Tuesday, May 13, 2008

There Will Be Famine and Earthquakes...

I watched a bit on Fox News this morning about a food crisis in Egypt. People are getting killed and trampled while standing in line to pay a penny for a piece of bread. And then guess what came on next: a commercial for dog food. The dog food was beef stew with large chunks of beef and carrots and peas and a delicious looking sauce all over it. Dog food. I wonder how many of those people would kill for a can of that dog food. It is absolutely heartbreaking.

I often think that because TV is everywhere we worry too much about what is going on in other countries. If we didn't have TV, we wouldn't know there was a huge cyclone in Myanmar, or a deadly earthquake in China and we wouldn't be sending billions of dollars over there. Then maybe we'd be focused more on our own people and the crises going in our own inner cities and elsewhere. I am not unfeeling toward the plight of those people, I just know that here in our own country, people are suffering in the same manner: no food, no home, no one cares. So why are we taxing the people to send all that money over there, when we can't even help our own people? Were we made to take in this much human responsibility? I mean, there is no way I can even begin to make a difference to all these people. How do you deal with it? It's so overwhelming that all I can do is stop thinking about it.

On the other hand, I have just read:

Matthew 24:6-8 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.

And again in Mark 13:6-8 and Luke 21:10-11

So, there is the idea that the entire world would know everyone else's crises. I don't know what to make of these times. I'll tell you this much though, I am thankful for this little home we have, for the food in our pantry and for this land of freedom, as messed up as it is.

It makes me think about adoption more. I just read here that if 14% of Christians would adopt there would be no orphans. How reliable do you think that information is?

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I know it is horrible of me, but I cannot watch the news.

Ever since 9/11, I basically refuse to watch. I never watched the news much to begin with, because it has ALWAYS depressed me. But after that, the tragedy being so large scale and so close to home, I just cannot do it.

I read the news online, but I can ignore it for the most part.

I feel bad saying that.

But if I thought about all the horribleness happening in the world, I would fall into such a deep depression, I'd never be able to come out.

When I desensitize myself to some tragedy, I can think about how I would like to help people in need better. But there is a point where I can't take any more in....and I am afraid the point is not too far off from just dealing with my own problems and some of those of the people around me.

Is that terrible, or what?

Joanna said...

No, I don't think it's terrible. That's exactly what I'm talking about. We are so limited in our scope...or our ability to aid that watching all the trajedies in the world amounts to nothing more than voyeurism at best. You can help those around you and maybe you can scrounge up enough money to send to...the Christian Children's Fund or something but honestly, your immediate community needs your help just as much as or more than the starving people in Egypt, or the dying people in Myanmar. It's too big. See what I mean?

I know that there are people out there who dedicate their lives to helping those in need in other countries and I applaud them, but the enormity of the tragedy in the world at large is just too much for me. I really want to throw away the TV. When we move we won't be forced to have cable so I hope that will help me to stop gawking at all the suffering.

Although, honestly watching the politics is fun. It used to annoy me but this political season is killing me with giggles! It's like a roller coaster ride only safer. I think that may have been a rabbit trail. I need to finish cleaning and think about dinner. Stop distracting me with all this intriguing conversation.

Joanna said...

...did I just spell "tragedies" t-r-a-j-e-d-i-e-s? I didn't mean to, I'm really smarter than that!

Johanna said...

Sometimes watching all of that in the news makes me sad, but I know that all of this has to happen as the day of the Lord draws near. If anything, it makes me pray that missionaries will be successful and all lands will hear the name of Jesus so that he can return sooner!

I also saw the blog post about the adoption figures. I do think it is accurate since she just took the total number of orphans as published by Unicef and divided it by the reported number of Christians. Of course the numbers will probably be a little different than reported, it's got to be close. I told Jerry about that yesterday. It's amazing to think it would just take that few Christians to empty the orphanages.

Joanna, your misspellings are going to lower our blog reading level! :)

Joanna said...

ROTFL! Sorry about that, I'll try to do better. But did you see that Lawanda got "genius?" Wow, she's smart.

Amy said...

I also cannot watch the news. Unfortunately this doesn't mean that I never read the news, just that I am not someone who should, since worrying is a big hobby of mine. ;o)

Joanna, I must agree about politics being fun, especially right now. My Dad us guessing that there will probably be a riot at the Dem's convention this year, and I must agree with him. If they don't pick Hillary, half of them will accuse the others of being sexist. If Obama is not chosen, then half the party are big racists. It's going to be an interesting summer!

Joanna said...

Amy - I KNOW! I can't wait to see what happens.

Anonymous said...

Haha! I am 1 part genius, 2 parts jr high schoolgirl! ROFL!

I am getting some laughs out of the rat race this year too ;)

I like politics, but if I think on them too much, they depress me too :-p

Unknown said...

I know I'm a little late to comment on this one, but I keep thinking about this. So here's my two cents. I don't think it's fair to compare the plight of any American with those of some other countries. It's hard for me to really sorry for any American because even the poorest has so much more than the average citizen of Myanmar or North Korea. Not that I try to help either American or foreigner. But, if I were going to help someone I think I would help someone who doesn't have the freedom and options available to Americans. My problem is that if I donate money to help foreigners, how will I know that my money is going to be used well? It would be much easier to help someone near by and ensure your money and efforts are being in the way you intend.