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Home My WebLink AboutThe Citizen, 1987-12-02, Page 38PAGE 38. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1987. From the Minister's Study Selfishness leads to man's inhumanity to man BY REV. DOUGLASZEHR BRUSSELS MENNONITE FELLOWSHIP The constant change in the weather usually brings out a variety of greetings from individu als as we meet on the street, cross paths at the post office or chat over coffee. Weather is a pretty safe opening for conversation. Al though many individuals have a variety of opinions and concerns regarding the weather, the one thing I know for sure is that it is a good thing no one of us is in control of it. I can hardly imagine the consequences. 1 suppose we need something to talk about and something to complain about too. Someone has said, “If you don’t think it’s a good day, just try missing one!" And we know that there are individuals that actually do opt to try it out. In reality, for some, there is not much choice. 1 read recently that 95 per cent of the earth's population is finding it a real challenge justto survive to age 45. Of course most of us would like to stay under age 45, yet we would certainly feel cheated if we didn’t see 45.1 have some ideas as to why it is that many people in our world don’t survive that long. One reason is selfishness. It can be illustrated by the multinational corporations which are profit and dividend driven for wealthy inves tors, who move production facili ties to areas of the world where labour is cheap, safety regulations are few, workers are unprotected, environmental controls are non existent and child labour laws ignored. That is why we have the option to buy cheap imported products. Another reason is self-centred ness which is illustrated in the activities of many large corpora tions which sell dangerous pro ducts banned in our own country in third world countries.. Profit is the bottom line, not health. There is also the inhumanity of man to his fellow man: the horror stories of war which have caused 20 million refugees to flee from their homes since 1945; the tragedy of torture as documented by groups like Amnesty International; the sad reality of war stories which tell of 10 and 12 year-old equipped for the front line trenches. But then all countries have demanded their young, healthiest and best-abled to live and to die on the battlefields. Then, too, there is insanity, like the insanity of nuclear weapons which are stockpiled in quantities enough to destroy the planet and all its life forms many times over and still the race continues. I think of indignity, like the indignity of sending two-thirds of the world’s population to bed hungry tonight and yet the agricul tural community in many parts of the world is in crisis. Then there is insensitivity, which means many of those hungry tonight will die during this coming week and the majority of them will be children who will die long before the age of 45. We try to block these realities out of our minds because we have our own personal problems. There is the unco-operative weather, the hassles of Christmas preparations, the exhaustion of celebrations in the festive seasons and the month ly payments for our luxurious lifestyles. Surely you must agree that what this world needs is hope. Many prophets and godly individuals of character down through the ages have instilled visions of hope into people, even people enslaved, oppressed, forced to flee, or aware of their coming death. In the days which lead up to our festive celebrations may we be reminded ofthe gift to the world that gives us reason for celebrat ing. Let us remember God’s gift to thd world, Jesus Christ. In a Parellel way of gift-giving, may we expectantly prepare to experience the joy of giving love-gifts which cannot be bought with money, but gifts which move A Blyth Christian Reformed Church HIGHWAY 4, BLYTH Rev. Tom Baird, Guest Minister from Kincardine SundaySchool 11:00a.m. The Church of the “Back to God Hour’’and “Faith 20’’ Back to God Hour 10:30a.m. CKNX, Sunday Faith20 5:00a.m. weekdays, GlobalT.V. ALL VISITORS WELCOME us from insensitivity to caring, from indignity to seeing God-given value, and from insanity to a wholesome respect for life; gifts which move us from inhumane treatment to sensitive respect for others’ opinions, from self-centred glory-seeking egotism to helping others see the Creator-given value in all human beings and from selfishness towards selfless giving of understandingand apprecia tion. May we be so possessed by hope in Jesus Christ that others will seek to find this hope in Him too. 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