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The Resources are Running Out > Conserve or Consume > Saving a Wasting WorldLife was Simpler Then > Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger
Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger
(Kent, Great Britain; Hodder & Stoughton, 1980)
[Ronald J. Sider]
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we have largely ignored the insistent theme throughout the Scriptures-a theme that Ronald Sider expounds so powerfully in this book-that
God has always been on the side of the poor. It is not that God is partial towards the poor; he loves equally every person he has created. However, God is essentially a God of justice;
and it is because the rich so often oppress or neglect the poor (as is manifestly true in the world of today) that God is especially concerned with the needs of the afflicted.
The whole self-revelation of God in the Scriptures-at the time of the Exodus, through the warnings of the prophets, in the compassion of Jesus Christ, with the loving action of the early church-makes this truth abundantly clear.
Moreover, God normally works through his people. If, therefore, we claim to be the people of God, one sure sign of this should be our practical and sacrificial concern for the poor. “If any one has this world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or speech but in deed and in truth” (1John 3:17f). What the apostle John is saying, in his usual forthright terms, is that those who neglect the poor and needy prove that they cannot really be God’s children at all, however orthodox and pious their words and beliefs might be.
It is disturbing, therefore, to find that most western Christians are closely identified with the “establishment”, with the rich and powerful. We have greater affinity with the affluent and the influential than with the downtrodden and the oppressed. We have accepted a largely middle-class culture, with its worldly values and selfish ambitions, and have convieniently ignored the utterly radical teaching of Jesus concerning money, possessions and social standing within the kingdom of God.
Most serious of all, perhaps, our lifestlye, both individual and corporate, is astonishingly different from the lifestlye of our Master whom we profess to follow and serve. We know (and preach) all about the grace of out Lord Jesus Christ who, though he was rich, for our sakes became poor, really and extremely poor; but we do not demonstrate the same grace in our own lives. We have not become poor so that others might become rich. We have not even chosen to live simply so that others might simply live. We glory in gospel texts, such as John 3:16, which describes God’s amazing generosity towards us in giving us his own Son; but we easily forget certain other texts, such as 1John 3:16, which challenge our generosity towards others: “We ought to lay down our lives for the brethren”.
Ronald Sider rightly believes that a new reformation is urgently called for at three levels at the same time. First, “simple personal lifestyles are crucial to symbolize, validate and facilitate our concern for the hungry”. If we carefully and honestly re-examine our own values, and ask ourselves how far they are controlled by western culture and social convention, most of us could and should live far, far more simply than we do. The biblical principle is that of equality amongst God’s people (2Cor. 8:14); and the biblical standard for each Christian is enough (2Cor.9:8). Everything above “enough” is to “provide . . . for every good work”.
Part 1 - Poor Lazarus and Rich Christians
A Billion Hungry Neighbours
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...what a typical Western family would need to give up if they were to adopt the lifestyle of a typical family living among our billion hungry neighbours. Economist Robert Heilbroner has itemized the abandoned “luxuries”.
We begin by invading the house of our imaginary Western family to strip it of its furniture. Everything goes: beds, chairs, tables, television set, lamps.
Each member of the family may keep in his “wardrobe” his oldest suit or dress, a skirt or blouse. We will permit a pair of shoes for the head of the family, but none for the wife or children.
We move to the kitchen. The appliances have already been taken out, so we turn to the cupboards . . . The box of matches may stay, a small bag of flour, some sugar and salt.
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A few mouldy potatoes, already in the rubbish bin, must be hastily rescued, for they will provide much of tonight’s meal. We will leave a handful of onions, and a dish of dried beans. All the rest we take away: the meat, the fresh vegetables, the canned goods ...
Now we have stripped the house: the bathroom has been dismantled, the running water shut off, the electric wires taken out, next we take away the house. The family can move to the toolshed ...
Communications must go next. No more newspapers, magazines, books - not that thay are missed, since we must take away our famil’ys literacy as well. Instead, in our shantytown we will allow one radio ...
Now government services must go. No more postman, no more firemen. There is a school, but it is three miles away and consists of two classrooms ... There are, of course, no hospitals or doctors nearby. The nearest clinic is ten miles away and is tended by a midwife. It can be reached by bicycle, provided that the family has a bicycle, which is unlikely. . .
Finally, money. We will allow our family a cash hoard of $2.00. This will prevent our breadwinner from experiencing the tragedy of an Iranian peasant who went blind because he could not raise the $1.50 which he mistakenly thought he needed to receive admission to a hospital where he could have been cured.
How many of our brothers and sisters confront that kind of grinding poverty today? Probably at least one billion people are as poor as this. They know hunger in a way that those of us in the West have never known, including those who can remember living through war-time and post-war rationing in Western Europe.
Now we have stripped the house: the bathroom has been dismantled, the running water shut off, the electric wires taken out, next we take away the house. The family can move to the toolshed ...
Communications must go next. No more newspapers, magazines, books - not that thay are missed, since we must take away our famil’ys literacy as well. Instead, in our shantytown we will allow one radio ...
Now government services must go. No more postman, no more firemen. There is a school, but it is three miles away and consists of two classrooms ... There are, of course, no hospitals or doctors nearby. The nearest clinic is ten miles away and is tended by a midwife. It can be reached by bicycle, provided that the family has a bicycle, which is unlikely. . .
Finally, money. We will allow our family a cash hoard of $2.00. This will prevent our breadwinner from experiencing the tragedy of an Iranian peasant who went blind because he could not raise the $1.50 which he mistakenly thought he needed to receive admission to a hospital where he could have been cured.
How many of our brothers and sisters confront that kind of grinding poverty today? Probably at least one billion people are as poor as this. They know hunger in a way that those of us in the West have never known, including those who can remember living through war-time and post-war rationing in Western Europe.
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It is vital to remember that the effects of malnutrition do not disappear when a good crop comes along. The consequences of those years of extreme hunger will always be with tens of millions of children who survived,
but who have already experienced severe irreversible damage to both brain and body during their childhood, and have weakened bodies highly vulnerable to disease because of their inadequate intake of calories and proteins.
...Tears washed her dark, sunken eye-sockets as she spoke: “I feel so sad when my children cry at night because they have no food. I know my life will never change. What can I do to solve my problems? I am so worried about the future of my children. I want them to go to school but how can we afford it? I am sick most of the time, but I can’t go to the doctor because each visit costs two pesos [fifteen pence] and the medicine is extra. What can I do?” She broke down into quiet sobbing. I admit without shame that I wept with her. World poverty is a hundred million mothers weeping, like Mrs. Alarin, because they cannot feed their children.
...Tears washed her dark, sunken eye-sockets as she spoke: “I feel so sad when my children cry at night because they have no food. I know my life will never change. What can I do to solve my problems? I am so worried about the future of my children. I want them to go to school but how can we afford it? I am sick most of the time, but I can’t go to the doctor because each visit costs two pesos [fifteen pence] and the medicine is extra. What can I do?” She broke down into quiet sobbing. I admit without shame that I wept with her. World poverty is a hundred million mothers weeping, like Mrs. Alarin, because they cannot feed their children.
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This is how famine has been redefined, or rather, redistributed! It no longer inconveniences the rich and powerful. It strikes only the poor and powerless.
Since the poor usually die quietly in relative obscurity, the rich of all nations comfortably ignore this kind of famine. But famine - redifined and redistributed - is alive and well.
Even in good times, millions and millions of persons go to bed hungry. Their children’s brains vegetate and their bodies succumb prematurely to disease.
Poverty means illiteracy, inadequate medical care, disease, brain damage. People in the West have enjoyed the security offered by modern medicine for so long that they assume it must now be available to all. But that is a tragic illusion. Population expert Lester Brown reminds us that “as of the mid - 1970s, . . . an estimated one-third to one-half of mankind still lives without access to health services of any kind.”
Poverty means illiteracy, inadequate medical care, disease, brain damage. People in the West have enjoyed the security offered by modern medicine for so long that they assume it must now be available to all. But that is a tragic illusion. Population expert Lester Brown reminds us that “as of the mid - 1970s, . . . an estimated one-third to one-half of mankind still lives without access to health services of any kind.”
Infants, Brain Damage and Protein
Permanent brain damage caused by protein deficiency is one of the most devastating aspects of world poverty. 80 per cent of total brain development takes place between the moment of conception and the age of two. Adequate protein intake - precisely what at least 210 million malnourished children do not have - is necessary for proper brain development. A recent study in Mexico found that a group of severely malnourished children under five had an IQ thirteen points lower than a scientifically selected, adequately fed control group.26
When a poor family runs out of food, the children suffer most. For the present, an inactive child is not as serious a problem as an inactive wage earner. But malnutrition produces millions of retarded children.
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Hunger, illiteracy, disease, brain damage, death. That’s what world poverty means. At least one billion persons experience its daily anguish.
Population
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Along with the food crisis and the population explosion, a third set of complex, interrelated issues makes our dilemma even more desperate. How long can the earth sustain the present rate of industrialization?
What will be the effect of the resulting pollution? When will we run out of natural resources (especially fossil fuels such as coal and oil)?
In 1972 the Club of Rome (a group of elite, international corporation executives, technocrats and scholars) shocked the world with an answer based on a sophisticated, computerized analysis.
Although industrial production growth rates have come down since the oil crisis, the growth in Western industrial production and some in industrial production in developing countries will still place intolerable strains on the world’s resources in the future. The debate taking place at the moment is about when this will happen, and which resources will be used up first, rather than if it will happen.
Although industrial production growth rates have come down since the oil crisis, the growth in Western industrial production and some in industrial production in developing countries will still place intolerable strains on the world’s resources in the future. The debate taking place at the moment is about when this will happen, and which resources will be used up first, rather than if it will happen.
The Future and our Response
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The population explosion and the probable necessity of slowing industrialization (at least in the affluent nations) compound the difficulties involved in trying to divide the world’s resources more justly.
Not surprisingly, predictions of doomsday are legion. What are our future prospects?
No one can predict with any certainty what will happen in the next decade. Vast mushrooming famines in the poorer nations may tempt their leaders to unleash wars of unprecedented size and ferocity in a desperate attempt to demand a fairer share of the earth’s resources. Such a prospect is not at all fantasy. In a recent book Professor Heilbroner predicts nuclear terrorism and “wars of redistribution”. Heilbroner suggests that the world is like “an immense train, in which a few passengers, mainly in the advanced capitalist world, ride in first-class coaches, in conditions of comfort unimaginable to the enormously greater numbers crammed in cattle cars that make up the bulk of the train’s carriages”. As millions die and imminent starvation stares tens of millions of persons in the face, a country like India will have to seek some way out.
No one can predict with any certainty what will happen in the next decade. Vast mushrooming famines in the poorer nations may tempt their leaders to unleash wars of unprecedented size and ferocity in a desperate attempt to demand a fairer share of the earth’s resources. Such a prospect is not at all fantasy. In a recent book Professor Heilbroner predicts nuclear terrorism and “wars of redistribution”. Heilbroner suggests that the world is like “an immense train, in which a few passengers, mainly in the advanced capitalist world, ride in first-class coaches, in conditions of comfort unimaginable to the enormously greater numbers crammed in cattle cars that make up the bulk of the train’s carriages”. As millions die and imminent starvation stares tens of millions of persons in the face, a country like India will have to seek some way out.
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What will Christians do in such a time? Will we dare to insist that the God revealed in Scripture is always at work seeking to “set at liberty those who are oppressed” (Lk.4:18)?
Will Christians have the courage to seek justice for the poor even if that means prison? Where will you and I stand? With the starving or the overfed?
With poor Lazarus or the rich man? Most of the rich countries are white and at least nominally Christian. What an ironic tragedy if the white, affluent,
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“Christian” minority in the world continue to amass wealth while hundreds of millions of people hover on the edge of starvation!
In an Age of Hunger most Christians (regardless of theological labels) will be severely tempted to succumb to the liberal heresy of following current cultural and societal values rather than biblical truth. Society will offer demonically convincing justification for enjoying our affluence and forgetting about a billion hungry neighbours.
But if the Christ of Scripture is our Lord, then we will refuse to be squeezed into the mould of our affluent, sinful culture. In an Age of Hunger Chriistians of necessity must be radical nonconformists. But nonconformity is painful. Only if we are thoroughly grounded in the scriptural view of possessions, wealth and poverty will we be capable of living an obedient lifestyle.
In an Age of Hunger most Christians (regardless of theological labels) will be severely tempted to succumb to the liberal heresy of following current cultural and societal values rather than biblical truth. Society will offer demonically convincing justification for enjoying our affluence and forgetting about a billion hungry neighbours.
But if the Christ of Scripture is our Lord, then we will refuse to be squeezed into the mould of our affluent, sinful culture. In an Age of Hunger Chriistians of necessity must be radical nonconformists. But nonconformity is painful. Only if we are thoroughly grounded in the scriptural view of possessions, wealth and poverty will we be capable of living an obedient lifestyle.
The Affluent Minority
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There are many ways of showing our incredible affluence in the West relative to that of developing countries but undoubtedly the most striking measure of the gap between rich and poor is our consumption of the most basic commodity of all - food.
Table 5 shows that Europeans consume two and a half times as much cereal per person as do the people in the developing countries, although cereals such as rice are the staple diet of almost all the developing countries.
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Advertisers regularly con us into believing that we genuinely need one luxury after another. We are convinced that we must keep up with or even go one better than our neighbours.
So we buy another dress, suit or pair of shoes and thereby force up the standard of living. The ever more affluent standard of living is the god of twentieth-century Western people and the ad-man is its prophet.
The purpose of advertising no longer is primarily to inform. It is to create desire. “CREATE MORE DESIRE” shrieked one inch-high headline for an unusually honest ad in the New York Times. It continued: “Now, as always, profit and growth stem directly from the ability of salesmanship to create more desire.” Luxurious houses in Country Life, Ideal Home or Homes and Gardens make one’s perfectly adequate house shrink by comparison into a dilapidated, tiny cottage in need of immediate renovation. The advertisements for the new season’s fashions make our almost new dresses and suits from previous years look shabby and positively old fashioned.
We are bombarded by costly, manipualtive advertising at every turn. The average Briton watches television containing 5-10,000 commercials every year. In 1977, $1,500 million was spent in the U.K. on advertising “to convince us that Jesus was wrong about the abundance of possessions”. Luxuries are renamed necessities by advertising. Our postman recently delivered an elegant brochure complete with glossy photographs of exceedingly expensive homes. The brochure announced the seductive lie that Architectural Digest would help one quench “man’s passionate need for beauty and luxury” (my empahsis). Supposedly, we “need” luxuries!
The purpose of advertising no longer is primarily to inform. It is to create desire. “CREATE MORE DESIRE” shrieked one inch-high headline for an unusually honest ad in the New York Times. It continued: “Now, as always, profit and growth stem directly from the ability of salesmanship to create more desire.” Luxurious houses in Country Life, Ideal Home or Homes and Gardens make one’s perfectly adequate house shrink by comparison into a dilapidated, tiny cottage in need of immediate renovation. The advertisements for the new season’s fashions make our almost new dresses and suits from previous years look shabby and positively old fashioned.
We are bombarded by costly, manipualtive advertising at every turn. The average Briton watches television containing 5-10,000 commercials every year. In 1977, $1,500 million was spent in the U.K. on advertising “to convince us that Jesus was wrong about the abundance of possessions”. Luxuries are renamed necessities by advertising. Our postman recently delivered an elegant brochure complete with glossy photographs of exceedingly expensive homes. The brochure announced the seductive lie that Architectural Digest would help one quench “man’s passionate need for beauty and luxury” (my empahsis). Supposedly, we “need” luxuries!
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PROMISES, PROMISES Perhaps the most devastating and most demonic part of advertising is that it attempts to persuade us that material possessions will bring joy and fulfilment.
“That happiness is to be attained through limitless material acquisition is denied by every religion and philosophy known to man, but is preached incessantly by every commercial on television.”
Advertisers promise that their products will satisfy our deepest needs and inner longings for love, acceptance, security and sexual fulfilment.
The right deodorant, they promise, will bring acceptance and friendship. The newest toothpaste or shampoo will make one irresistible. A house or bank account will guarantee security and love.
In a sense we pay too little attention to advertisements. Most of us think that we ignore them. But in fact they seep into our unconscious minds. We experience them instead of analysing them. We should examine their blatant lies and then laugh hilariously at their preposterous promises. John V. Taylor has suggested that Christian families ought to adopt the slogan “Who Are You Kidding?” and shout in unison every time a commercial appears on the screen.
In a sense we pay too little attention to advertisements. Most of us think that we ignore them. But in fact they seep into our unconscious minds. We experience them instead of analysing them. We should examine their blatant lies and then laugh hilariously at their preposterous promises. John V. Taylor has suggested that Christian families ought to adopt the slogan “Who Are You Kidding?” and shout in unison every time a commercial appears on the screen.
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Advertising itself contains a fundamental inner contradiction. Christians know that affluence does not guarantee love, acceptance and joy.
But advertising promises them to strive feverishly for more gadgets and bigger bank accounts. Given our inherent bent for idolatry,
advertising is so demonically powerful and convincing that most people persist in their fruitless effort to quench their thirst for meaning and fulfilment with an ever-rising river of possessions.
The result is inner, agonizing distress and undefined dissatisfaction and external, structural injustice. Our affluence fails to satisfy our restless hearts. And it also helps to deprive one billion hungry neighbours of badly needed food and resources. Will we affluent Christians have the courage and faithfulness to learn how to be uncomformed to this world’s seductive, satanic advertising?
The result is inner, agonizing distress and undefined dissatisfaction and external, structural injustice. Our affluence fails to satisfy our restless hearts. And it also helps to deprive one billion hungry neighbours of badly needed food and resources. Will we affluent Christians have the courage and faithfulness to learn how to be uncomformed to this world’s seductive, satanic advertising?
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It is simply false to suggest that there is not enough food to feed everyone. There is enough - if it is more evenly distributed.
In 1970 the United Nations estimated that it would take only 12 million additional tons of grain per year to provide 260 extra calories per day to the 460 million people suffering from malnutrition.
That is only 30 per cent of what the U.S. feeds its livestock. In a world where the rich minority feed more grain to their livestock than all the people in India and China eat,
it is absurd and immoral to talk of the necessity of letting selected hungry nations starve. The boat in which the rich sail is not an austerely equipped lifeboat. It is a lavishly stocked luxury liner.
A second rationalization has a pious ring to it. Some evangelical Christians argue that they must adopt an affluent lifestyle in order to evangelise wealthy persons. But that is highly questionable. Where does valid justification end and rationalization begin? We must avoid simplistic legalism. Christians certainly ought to live in the suburbs as well as the inner city. But those who defend an affluent lifestlye on the basis of a call to witness to the rich must ask themselves hard questions: How much of my affluent lifestyle is directly related to my witnessing to rich neighbours? (For people who go out to work much of their witness is to those they work with. A humbler lifestyle may convince others that our Christian faith really does mean something especially when it affects even our pocket!)
A second rationalization has a pious ring to it. Some evangelical Christians argue that they must adopt an affluent lifestyle in order to evangelise wealthy persons. But that is highly questionable. Where does valid justification end and rationalization begin? We must avoid simplistic legalism. Christians certainly ought to live in the suburbs as well as the inner city. But those who defend an affluent lifestlye on the basis of a call to witness to the rich must ask themselves hard questions: How much of my affluent lifestyle is directly related to my witnessing to rich neighbours? (For people who go out to work much of their witness is to those they work with. A humbler lifestyle may convince others that our Christian faith really does mean something especially when it affects even our pocket!)
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How much of it could I abandon for the sake of Christ’s poor and still be able to witness effectively?
Indeed how much of it must I abandon in order to faithfully proclaim the biblical Christ who clearly taught that failure to feed the poor entails eternal damnation (Mt.25:45-46)?
In the coming decades rationalizations for our affluence will be legion. They will be popular and persuasive. “Truly, I say to you, it will be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven” (Mt.19:23). But all things are possible with God - if we will hear and obey his Word. If there is any ray of hope for the future, it is in the possibility that growing numbers of affluent Christians will dare to allow the Bible to shape their relationship to a billion sons and daughters of poor Lazarus. The next four chapters will develop a biblical perspective on poverty and possessions.
In the coming decades rationalizations for our affluence will be legion. They will be popular and persuasive. “Truly, I say to you, it will be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven” (Mt.19:23). But all things are possible with God - if we will hear and obey his Word. If there is any ray of hope for the future, it is in the possibility that growing numbers of affluent Christians will dare to allow the Bible to shape their relationship to a billion sons and daughters of poor Lazarus. The next four chapters will develop a biblical perspective on poverty and possessions.
Part II - A Biblical Perspective on the Poor & Possessions
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...Social scientists examined the factors that shape attitudes on matters related to the development of the poor nations.
They discovered that religion plays no significant role at all! Those with deep religious beliefs are no more concerned about assistance and development for the poor than are persons with little or no religious commitment.
Western Christians have failed to declare God’s perspective on the plight of our billion hungry neighbours - surely one of the most pressing issues of our time.
But I refuse to believe that this failure must inevitably continue. I believe there are millions of Christians in affluent lands who care more about Jesus than anything else in the world. There are millions of Christians who will take any risk, make any sacrifice, forsake any treasure, if they see clearly that God’s Word demands it. That is why part two, “A Biblical Perspective on the Poor and Possessions, “is the most important section ot our study.
But I refuse to believe that this failure must inevitably continue. I believe there are millions of Christians in affluent lands who care more about Jesus than anything else in the world. There are millions of Christians who will take any risk, make any sacrifice, forsake any treasure, if they see clearly that God’s Word demands it. That is why part two, “A Biblical Perspective on the Poor and Possessions, “is the most important section ot our study.
God & the Poor
He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord (Pr.19:17)I know that the Lord maintains the cause of the afflicted, and executes justice for the needy (Ps.140:12)
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Jesus calls his followers to a joyful life of carefree unconcern for possessions: I bid you put away anxious thoughts about food to keep you alive and clothes to cover your body.
What is the secret of such carefree living? First, many people cling to their possesions instead of sharing them because they are worried about the future.
Jesus taught us that God is our loving Father. His word Abba (Mk.14:36) is a tender, intimate word like Papa. If we really believe
that the almighty creator and sustainer of the cosmos is our loving Papa, then we can begin to cast aside anxiety about earthly possessions.
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If there are poor people who need assistance, Jesus’ carefree disciple will help - even if that means selling possessions. People are vastly more important than property. “Laying up treasure in heaven” means exactly the same thing.
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The rich fool is the epitome of the covetous person. He has a greedy compulsion to acquire more and more possessions even though he does not need them.
And his phenomenal success at piling up more and more property and wealth leads to the blasphemous conclusion that material possessions can satisfy all his needs. From the divine perspective, however, this attitude is sheer madness.
One cannot read the parable of the rich fool without thinking of our own society. We madly multiply more sophisticated gadgets, larger and taller buildings and faster means of transportation not because such things truly enrich our lives but because we are driven by an obsession for more and more. Covetousness - striving for more and more material possessions - has become a cardinal vice of Western civilization.
One cannot read the parable of the rich fool without thinking of our own society. We madly multiply more sophisticated gadgets, larger and taller buildings and faster means of transportation not because such things truly enrich our lives but because we are driven by an obsession for more and more. Covetousness - striving for more and more material possessions - has become a cardinal vice of Western civilization.
Part III - Implementation
Towards a Simpler Lifestyle
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Before God and a billion hungry neighbours, we must rethink our values regarding our present standard of living
and promote more just acquistion and distribution of the world's resources.
[1]
Those of us who live in affluent circumstances accept our duty to develop a simple lifestyle in order to contribute more generously to both relief and evangelism.
[2]