hope like mad

Swollen-Bellied Black Babies

October 26, 2008

The full title to the fifth chapter is, Swollen-Bellied Black Babies, Soccer Moms on Prozac, and the Mark of the Beast. After the first four chapters have carefully laid out some of the major themes from the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament narrative, we now come to the how the authors have allowed that narrative to shape the way they see the world today. Because of the amount of things to cover in this chapter, I will break it up into three separate posts.

Part 1 - Swollen-Bellied Black Babies

The first third of this chapter begins with a story of a misguided bomb that dropped on the innocent people of Iraq.  Women and children were killed and injured, all were civilians.

How do we make sense of such a horrible atrocity?

Some will claim that is just what comes with modern warfare.  Others will remind us about why it was so important to remove Saddam, the one who slaughtered the innocent people of his own country.

While others remind us of the good that our nation has done.

They would remind us of all of the people who have come to the United States for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and have actually found them.

They would speak of advancements in technology, the arts, medicine, humanitarian aid.  They would point out that it’s hard to find a corner of the world where there aren’t Americans doing some sort of good.

They would point to the many who have sacrificed their lives so that we could enjoy the freedom and prosperity that we do.  And they would be right.  These things should be pointed out and celebrated and honored.

However, using the story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus, we are reminded that we have a tendency like the disciples to misunderstand the days events.  Could we misinterpret what is happening in our day?  Despite of all the good, could we in he USA have become an empire? “What we see in the Bible is that empires naturally accumulate wealth and resources.”

What do you think?  Are we an empire?  Take this little quiz (these are not the same statistics as in the book, but you’ll find them similar) and then let us know what you think?

Now, when many people get a glimpse of how the world really is, whether it’s through travel or study or reading statistics like the ones just cited, it can quickly lead to guilt.  We have so much, while others have so little.

Guilt is not helpful.

Honesty is helpful.  Awareness is helpful, Knowledge is helpful.

Guilt isn’t

Human history has never witnessed the abundence that we consider normal.  America is the weathiest nation in the history of humanity.  We have more resources than any group of people anywhere at any time has ever had.  Ever.