It took a year to read the Bible, then almost 9 months to read the Apocrypha. Now, I'm going to try to offer reflections on the Narrative Lectionary. But, I won't be posting daily--at least, for a while.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Need and abundance, a Reflection on 2 Corinthians 8:7-15

There's a lot of poor people in the world. And there's a lot of the rest of us that don't think of ourselves as being all that rich. Paul told the Corinthians that they were supposed to give gifts relative to what they had. "It's only fair that those of you that have anything should be willing to share it," he said.

The United Methodist Church asks Can we feed the world?
One in ten households in the U.S. lives with hunger, or is at risk of hunger. Around the world, almost a billion people go hungry.

That website includes links to other related stories: gleaning, biotechnology, reasons for hope, and Biblical ethics.

Ekklesia
reports that Rich countries have snubbed poor. What would Paul say to us?

3 comments:

earl said...

There is no good reason for anyone to be hungry. The only thing necessary to stop hunger is a massive reordering of structures for control, administration and distribution of resources. The only way that will occur is to win lost men and women to Christ as Savior and Lord. Only by a serious commitment to Christ will people be willing to forgo their own personal prerogatives of ownership, profit, etc. Such benevolence can not be compelled by any socialist or communist structure. But within a free market structure, men and women made free in Christ could manage it. The solution to hunger is not legislation but evangelism.

Sunday's Child said...

thanks, earl, for your thoughtful response, but i'm not clear at all what you mean by "a massive reordering of structures for control..." are you asserting that this reordering would be voluntary if we would only commit to Christ? i think i would agree with you if that is what you're saying. but, in any case, what are we supposed to do for the hungry while we're working on this conversion thing?

Earl said...

From the north pole to the south pole and all points in between, the one historical constant of the human race is that our heart is desperately wicked. Apart from redemption in Christ, there is no logic by which to suppose that apart from force "a massive reordering of structures for control, administration and distribution of resources (food, fuel, etc.) might be accomplished. Even in the case of such a forcible reordering (ala October 1917), hunger would not be alleviated.

For people to forgo their own rights of ownership, profit, etc., without compensation agreeable to them requires a level of altruistic concern for the welfare of others that can only be motivated by love. Nothing else is sufficient. If political structures such as socialism or communism could have accomplished it, they would have done so. Rather than doing so, they have failed. Self-giving love does not drive either socialism or communism. There the rights of the individual are debased in the name of collective need. There is however such a potential in a free-market economy. Therein people are free to make choices. Acting out of a loving commitment to Christ, people could choose to forgo their rights. It would be their choice. The reordering of society that would follow would be massive. But so would be the benefit to everyone concerned. The answer to hunger is evangelism.