The World's 5 Biggest Problems

AND HOW WE MIGHT SOLVE THEM

March 25th 2014

The world is increasingly becoming a global village. We now have entire media networks dedicated to potentially delivering news as it happens from anywhere in the world. Sadly, those of us in the more affluent parts of the world usually don't get the most important news offered to us. Instead, we often get dished a diet of celebrity appearances, entertainment updates, political scandals, media commentary and sporting match results. To quote Neil Postman, despite the potential of our News media to inform us and even call us to action, we are "amusing ourselves to death."

There are several websites which list the survey results of what people think are the world's greatest problems. The major problem with such surveys is that they are largely Western and almost always fueled by how the participants have been informed by their media sources. Here's a summary and ranking of the word's greatest problems, and possible solutions to them.

The word "Fundamentalism" has come to mean those who think they are right and everyone else is wrong ("Us and them"). Added to this, Fundamentalism has come to mean that Fundamentalists feel not only justified in attacking those who disagree with them, but morally obliged to do so. In it's worst form it looks like murderous terrorism. In it's more subtle forms it looks like slander of those who disagree with them. Religious Fundamentalism adds the dimension of claiming that they alone are endorsed by God to carry out these acts of terror and oppression. Typically women and children suffer under the shadow of Religious Fundamentalism. Thus, girls are treated as objects (so-called 'female-circumcision' is often inflicted on these girls and even genital mutilation is performed - this was highlighted in the movie about Waris Dirie, Desert Flower), denied an education, 'married' off as young as 13 (when their bodies are incapable of the physical implications of marriage).

Fundamentalists are not prepared to defend their positions. Rather, they merely assert their positions are right and true and resent any challenges to them. Questioning is not allowed. Other views are maligned and misrepresented. This leads to hatred of others who do not agree with them.

Dialogue is the solution. To foster the kind of international dialogue necessary to counter religious Fundamentalism and the subsequent threat of terrorism, trade, tourism, and educational exchange programs are needed.

Christians are also prone to a kind of Fundamentalism. The solution to this is found in First Peter 3:15.

but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 
First Peter 3:15

While dialogue is the starting point toward a solution, truth is the goal of such dialogue. This needs to happen at cultural, political and religious levels.

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The Gleaning Solution

The Scriptures have some significant things to say about caring for the poor and oppressed that might challenge even the most acceptable social policy... 

"...you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother" (Deut. 15:7).

"Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker..." (Prov. 14:31)

And while charity is commended as an act of compassion toward the poor, it seems that the Scriptures particularly condemn the oppression of the poor. One of the most insidious oppressions of the poor is to deprive them of hope. One of the means of hope for the poor is to give them opportunities.

Interestingly, the Scriptures indicate that God regards the solution to poverty as fairness ("justice") leading to opportunities. This is particularly illustrated in the instructions to 'the blessed' to allow 'the poor' to glean their fields. 

¶ “And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the LORD your God.” (Leviticus 23:22)

Why didn't God command that the wealthy farmer simply go back and harvest the gleanings to give to the poor waiting outside their gate?

Is it fair ("just") to expect the poor to take advantage of the opportunity presented to them to alleviate their poor conditions?

The next time you pray for your needs to be met you might want to consider that God answers such prayers with provision but more likely with an opportunity. Consider that God's Word prescribes "the Gleaning Solution".

BREAKING THE CYCLE OF POVERTY

I recently read Dr Wess Stafford (pictured left) book, "Too Small To Ignore - Why Children Are The Next Big Thing". This books exposes the atrocious childhood experiences that Wess had when he grew up as a missionary's kid in nation of Ivory Coast. It was the policy of the denomination that his Dad was a missionary for, that all missionary kids had to attend the denominational boarding school several days drive away. While at Boarding schooling for nearly 6 years young Wess was subject to constant abuse (of every kind) as were nearly all of the other children attending this school. This horrendous experience could have embittered young Wess against Africa and against the Lord (since his abusers were Christian missionaries!), but he left Africa with great compassion for Africa and for the cause of Christ.

It would take another 50 years for Wess before he would come to terms with what happened in his early schooling which eventually resulted in justice being done. But along the way, Wess developed an even deeper compassion for the world's poor. Eventually he would go on to become the President of Compassion International where he would advocate for the world's most vulnerable poor: children in poverty. Wess now champions a concern that should concern us all- How do we fight poverty on behalf of the world's poorest and most vunerable people?

Having grown up in Ivory Coast and then working in Haiti, Wess is well qualified to address this issue. He says that nations need a Six Spoked Strategy. Here is a summary of his proposition-

1. ECONOMICS

"In Haiti, the poorest nation in the Western Hemishere, the average peasant family earns $140 a year... To send a child to school costs $50 a year " (Stafford, page 176).

The economy of a nation is critical to the well-being of that nation. If the national economy of a country is marked by a gross imbalance of trade (where a country does not export enough to 'pay' for its imports) it is likely to inflict poverty upon its citizens. Governments need to manage their economies well by avoiding and minimising debt and increasing national productivity, argues Dr Stafford.


2. HEALTH CARE

"A big part of health maintenance, of course, is getting adequate nutrition. Some people think the earth can't keep up with the food needs of its population. This is not true. In fact, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) declared at a World Food Summit in Rome that the planet could produce enough food for every one of us to hav a daily diet of 2,720 calories. The average six-year-old needs only 1,800 calories a day. The average fourteen-year-old girl needs 2,200 and the average fourteen-year-old boy needs 2,500." (Stafford, page 177).

A balanced diet, clean water, sanitation, adequate shelter, and availability of necessary medicines are some of the basics needed to provide sufficient health care that all too often those nations in poverty are deprived of.


3. EDUCATION

"What you don't know can't hurt you" is a lie, says Dr Wess Stafford (page 178). Being able to read can literally save lives and break cycles of poverty. Yet such a basic art is often denied to the world's poorest.

4. ECOLOGY
Trees, fresh water, sanitation, all matter. Agriculture is called "primary" industry for a good reason. In Haiti, Dr Staffords tells, greedy foreigners cleared entire forests for the rich supply of timber. Today the forests are all gone. This has radically changed Haiti's ecology. Trees help to preserve water, maintain soil nutrients, and act as a cooling agent. But Haiti is now in virtual perpetual drought. As rain clouds come over the once tropical Haiti the intense heat of the now bare ground drives the rain clouds up into higher altitude and then past Haiti.


5. SOCIOPOLITICAL
Governmental corruption leads to national poverty. Good government facilitates national well-being. Democracy may not be the best way to govern a nation, wrote CS Lewis, but it's the best form of government that we have. A functioning democracy is an all too rare occurence among the poorest nations. A deep sense of vocation and calling is needed by all those in Public Service so that the gravity of their responsibility is carried out with a sense of dutiful diligence without fear or favour.


6. SPIRITUAL
A wrong understanding of God and what appeases Him can lead to poverty. A right understanding of God helps avoid poverty, says Dr Stafford. He has seen many nations whose predominant understanding of "God" was largely superstitious and idolatrous resulting in worship practices that designated certain people groups to perpetual poverty without compassionate relief from their countrymen. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is Good News for the poor, the marginalised, women, and especially children. It is imperative that Christians do not shrink back from proclaiming Christ as Saviour, and the Hope of the World.

Acts 4:12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Wess Stafford says that all this must start with children, who he argues are the most vulnerable members of a society. He gives some remarkable statistics about the potential to shape a person's life and values if they can be influenced before they have turned 21. As I read Dr Stafford's book, I thought that it is not just the poorest nations that need to continually work on this six-spoked strategy. Our own nation could benefit greatly if Christ-followers worked toward shaping our own governments to implement this same six-spoked strategy.
We should encourage those followers of Christ who are involved in any of the six vital areas of cultural influence that their work is work of worship, devotion to the cause and glory of Christ and that what they do (no matter how mundane and unappreciated) has the potential to safeguard the welfare of many people who would otherwise be the victims of a Christ-less bureaucrat.

1Corinthians 10:31 ¶ So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Amen.

Who Do We Put First?

A few years after my conversion to Christ it dawned on me. I'd never heard anybody preach it. I'd never read where anybody had written it. I'd never discussed it with anyone. Yet, a powerful and revolutionary thought entered my thinking. It has since transformed me and become intrinsic to the way I think. I don't expect that everyone will get it. I rather expect that even after explaining it, some will still not see it. But I had a thought that when someone becomes a Christian they receive a new identity. And this new identity becomes their primary identity.

Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

This was a radical idea to me. It meant that the classifications and even allegiances that people have such as nationality, status, job, were not the primary definers of a Believer. It meant that a person was primarily indentified as a Christian and a member of the Kingdom of God. This membership with the Kingdom transcends race, ethnicity, skin-colour or nationality. Thus, the believer's view of the world is not prioritised by the immediate but the eternal. Neither is it prioritised with the 'my own backyard comes first' view of the world but rather a new view of the whole earth belonging to the Lord who cares about more situations (and probably more important situations) than those in our immediate geography.

Romans 3:29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also...

Understanding our new identity helps us to begin to begin to see the world the way God sees it. We are a part of what the King of Kings is doing in the whole earth, not just our city. We are joined with brothers and sisters in Christ whom we have never even met or heard of! Just as in New Testament times when Gentile believers helped Jewish believers, we have opportunity to do similar today. These early Christians regarded Christ as their new identity and realised that this identity was shared by people of different nationalities, languages, and cultures.

If every Christian on the planet "got" this truth that Christ unites us despite our cultures, race, language, colour, then we would go a long way to erradicating racism!

But even though I discovered this truth around two decades ago, I have lived most of my life with a "If it's in my backyard then I care" mentality. But I suspect I'm not the only one. Indeed, so common is this thinking that we often fail to recognise it - especially in our Media reporting. For example, a few years ago (1999) several Indian Christian workers were killed in Northern India by hostile Hindus and there was little to no mention of it in the media. Within a week or so of this massacre, Graham Stains (an Australian missionary) and two of his children were similarly killed and yet their deaths were the subject of worldwide media attention. We all tend to put our own 'kind' first.

This doesn't mean that we don't care about our own city. We do. We love our city. We love the people of our city. We want to see our city saved. We want to see lost people coming to know Christ and we want to be able to glorify Christ by building a growing church for His glory. We want to leave a legacy of many, many, new Christians and on-fire mature Christians for God's glory. Along the way we want to reach out to our city with events that you can invite them to so that they will hear the Gospel and come to know that Christianity is worth thinking about. As we go we want to demonstrate the truth of the life-changing Gospel by living pure, holy, changing, God-glorifying lives. For some people though, all of this must happen before we get involved in reaching out to people beyond our own borders. But if we understand God's heart for all people and the nature of His Kingdom (which transcends nationality, race, religion, skin colour) then our new nature causes us to feel compassion for the Gospel-poor people of the whole world without neglecting those in our own household, neighbourhood or city.

Yesterday I sat down and read a book which discusses some of these things. It is the story of Jossy Chacko. I would strongly enourage everyone to order their own copy of this book. It is one of the most inspiring books I've ever read. It will stir your faith, encourage your heart, and amaze you. By the way, it's all based on true stories. Do yourself and your walk with Christ a favour and read this book.
It will cost you $17.95 (plus postage?)and is available from his website. If you can not afford to buy this excellent book, then I'll buy it for you (please just let me know). I would really like everyone in our church to read this book.

May God help us to be passionate about first things: (i) Preaching the Gospel - 1Cor. 15:3; (ii) Seeking His Kingdom - Matt. 6:33; and (iii) Loving God and others - Matt. 22:38. May all of this be done without getting the world's firsts confused with God's.

Luke 15:24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

Amen.