Why the Fuss?

A Bit of Bribery and Corruption Makes the World Go Round

There has been a long tradition in the West against bribery, followed by the inevitable corruption of judges, rulers, and officials.  But billions of people in the world live in jurisdictions where bribery is simply the way things are done.  For centuries the Chinese have used "fragrant grease" to get officials and administrators to deliver what they are seeking.  Bribery and corruption are common in India, where it is regarded as "paying--or tipping--in advance". 

Every so often a non-Westerner enters a Western jurisdiction and attempts the age-old practice of bribery and public wrath and condemnation is called down upon his head.  We have seen this very thing in New Zealand over recent days.  The opposition Labour Party has been fulminating against the government, accusing it of taking bribes to favour a certain Chinese investor who has become a New Zealand citizen.  Corruption, corruption, corruption has been the cry.  Well it may have been.  But, sadly for the Labour Party, it has now emerged that it too has apparently been equally corrupted by the same Chinese immigrant, who, in the past has given money to Labour, as well as the current administration.  Shame and red faces all around. Oh, dear.  Never mind.
 

Millionaire businessman Donghua Liu has confirmed for the first time that he donated to the Labour Party.  The 53-year-old has been at the centre of political scandals involving National and Labour for months but yesterday broke his silence to say he had given "equally to Governments of both colours".

National declared a $22,000 donation in 2012, but Labour found no records of Liu donations after the Herald revealed that he paid $15,000 for a book at an auction fundraiser in 2007.  There is also a photograph of his partner receiving a bottle of wine from a Labour minister at an auction.  "Any political donations have always been given in good faith without any expectation. It is over to the politicians to make any appropriate declarations," Liu said in a statement.

"However, because I've built relationships with politicians, made donations, because it's election year and, dare I say, because I'm Chinese, I suppose I've been an easy target for some to gain some political mileage and score some points."  Investigations by the Weekend Herald this year have shown that Liu forged links with MPs from both sides of the political spectrum.  [NZ Herald]

Now, Liu has good reason to be both disconsolate and discombobulated.  After all, he is doing nothing different from what is common amongst his countrymen--and has been for time immemorial.  What is all this fuss about in New Zealand?  Why is New Zealand (or the West) so puritanical on this matter?  After all, aren't we all secular evolutionists?  New Zealand shares the same cosmological assumptions as China: we are all materialists.  If bribery works, what's wrong with it?  Surely life and its operating principles must be grounded in pragmatism because that's the root principle of materialism and evolutionism.  If it works, it's OK.  

For our part, we think Liu has it dead to rights.  It's New Zealand which is confused on the matter.  In reality it is the Bible which condemns bribery and the excision of bribery from Western culture is a peculiarly Christian contribution.  Remove the Christian faith, replace it with evolutionist materialism, and there is not reason why it should remain proscribed.  None at all. 

Here is a summary of relevant biblical passages:

Moses was to select judges over Israel.  The qualifications for a good judge were as follows:

Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.  (Exodus 18:21)

The Lord has laid down standards for justices:

And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of those who are in the right. (Exodus 23:8)

God Himself is not partial--but fair and just.  God does not take bribes.  Therefore, nor must we.

For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. (Deuteronomy 10:17)

Bribery is inimical to justice. It perverts the cause of justice--and any society which tolerates it foments injustice against its own citizens.

You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality, and you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous. (Deuteronomy 16:19)

Therefore, what stands against the centuries of bribery in China and India and other non-Christian nations?  The Bible.  If the West continues to be embarrassed and too worldly to respect the Christian Scriptures, its present rejection of bribery will not withstand the relentless onslaught of amorality arising from materialism and evolutionism.