Live Aid is happening tomorrow in Philadelphia, about an hour from home. My AOL instant messenger is playing a commercial from “ONE” and I see that Rick Warren has joined Pat Roberson in signing on to “ONE”. Al Mohler has an article today referencing an ethicist who says we shouldn’t embrace the “ONE” message because we really don’t understand the complexities of why poverty occurs, though he challenges Southern Baptist to get involved in fighting poverty, just not with this group:
While Southern Baptists should fervently support and encourage truly effective means to address the distress of the poor, failure to identify the true causes of Third World poverty and thus advocate useful real solutionsƒ¢¢â€š¬¢â‚¬Å“like the ONE Campaignƒ¢¢â€š¬¢â‚¬Å“is not just misguided, it is actually harmful. The wider public knows this to be true.
My problem is that despite the possible misguidings by the organization around “ONE” and Live Aid, they are trying to do something about issues like poverty. Yet the church stands silent. Why is that?
We talk openly about WWJD and Jesus told us that if we are to find ourselves within the sheep and not the goats (Matt 25), then we need to feel people, clothe people, etc. It is an outgrowth of our transformation by Christ alone through grace and faith. (In other words, I’m not promoting works-based salvation!)
So if we’re not to join the chorus of “ONE”, who do we join?
