I’ve just been reading about how 27% of children under 5 are underweight in developing countries. That’s 146 million children who don’t have enough to eat!
This contrasts sharply with the fact that in the UK it’s estimated that a quarter of children are obese! Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of children eating themselves towards major health problems.
What does this say about our world? How much longer are we prepared to accept this terrible state of affairs?
The Bible says that “if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday” yet we in the church are as guilty as everyone else. We sit in our comfortable pews/seats while around us people are hungry. For the majority of those suffering obesity there is a hunger for good, nutritious food.
If we won’t speak out against this injustice then who will?
In the UK you could write to your MP to ask them to sign Early Day Motion 2006 which highlights the obesity issue in the UK. At the same time you could ask what the government is going to do in the light of the developing world statistics as well!
I agree 100% with your comments and believe the Kingdom described in Isaiah 65
is how God intended the earth to be NOW! But, and there is always a but - simply writing to your M.P or marching around for ‘make poverty history’ simply makes a lot of people feel good about themselves (Sweeping statement I know). How many of those same people would be willing to pay 200% more tax or pay twice the price for their groceries to see justice in action? Words are one thing - action is something else entirely.
Your sweeping statement is probably fairly valid though, especially when you see how much money at least one of the most prominent figures who involved himself in ‘Make Poverty History’ has made from his involvement.
However, the problem is how we go about letting people know that we want to be as counter-cultural(?) as this? We still need to make a stand and lobby people to raise the standard to a new level!