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Christianity Today, August, 2008 |

FOOLISH THINGS

Ancient Parable, Urgent Time

We face a challenge of both global and spiritual proportions.

Stan Guthrie | posted 8/19/2008 09:51AM

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They also will answer, "Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?"

The cost of rice is up 165 percent over the last year. According to the World Bank, wheat has hit a 28-year high and is nearly twice the average price of the last quarter-century. Robert Zoellick, the agency's leader, says the crisis could force 100 million people deeper into poverty. High prices have sparked riots in several countries, and the bank says 33 nations face potential social unrest. The United Nations estimates that adequately responding to the crisis will cost the developed world $30 billion annually.

He will reply, "I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me." Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.

Related Elsewhere:

Stan Guthrie's earlier "Foolish Things" columns are available here. He also blogs at StanGuthrie.com.

Earlier Christianity Today articles on the food crisis include:

Crisis Inflation | Aid agencies struggle to up their efforts amid soaring food and gas costs. (June 9, 2008)

Food Crisis: No Free Lunch | Rising prices for essentials precede riots in some parts of the developing world. Are biofuels partly to blame? (Stan Guthrie, Liveblog, Apr. 21, 2008)

Famine Again? | Why some places suffer food shortages decade after decade. (May 11, 2007)

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August 2008, Vol. 52, No. 8

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michael klein

Posted: August 27, 2008 12:58 PM


does anyone out there know of any online courses i studied philosophy and psyschology know its time to study the most important person in the world I want to help youths to get out of gangs and dope with I got know cash cause of head injury cause of my lifestyle anyways lead me to a good course

Eddie Francisco

Posted: August 20, 2008 1:40 PM


Yes, we need to spread the Gospel in Myanmar and yes, there are other issues. But Guthrie makes a good point. If I understand him correctly, we have done well to respond to the crises in Myanmar and China, but meanwhile we sit idly by while the food crisis brews. We support policies that encourage using food to make ethanol while millions face starvation. God will judge such policies.

Thomas

Posted: August 20, 2008 8:54 AM

I question why the solution to these things always comes back to dollar value. I never tried, but I don't think that dollar bills have much nutritional value. What needs to be done for this crisis is to grow more food, and to do it with respect for the rules that God set down in the Pentateuch. Instead of pulling out the card to make a donation, how about getting a bunch of like-minded Christians together to go to an area of the world near a needy area that has fertile land and grow some food? Suggestions: Zambia, Tanzania, anywhere in South America, maybe even unused areas of the United States as not-for-profit farms. This will take a little seed money for transportation and equipment initially, but the value will be multiplied an unknown amount. This might seem unrealistic, but many hands can make light work.

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