Monday
Jan242005
On caring enough
Monday, January 24, 2005 at 2:42PM
My brother Arthur and I have been discussing my caring post by e-mail. Essentially, he's asking how much is enough. Good question. How much can we care about Darfur or AIDS when we have real problems and real lives here? Then this was in this morning's paper: Few Canadians realize extent of Holocaust:
"One can ask, 'How can a genocide happen?' Well, I guess part of the answer is a lot of good people have busy lives and they're not paying attention," Mr. Winn said. Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew is to make much the same point in an address to a special Holocaust commemorative session of the General Assembly of the United Nations tonight. "It is our ability to recognize evil, to battle our own indifference in the face of hatred against others, that requires the greatest courage and greatest insight. Sad to say, as a civilization we continue to fail on both counts," Mr. Pettigrew says. "Since the liberation of Auschwitz, the world has witnessed much brutality against our fellow human beings: Cambodia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Rwanda, Darfur, and the list of those damned by indifference goes on."With 350,000 or more who could die in Darfur in the next few months, it's getting harder to do nothing. A lot of people have been linking to Ron Sider's article:
American Christians live in the richest nation on earth and enjoy an average household income of $42,409. The World Bank reports that 1.2 billion of the world's poorest people try to survive on just one dollar a day. At least one billion people have never heard the gospel. The Ronsvalles point out that if American Christians just tithed, they would have another $143 billion available to empower the poor and spread the gospel. Studies by the United Nations suggest that just an additional $70
Reader Comments (6)
Hopefully, one day, we, the church, will really hold on to this as a value. To care for the poor! To stand up for the oppressed! I guess what I'm saying that I don't think that's a real big value for most churches (there's a generalization, sorry). No disrespect to Arthur, I don't know what your conversations have been about, therefore I'm not commenting on his direct question...but I find that every time I teach on it I get the same question (how much should I do?) but not from the perspective of how much could I do? As much as, What's the minimum that God expects? Often we're more interested in finding the proof-text that justifies our belief and more often, our behavious, or lack-there-of. I think part of the question is that we don't hold that value, and as a result we don't help, encourage, and support each other as we live it out.
I should clarify in case I've given the wrong impression of Arthur. I think he's trying to say, "Okay, what does it look like?" Good question, I think.
Ed, the gist of the converstion was "how much is enough?" based not on how little I need to do, but on how many causes can any one person take on? The original question was posed by Rev. Mike in his post, (as linked to by Darryl.)I agree with Rev. Mike that "we simply do not have the ability to right every wrong, correct every injustice, and bring about the Kingdom of God on earth." Given the multitude of causes: Cancer research Diabetes Crohn's disease Alzheimers AIDS Hunger Heart and stroke, etc., etc., and the number of different agencies: Red Cross Salvation Army UNICEF World Vision Save the Chidren, etc., etc. and the number of needy countries: Rwanda Sudan Zimbabwe Mozambique Angola Zaire The Congo Indonesia Burma (or Myanmar) Sri Lanka Sumatra, and so on, and on, and on.... and the numbers of souls that are involved, (I heard recently that as many as 250,000 people die daily of "preventable" circumstances!) I believe that for many people the task is simply overwhelming, and hence they, in despair, choose to do nothing. Someone said: "The poor will always be with us." And that is not to condone inaction, because I think the same person said: "As you do for the least of these your bretheren, so you do for me." A long ramble, but I guess what I am trying to say, Rev. Mike already said; "At some point you have to do more than care. You have to get off your couch and do something." I would just like to caution against trying to be all things to all people; spreading ourselves too thinly; and especially trying to work ourselves (out of guilt or legalism) into the Kingdom. THAT price has already been paid. So, I ask again: How much is enough? My answer, as least as far as I am concerned, is: As much as I CAN do according to the gifting and resources God has given me. I feel neither guilt because someone else does more, nor anger because someone else does less. THAT is God's concern, not mine.
I might add, quickly, that the causes I choose to concentrate on are the one's I believe God has laid on my heart. I do not try to accomodate all the requests for assistance I receive. God did, after all, give us common sense with the expectation that we would use it, at least occasionally.
Re: the tithing issue. Can I "entrust" the average church to do the "right" thing with my tithe? Obscenely ornate buildings, church building projects/ expansions, electric drums/ pipe organs (as the case may be), IT paraphenalia etc. Are any of these things wrong? Are any of these things expedient in light of the many global needs?
David: Your question is a haunting one.