What if?

One of if not the central complaint the vast majority of those who ‘lose their faith’ (whatever that actually means) is the suffering in the world. Its horrible, intense and very very real. I’m so guilty of just shutting it out. Starving children? Well, there’s not really anything I can do about it and my world is perfectly happy so… I’m just going to pretend I didn’t hear that, or see that. Genocide? Torture? Oppression? Well, not here in the great United States… except yeah, just not on my block.

Damon’s death shook me awake and for the life of me I can’t go back under the anesthesia. I see. I recently read about a teacher killed in a Compton school by a stray bullet while teaching in his classroom, students on lock down because of violence in nearby neighborhoods and children leaving a house where a mother hanged herself in despair.

There are children in some nations who travel miles from their parents and villages to sleep in town squares where they can be safe from militants who would slaughter their families before their eyes to take them as child soldiers.

W-R-O-N-G

Many point to these atrocities as evidence of a world with no God, or at least not one who gives a crap. I wrestle with this. If You are good, how can you let these horrors happen? Its so wrong.

A thought occurred to me. What if those of us to claim to follow the example of Christ were more about doing than believing? What if we defined ourselves by the fact that we love, not as in the noun but as in the verb? Rather than defining that we do or don’t ‘believe’ in instrumental music or one cup? The more than TWO BILLION of us?

What if instead of defending the status quo we attacked it? What if we took seriously Jesus’ teachings about caring for the poor, for the widows and orphans? What if we vehemently refused to allow inhumane acts to go unchallenged? What if every single one of us two billion ‘little Christs’ found even one person to help, personally, intimately? How would the world be changed?

No, not all suffering would cease, obviously. My son died because he got sick. He was not denied medical care, he did not have to drink contaminated water, he always had enough to eat. We are suffering, powerfully, deeply and often debilitatingly. Even if we all did our part suffering would continue. But not all suffering, not most suffering I’d contend.

I’m greatly challenged by this. For most of my life I’ve walked around in my insulated world much more afraid of ‘outsiders’ than desiring to do true good, to make a real change, to work hard to make this world better. Do I have the courage to do something about it?