{"id":22562,"date":"2011-09-09T18:23:43","date_gmt":"2011-09-10T00:23:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=22562"},"modified":"2011-09-09T18:23:43","modified_gmt":"2011-09-10T00:23:43","slug":"man-does-not-live-by-bread-alone-but-he-doesnt-live-long-without-it-either","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/09\/09\/man-does-not-live-by-bread-alone-but-he-doesnt-live-long-without-it-either.html","title":{"rendered":"Man Does Not Live By Bread Alone … but he doesn’t live long without it, either"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the tempter came to him, he said, “If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.”<\/p>\n

But he answered and said, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”<\/p>\n

— Matthew 4:3-4<\/a> (KJV)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Jesus was a pretty pragmatic guy, in a lot of ways. \u00a0Yeah, he had his eyes on the Kingdom of Heaven, but he generally didn’t emphasize that at the expense of the people living on Earth.<\/p>\n

If you went to a party he was attending, and the wine ran out … he was the go-to guy to make sure things got taken care of.<\/p>\n

If you trekked out into the wilderness to hear him preach, he didn’t say his two cents then boogie, leaving you hungry and miles from a McDonald’s. \u00a0There were loaves and fishes for the studio audience …<\/p>\n

And while he told people to listen, to believe, and to preach the Word of God, he just as vigorously told them to take care of one another’s physical needs. \u00a0The Good Samaritan wasn’t praised as a neighbor for tucking a tract into the pocket of the robbed and beaten man and then merrily going on his way, conscience clear.<\/p>\n

Consider Matthew 25:31-46<\/a> (NIV):<\/p>\n

31<\/sup> \u201cWhen the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne.<\/span> 32<\/sup> All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.<\/span> 33<\/sup> He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.<\/span><\/p>\n

34<\/sup> \u201cThen the King will say to those on his right, \u2018Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.<\/span> 35<\/sup> For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,<\/span> 36<\/sup> I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

37<\/sup> \u201cThen the righteous will answer him, \u2018Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?<\/span> 38<\/sup> When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?<\/span> 39<\/sup> When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

40<\/sup> \u201cThe King will reply, \u2018Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

41<\/sup> \u201cThen he will say to those on his left, \u2018Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.<\/span> 42<\/sup> For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,<\/span> 43<\/sup> I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

44<\/sup> \u201cThey also will answer, \u2018Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

45<\/sup> \u201cHe will reply, \u2018Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

46<\/sup> \u201cThen they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I was hungry, and you gave me nothing to eat.<\/em><\/p>\n

Ben Tegland, over at Atheist Underworld, points out something<\/a> pretty damned … well, damnable (if you take the above Matthew passage seriously):<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Yes, your donations go to buy Bibles for Africans at $5\/copy (includes shipping and handling, I suppose).<\/p>\n

So what’s wrong with that?<\/p>\n

Ben says:<\/p>\n

This is what religion does to people. It makes them feel like praying for someone is an action helping them through a tough spot. It makes people believe sending a book filled with ancient myths would be helpful in a time of desperate famine.<\/p>\n

To those unaware, the Horn of Africa is facing a catastrophic famine. Twelve million people are on the edge of starvation, thousands of Somalis are walking week after week searching for food and water. Leaving their dead children behind, unburied . . . to be picked apart by vultures, while they desperately try to save their remaining family. The lucky ones make it to refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia.<\/p>\n

While this is going on you have a Christian organization called\u00a0Bible League International <\/em>playing off the tragedy with a slick marketing campaign to distribute (sell) bibles. Even going so far as to include a caption that says, \u201cWe don\u2019t need food.\u201d There are places on the continent far away from the Horn of Africa that are untouched by the famine where you might be able to get a video of someone saying, \u201cwe don\u2019t need food\u201d . . . but it\u2019s immorally misleading to then extrapolate that to the entire continent. This is especially heinous because these\u00a0Jesus marketers<\/em> know full well that people are dying daily because they lack clean food and water. This is the kind of evil that turns my stomach in knots.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yes, don’t worry about people starving to death in the Horn of Africa<\/a> and elsewhere, or dying in wars and bush conflicts and dictatorships and oppression and ethnic cleansing. \u00a0You don’t have to worry about any of that because, by cracky, you can just whip out that credit card and buy them some Bibles.<\/em> And they “don’t need food,” after all. Best of all, it’s tax deductable!<\/em><\/p>\n

I was hungry, and you gave me nothing to eat.<\/em><\/p>\n

Now, the answer that Jesus gave to Satan in the first passage isn’t a bad one. \u00a0It’s not even necessarily (or exclusively) a religious one. \u00a0Man doesn’t live by bread alone — not and be what we’d consder a real human being.<\/p>\n

Abraham Maslow described a hierarchy of needs<\/a> back in 1943 that a lot of folks have heard about:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>To vastly oversimplify, Maslow ranked what needs take precedence, starting that the bottom. \u00a0Basically, until a layer’s needs are met, people cannot engage successfully, comfortably, and healthily with needs further up the chart. \u00a0The bottom needs, the physiological ones, are sine qua non<\/em>. \u00a0If you don’t have them, then nothing else matters. If you’re in fear of losing them, that’s where all your focus is.<\/p>\n

Couching Jesus as Maslow, man needs bread, but he needs much more, ultimately up through salvation (or self-actualization, your choice). \u00a0But first he needs bread.<\/p>\n

Or, put another way, Jesus didn’t tell the tempter, “Man doesn’t need bread, he only <\/em>needs the words of God.” \u00a0Jesus recognized the need for both, and his ministry showed that time and time again. \u00a0What he preached was that taking care of those needs — the bread — of others was a holy duty. \u00a0And those who didn’t feed the hungry, clothe the naked, care for the sick and imprisoned, were cruising for that “eternal fire.”<\/p>\n

Which brings us back to Bible League International.<\/p>\n

I don’t have anything in particular against folks giving Bibles to those who don’t have them. \u00a0And there are almost certainly folks in Africa who would like to receive a Bible. \u00a0(There are also some folks there already with Bibles<\/a> who could use a good thump on the head, but I digress).<\/p>\n

Nor am I enough of a hypocrite to suggest that the only moral imperative for everyone should be giving all the money they have to stop the horrific conditions in parts of Africa (as well as in other parts of the world). \u00a0It is certainly a moral imperative to help, but there are limits to what an individual can, or even should, do.<\/p>\n

But Bible League International takes things a step or three beyond that. \u00a0Not only do they not <\/em>mention that there are people starving to death in Africa, but they practically deny it in favor of flogging their own product. \u00a0They don’t encourage folks to give to support body and soul, but they put up a big “End the Bible FAMINE” banner, and have videos like “We Don’t Need Food” and “Thirsty for God’s Word.”<\/p>\n

Forget the “Food Famine” — it’s the “Bible Famine” that you should be worried about, right?<\/p>\n

It’s deceptive. \u00a0And it’s cruel. \u00a0And it sure sounds like whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.<\/em><\/p>\n

And it’s bitterly ironic for someone asking for donations for Bibles to have missed what’s actually in that Bible.<\/p>\n

I was hungry, and you gave me nothing to eat.<\/em><\/p>\n

Giving someone a Bible is not the moral equivalent of, not even a moral competitor with, giving someone food to eat, water to drink, shelter, when they have none of the above. \u00a0You want to send someone a $5 Bible in Africa? \u00a0Fine. Send $50 or \u00a0$100 of relief and development money first. Take care of the base of that Maslovian pyramid, then<\/em> consider the blocks above it. \u00a0I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink.<\/em><\/p>\n

First things first. I was Bible-less and you gave me one to read <\/em>doesn’t even show up on the list.<\/p>\n

Ben suggests some good resources that might be of more help in keeping body and soul together in the Horn of Africa:<\/p>\n

UNICEF is collecting money to provide therapeutic treatment for women and children with severe malnutrition, access to clean drinking water and vaccinations to prevent deadly diseases like measles and polio. You can help UNICEF\u2019s efforts by texting the word \u201cFOOD\u201d to 864233 (if you live in the U.S.) this will donate $10. You can also\u00a0visit their website to make a donation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The United Nations World Food Programme is working to get highly nutritious foods for children and pregnant mothers into Somalia, donations can be made online<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Doctors Without Borders is another great option, they are operating nine medical-nutritional programs in Somalia. Teams from Doctors Without Borders have treated over ten thousand malnourished children,\u00a0donations can be made online<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I would also recommend (if you’re looking for a church-based charity that isn’t all about handing out Bibles) the Episcopal Relief and Development fund<\/a>. They don’t operate at present in Ethiopia and Somalia, but they do look like they work in a lot of other very needy areas of the continent<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Not just Christians feel compassion and charity for others. But if you are a Christian, and looking to help the needy of Africa, consider what Jesus expected you to do for the least of these brothers and sisters of mine.<\/em><\/p>\n

(via Les<\/a>)<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When the tempter came to him, he said, “If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.” But he answered and said, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” — Matthew 4:3-4 (KJV) Jesus was … Continue reading “Man Does Not Live By Bread Alone … but he doesn’t live long without it, either”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22565,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-religion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Maslows_Hierarchy_of_Needs.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4941,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/12\/01\/green_eggs_and.html","url_meta":{"origin":22562,"position":0},"title":"Green Eggs and Lembas","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 1-Dec-03 4:06pm","format":false,"excerpt":"That about says it all. 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