How do you deal with the starvation of innocent children?

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Robert_Sock said:
But I do what I can! What do you do?
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I give what I can to the Franciscan Missions who serve the poorest of the poor around the world.
Robert_Sock said:
INDENT]Mark 12:41-44

New International Version (NIV)
The Widow’s Offering

41 Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.

43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”[/INDENT]
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Jesus said what he did because the widow gave, she didn’t just hold the starving in her heart. There is a difference between doing something and wanting to do something. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t make such a comment but your continuous berating of people here about not doing enough for the starving rings hollow when state that you yourself don’t give any material support. If you wish to preach the example of the widow, then you can at least do what she did and give something.
 
Timothysis said:
Jesus said what he did because the widow gave, she didn’t just hold the starving in her heart. There is a difference between doing something and wanting to do something. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t make such a comment but your continuous berating of people here about not doing enough for the starving rings hollow when state that you yourself don’t give any material support. If you wish to preach the example of the widow, then you can at least do what she did and give something.
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Prayer=giving.

Nowhere did I belittle those who had little. (Please quote a post.)

As long as starvation continues, people are not doing enough.
 
4love2God said:
What do YOU do, personally to assist the needy people in the World?
I do my part by carefully picking out which organizations I send money to.
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What material contribution I give or don’t give is between me and God. I don’t give from my mind and I don’t go around with a calculator. I am advocating loving boundlessly from the heart. All those prayer warriors at CAF are giving a lot more than money could buy and they are giving from the heart.

No matter how much I give or don’t give in dollars, I should still be able to stop in my track to help a Russian old lady. It happened sometime ago, I went to a Russian store - just to check it out. The kids told me the Russian candy is good. At the entrance there was an old lady and with her broken English she told me of a problem she was having. Her glasses broke. She showed them to me to see if I could fixed them etc… She told me that she lived alone and her daughter lived some towns over.

Now, I could think, hey, I don’t have time for this little old lady. I have my share of problems and errands to run and I already contributed x amounts of dollars - ‘it was nice meeting you, good luck with that’. Instead realizing the woman did not know how to get around, did not have a car, etc…, etc… I stopped. I tried to fix it but she had lost the little screw. So, I took her to the Portuguese Jeweler and explained the situation. He embraced the opportunity to help her and was delighted. He fixed her glasses at no charge. A little more love went around that they - everybody was happy. How many pebbles is that worth on the scale?

I just think that it would be good if we each take responsibility for the human beings we encounter who we may be able to help. It’s nice that the governments and organizations help but we cannot allowed this to make us fail to recognize our duty and responsibility to human beings. Love doesn’t draw a line.
4love2God said:
And, do you agree that if we are in a terribly upset mood, that we are NOT feeling like Jesus would want us to feel?
If not, then how is a Christian supposed to feel?
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Of course, not.

We can feel compassion and out of a sense of brotherly love be concern. I think each individual is drawn to a certain concern of human suffering. We may be compassionate about all the suffering of the world but some people have a weakness 🙂 for a particular suffering or injustice. It could be the imprisoned, to others the killing of the unborn, or the abandonment of the elderlies, or in Robert Sock’s case the starving children of the world. We can’t limit ourselves with a scale. Let our heart beats keep track. We love with our hearts and we are called to love each and every human being. Each person is a child of God, no matter the age, color of their skin, economic status, etc… and because they are our brothers and sisters we love them and respect their human dignity and we care.

We may not be able to contribute monetarily or politically in a certain situation but this should not stop us from caring and loving and recognizing our duty of being our neighbor’s keeper nor matter how near or far they may be. We can pray to participate in that love. I think social systems can harden our hearts. So, when a mass murder is occurring of innocent children there is no outrage nor protest because we are trapped in a paradigm. Madeleine Albright Defends Mass-Murder of iraqi Children (500,000 Children dead) youtube.com/watch?v=x4PgpbQfxgo

Governments can be callous when we are callous.

Peace.
 
Abba says :** “I am advocating loving boundlessly from the heart. All those prayer warriors at CAF are giving a lot more than money could buy, and they are giving from the heart.”**

Sure, I have no problem with that. In fact, that is what I said before, to wit:
"How does anyone deal with something over which they have absolutely NO control?
The BIGGEST thing I can offer to any Human Being, is to pray to God the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit for them.
At this point, I have done the ONLY real thing to help them."

Instead, you picked on something I said later, about ALSO donating 10+% of my income to Non-Profits.
Certainly, my Prayers will have more effect on the state of the World than mere money.
But that doesn’t mean you need to trash me for also giving money.
 
Robert_Sock said:
Prayer=giving.

Nowhere did I belittle those who had little. (Please quote a post.)

As long as starvation continues, people are not doing enough.
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👍

Prayer is powerful. And I agree that people - me included- do not do enough to alleviate starvation.

God bless,

Ishii
 
ishii said:
👍

Prayer is powerful. And I agree that people - me included- do not do enough to alleviate starvation.

God bless,

Ishii
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So prayer is enough (like Robert says) but it also isn’t enough? How does that work?
 
dshix said:
So prayer is enough (like Robert says) but it also isn’t enough? How does that work?
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Each person ought to do what he can, but given the starvation that remains, people as a whole are not doing enough.
 
dshix said:
So prayer is enough (like Robert says) but it also isn’t enough? How does that work?
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You need both. I never said prayer alone is enough. However, for some people in certain circumstances, prayer is all you can do. Better than nothing.

Ishii
 
Robert_Sock said:
Each person ought to do what he can, but given the starvation that remains, people as a whole are not doing enough.
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No, and I can assure you that “people as a whole” never will do enough. Never. Do you expect things to actually change in this world? They won’t. There have been rich and poor for all of human history. There will be rich and poor until Christ returns. You know this.

So the question is, can we legitimately be happy about “worldy” things while others suffer? Yes, without a doubt we can, if our happiness is directed as thanks to God for the blessings we enjoy. I have young children, and watching them play with their toys brings me joy. Cheap little plastic toys are about as “worldly” as it gets, but at their young age they deeply love those things and so my wife and I provide them with a reasonable amount. We also donate the ones that we notice they no longer play with. Watching their innocent play is one of God’s greatest “worldly” blessings to me, and so I thank Him for it (not often enough).

What do children’s toys have to do with starving people? In a way, not much. But they have taught me that God can bring good out of even “worldly” things.

One question for you, Robert. Why does it matter so much to you what other people think and feel about starvation? I’ve had the same bad habit for many years myself, but reading this post inspires me to change that. I see a bit of myself reflected in your comments. Instead of pointing the finger at everyone else, I need to focus solely on what I can do to alleviate suffering and leave the rest to God. If we truly have faith in God’s power as well as His love, then it’s illogical to believe that people suffer for no reason. God has a plan, and suffering is one part of it. I do know that He allows us to suffer (some more than others) to perfect us. This will sound crazy to some people, but in a way, the poor and starving receive great gifts from God. He undoubtedly uses their suffering to call them to Himself.

That’s no reason to neglect the poor, but it helps me sleep at night to remember that I’m not God, and it’s not my plan to obsess over endlessly. He’s got it under control. 🙂
 
I guess I am missing the point of this thread. I mean, no one is pro-starvation for children. We all have a duty to help the poor and needy everywhere we can, which is not everywhere. We also should advocate policies that help the poorest of the poor. So we give what we can and fight for economic justice. These things help, as opposed to one-upmanship over who is the most distraught over evils in the world.
 
pnewton said:
I guess I am missing the point of this thread. I mean, no one is pro-starvation for children. We all have a duty to help the poor and needy everywhere we can, which is not everywhere. We also should advocate policies that help the poorest of the poor. So we give what we can and fight for economic justice. These things help, as opposed to one-upmanship over who is the most distraught over evils in the world.
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I think you touch on an important point, which is humility. None of us have the power on our own to change anything, we can only do as much as God enables us to do. Perhaps some people could do more than they think, but that’s not something anyone can know about another person.

But look at examples like St. Therese of Liseux. She was an extremely joyful person by all accounts, and she accepted with humility that God’s plan was for her to carry out small tasks in her life. Of course, her life of humility is in itself a monumentous acheivment, but there again the credit is due entirely to God. I know St Therese would agree with that statement.

If we could hear her response to this question, somehow I doubt she would advise us to mope around about things that are beyond our feeble powers to control. Probably instead to work diligently on the things God has put before us to change for the better, but also to realize that most of us are called to be small as well.
 
mgoforth said:
I think you touch on an important point, which is humility. None of us have the power on our own to change anything, we can only do as much as God enables us to do. Perhaps some people could do more than they think, but that’s not something anyone can know about another person.

But look at examples like St. Therese of Liseux. She was an extremely joyful person by all accounts, and she accepted with humility that God’s plan was for her to carry out small tasks in her life. Of course, her life of humility is in itself a monumentous acheivment, but there again the credit is due entirely to God. I know St Therese would agree with that statement.

If we could hear her response to this question, somehow I doubt she would advise us to mope around about things that are beyond our feeble powers to control. Probably instead to work diligently on the things God has put before us to change for the better, but also to realize that most of us are called to be small as well.
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St. Therese of Liseux was not joyful in the worldly sense, but in her willingness to carry the Cross of Christ. This is where your point is lacking in preciseness. There is a world of difference between the two antecedents of one’s joy, with worldly joy being far less righteous than joy of the cross.
 
Robert_Sock said:
St. Therese of Liseux was not joyful in the worldly sense, but in her willingness to carry the Cross of Christ. This is where your point is lacking in preciseness. There is a world of difference between the two antecedents of one’s joy, with worldly joy being far less righteous than joy of the cross.
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And you assume we’re talking about worldly joy when we say we should be joyful? I don’t sense any joy whatever in you Robert, and I don’t appreciate your assumption that everyone who disagrees with you has worldly joy when you alone have the “good joy”.
 
dshix said:
And you assume we’re talking about worldly joy when we say we should be joyful? I don’t sense any joy whatever in you Robert, and I don’t appreciate your assumption that everyone who disagrees with you has worldly joy when you alone have the “good joy”.
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Slander, unless you can back up your claim with specifics!!!
 
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