Congo

Statement

Congo

The front page of the NY Times carried a piece on the worsening situation in the Congo. A Civil War in the Congo, which ended in 2003 (and was the bloodiest in modern African war), is heating up again. There is now the beginning of heavy fighting and scores of people are being displaced. The article said much of the war is over a "quest to control unusually rich minerals and farmlands." What the article doesn't say is that many of us in America are complicit. That is, these resources, while "rich," are limited in Africa. If we had cut back on our lifestyles in America, in tandem with, say, scaling back tremendously on things like the Defense Budget, we could have mobilized so much more help to allow people in the Congo to be as sustainable as possible — so they don't have to fight over their limited resources. During a talk at Baldwin Wallace College recently, I said it is my belief God gave us an abundance in America to help, not hoard. What we do now foreign affairs wise, church outreach wise (the average Christian tithes approximately 3%), is a pittance in comparison to how much we really could help. And I don't think this is lost on God, for a minute. It's just that we have a hard time connecting the dots spiritually. However, once we know… Note: "Several weeks ago, Time Magazine did a Special Report titled: America by the Numbers. The following is a set of some of those numbers: "The vast majority of Americans believe in God, and more than 90% own a Bible, but only half can name a single Gospel, and 10% think Joan of Arc was Noah's wife." -That simply amazed me. I mean, I thought everyone knew Joan was his sister. Whoops… There goes my conservative supporters.

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