Why Jesus Doesn't Care About Starving Children

Why Jesus Doesn't Care About Starving Children

   Last night I was scrolling through facebook when I saw something I'm all too familiar with. It was a tumblr thread with the question, "What is the strangest thing a religion believes?"

The answer: An invisible man in the sky cares less about starving children and more about what you do in a bed. 

I wasn't shocked by it. When I was an atheist questions and answers like that ran through my mind constantly. This, among many other atrocities of the "Christian faith" became my argument. Or rather, my excuse for not believing in G-d. 

   I want to preface this post by saying that I am not a theologian. I am in seminary to be a pastor. I know a lot of the bible. But I have no authority to be completely correct at all. However, I know Jesus and He has shown me some things over the years of grappling with questions like this. As a former atheist, I still have a lot of these questions. I still contemplate them. I am not a man that it would bode well to say, "Simply have faith." There are times that I choose faith and know that my questions may not be answered. But these things are good because it causes me to seek answers in hidden mysteries of the Lord and to knock on Heaven's door like the persistent widow. 

   The short answer is: I do believe G-d cares about starving children. But with much evidence stacked against this, how can I? 

   I think the first thing I am required to address is that all sin and injustice, in G-d's view, is the same. He is not like us. He does not see something evil and think, "Well this evil is far more evil than that evil". G-d does not rank the sin of the world like we do. I think we can all agree that sexual immorality appears far less terrible than starving children. Divorce appears far less tragic than murder. A drunken night appears far less immoral than a church misusing tithes. But in the eyes of that "Invisible man in the sky" this is all simply a product of the creation He loves being broken.

   I am a firm believer in what the post said about G-d caring about what we do in a bed. Mainly because I have seen His truth in my life when I have failed to listen to what He says about sex. This is an entirely different topic for an entirely different post. However, to sum it all up: G-d never created rules for us to follow. He never took anything away from us. We do have free choice. The only reason He gives us guidelines about sex is because He made sex to be one of the most delightfully delectable experiences of existence and He knows how to make it that way. We are free to have sex any way we want, but it will not lead to life and it will not be the best sex we've ever had. 

   Now, back to the starving children. The Holy Scriptures have a lot to say about both of these issues but Jesus, in the Gospels, talks more about helping and feeding the poor and defenseless than He does about sex. In Matthew 25:35-40 Jesus tells His disciples that whatever we do in the least for someone in need, we have done for Him. In Matthew 18 Jesus tells us that it is not His will that little ones perish. But, they do. So, is G-d to blame? No. Yes, He has the power to feed every starving human in the world. But He doesn't because we have free will. He doesn't because He will get vengeance for those left to starve in due time. He doesn't because He has commanded us to do it. This goes beyond JUST children. This is for all those that have less than. Some of the verses where scripture tells us to do this are as follows:

Isaiah 58:10

James 2:14-18

Proverbs 28:27, 14:31, 31:20, 19:17, 22:9

Luke 3:11

1 John 3:17-18

Deuteronomy 15:7

And those are a select few.

   My favorite verse for this topic relating to children is James 1:27, "Religion that G-d our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to take care of orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world."

   So, it's our fault. It is the body of Christ's fault that children are starving to death, men and women are dying outside, and the poor are cast aside and forgotten while we talk on our iPhones as we pass them on the street. 

   The picture above is one that I took this morning on my walk to work. I pass this homeless camp everyday. There are many around the city and even in my route home, but this one is right next to my work. Right after thanksgiving I was posted at this new site. When I walked home that night it was the first night it got down to 35. And there was freezing rain. As I walked home I noticed every man and woman trying to stay warm on the streets. I saw a young homeless couple digging through the trash before finding and eating pizza at the bottom. I started weeping uncontrollably. I got angry at G-d. I told Him that He was supposed to be a provider. He's supposed to love these people that I'm seeing. I yelled at Him to do something before the dead of winter hits and someone dies. For the first time in my life I asked Him to make me rich so I could do something. Then my anger turned to begging and I pleaded, "Lord let me help. I want to do something. Show me what to do." I was tight on cash so I couldn't do much in that department. Then He spoke to me and He said, "There's going to be a man outside of your apartment building. I want you to feed him." I got to my building and kept watch for the areas on 21st where the homeless try to get rest. Not a soul was there. I started to think that it was just my flesh angry at the injustice and wanting to help. Then as I was about to go into the side door I saw a man rummaging through our building's garbage. I asked him if he was hungry and he said yes. I went inside and used the leftover turkey and made him a sandwich and I gathered all the snacks I could find all while weeping and thanking the Lord for answering me and letting me help. The man, Glenn, was thankful. We talked and we prayed together and He praised Jesus for providing a hot meal. 

   

   I cried the rest of the night.

   This week it has been in the 20's in Portland with winds as fast as 40mph. Monday morning a homeless man, 51 years old, was found on a street corner with layers of wet clothing on. He was frozen. He had died the night before of hypothermia. 

   I am no better than anyone. But I am starting to feel a pull to answer G-d's commands to help the poor. I don't have a lot of money. Some weeks hardly any at all. But I want to do what I can and share what I have. Children are starving because we aren't willing to do anything about it. I say we, even though I know some of you reading this are burdened about this and do a lot to help the homeless. But I am talking about the collective Christian church. Do you understand if we combined every Christian's money and every Christian organization's money, we could do a hell of a lot more than we are? What if we ALL obeyed the command to take care of orphans and widows and the homeless? I can tell you one thing, no one would blame G-d anymore because we would be known as Christ's disciples by the love we have for one another. (John 13:35)