis also currently teaches courses as adjunct professor at George Fox University in Newberg, OR. When not traveling the globe, Davis resides in the mountains of Colorado in the small community of Palmer Lake. He and his wife Emily have seven children, including two adopted daughters from Russia.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/author\/tdavis"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/87"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2176"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2184,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2176\/revisions\/2184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}