Inhumanity
I’ve had this post on my mind for a few days. Social justice is something very close to my heart. This is a difficult post to write, as I’m not sure how to articulate what I am feeling inside. I look at world affairs these days and see such division, such differences between east and west, vast differences in quality of life. One side living in luxury, whilst the other side lives in despair.
Inhumane things are happening in the world. This week alone I have been distressed reading about the growing situation in Kenya, which Cindy, Sonja and Bill have blogged about, amongst others. Guys, we are witnessing another country “ethnically cleansing”. If let to get out of control the effects will be devastating. I was pleased to see that Kofi Annan has got involved and I really, really pray for progress there and an end to violence. Yet I fear that Kenya may become another Rwanda, another Sierra Leone.
Another ongoing situation is Palestine. Apologies if I offend anyone, but I think it is appalling that Israel can get away with closing all borders with Gaza, knowing that the Palestinian people will have no access to food, drink and other basic living needs. Now Egypt has seen the Palestinians break through and cross their border with Gaza, so that they can stock up on urgently needed supplies. Graciously Egypt has allowed this to continue, but now they are trying to close the border up again, as so may people were coming through etc. The Palestinian people have been oppressed by the Israeli’s for a long time now. I know some of it is a two way thing, in terms of attacks etc, but why should everyone pay because of extremists? We have friends who work with Palestinians and every time Palestinians manage to get a farm up and running, grow their own veg etc, the Israeli’s come by and set fire to it. I don’t care what religion people are from, no body deserves this. God told us to love our neighbour.
I really worry about what judgement God will give us in the west for allowing this type of thing to go on in the world. It seems to me that people are more interested in finding out whether a particular celebrity attending a child custody hearing, or what she was up to the night before, than they are about what is happening in places like Darfur, Zimbabwe, Burma - and all of the other forgotten places in the world.
In the west animals are treated better than human beings are in other parts of the world.
I’m ranting, I’m sorry. I’m so frustrated because, as I have written before, I simply don’t know what to do about these situations. I feel so helpless. I’m praying for a breakthrough. I’m praying that God will restore peace and bring justice. I guess we can all lobby our MP’s, Congressmen etc, continue to support aid agencies. Any other thoughts?
Kenya, kofi annan, palestinians, social justice, world affairs
Lynn,
My thought is that more of us, myself included, need to go and stand in the gap in these difficult places. We need to go and be Jesus in these places where Jesus is not present. We need to be willing to lay down our life for the sake of the kingdom.
I was in Palestine last April. We went out to a Palestinian believer’s land and spent the night and worked his land the next day. We did this because he needs someone to be on his land at all time or the Israeli settlers will come and take it from him. You can read about our time on this land .
Eric
Thanks for the link Eric. You are right, more of us do need to stand in the gap in difficult places, to be Jesus in places.
Lyn, your rant is justified. I travel to many of these places and it is very frustrating to see how the leaders of these countries treat their own people. As you say, those of us in Europe and the USA fail to act with justice and mercy to alleviate the situation. As one individual it is difficult to effect real change. I pray for those in these dire situations, for their leaders, for those who are able to provide some relief at their own risk and for the leaders of Europe and the USA to have soft hearts for the many innocents suffering these countries.
Traveller, I stand with you in that prayer - Amen.
As an American Christian, and regrettably like so many of us in America, I admittedly struggle in the area of social justice and awareness. I guess we get so insulated over here that it’s really easy to forget the suffering that goes on in other places, or to think about it as “someone else’s problem.” I appreciate your passionate remarks, because they challenge me to see beyond.
Even so, I can understand and relate to the feeling of helplessness looking at troubles so large. What can one person do? I think a starting point–and it’s only a start–is simply to try and *be* the change we’d like to see. We may not be able to help those suffering in Kenya, but perhaps we can alleviate the suffering of our neighbors. This may sound a bit weird, but I honestly believe that when we live out that change of attitude, it can affect the spiritual climate around us and becomes contagious. It’s one way we can “overcome evil with good”.
Very true Jeff. We do need to be the change we want to see and make a starting point in our community. A lot of us, my self included, do not do enough in our communities to really make a huge change.I have heard before that if we all did a bit then our community would change, and it would ripple to the next town, next county/state, through the country and beyond.
At the same time, I don’t think we should be insular either.
I think your rant is justified too. And I wonder if part of the problem is that even on our home turf we aren’t willing to love our neighbours - never mind our neighbours on an international level.
The problems have spiralled out of control and have been going on for years, and I fear it will be years and years before there is a possibility of seeing it all come to an end.
We need such wisdom because there is no easy answer, and I guess God will call us to respond in a variety of ways.
Laura-Anne, Hi, I think that is my fear too that it will take years and years before really see any form of transformation. There certainly is no easy answer.