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magdaleine -> RE: Kicka, part 3 (8/22/2008 6:16:43 PM)
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1. If I wanted to make a contribution or 'foster' a child why wouldn't I do it for a child here in my own country? Why do I have to put my money towards taking care of another country's problem?
I signed up years ago to sponsor a child through World Vision. I got very upset with the way they handled it and with World Vision in general and decided to put the money into a local, inner-city children's ministry.
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2. If 27,000 children die from starvation due to lack of resources in their area... is that not the earth running some population control? In order for some to live, some must die. ?
If you are an evolutionist and believe whole-heartedly in the concept of survival of the fittest, this argument makes a lot of sense. But Jesus made it very clear that we are to look after those who are weak, helpless, less fortunate than we are. Yes, we have many needy children in North America who need help but there are already many organizations, including some connected to various levels of government who also help.
Starvation and famines in other countries are often not "the earth running some population control," but engineered famines from those in power. Sudan is an example of this. Those in Southern Sudan are being intentionally deprived of food by the Muslims of the north who are in power. The southern Sudanese are not Muslim, but Christian and animist and the enforced famine is a way of controlling them to do what those in power want.
The Ukraine went through something similar many decades back. Thousands of Ukrainians left their homeland for Canada because of famine. Why? The Ukraine is the bread basket of Europe! Why was there famine there? The Russian government was taking all the food that was grown and manufactured out of the Ukraine to feed it to the Russians.
There are many, many refugee camps around the world, mostly in third-world countries. These people flee for their lives from their own countries. Where do they go? How do they provide for themselves? They can't. They left their homes with what they could carry and probably used what money and/or valuables they had to get themselves out of the country. They are destitute. Who's going to feed them?
I think of friends of ours who escaped from Vietnam. They bought a boat to escape the country, were attacked by pirates and lost everything. They eventually made it to a refugee camp in Hong Kong where they stayed two years before coming to Canada. Mom was either pregnant or had just given birth when they fled the country and there were three other children, the parents and a grandfather. How were they to survive if people didn't give donations?
In Kenya and other African countries, AIDS has wiped out a good portion of the adult population and so there are many orphanages. In Kenya, there are whole villages where there are no adults, only children who parent each other. Where are the resources to help these kids?
The Christian organizations who invite child fostering do it because they want to bring people to Christ but how can you go into a village and talk about Jesus when you are well-fed and they are dying of starvation? It's contradictory.
What are your obligations? You have none, except your obligation to Jesus Christ. He said, "Let the little children come to me and don't forbid them, for of these is the kingdom of heaven." He used the Samaritan as an example of what a neighbour is. The Samaritans were from what used to be a different country until the Romans began to rule. They were completely different people in different places and they were enemies of the Jews. Yet Jesus praised the Samaritan for helping the wounded Jew even though the Samaritan had no obligation to do so. He even paid for the man's care out of his own pocket. I think Jesus gave us that example for a reason and that reason may apply to your question.
Good questions, by the way. I think it's an important thing to grapple with and answering you helped me solidify some of my own ideas on the matter.
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