Wednesday, October 22, 2008



"In making this world, the Creator furnished it with all the materials necessary for the support of His entire human family. For the best development of our minds and bodies, He made it necessary for us to labor, so that, by moulding the agencies and recombining the materials He permits us to use, we may secure that which is necessary for our sustenance and shelter. He knew that some would be able to secure more than enough for sustenance and shelter, and others would not be able to secure enough, yet He did not intend that any should lack food and clothing, or any of the essentials of healthful bodily and mental life. He knew, and, I verily believe, intended, that some should be poor and that others should be rich; and thus instituted the emergency for human beneficence or charity. It is better, on the whole, that the world should be made up of benefactors and beneficiaries than that each man should be independent of every other man.

Thus, every man whom He has made, or whom He has allowed to become, rich, He has by that favor commissioned to be almoner of His bounty to those whom He has not thus favored. The sick, the helpless, the utterly poor through misfortune -- these are always with us. The Saviour Himself stated this as a fact good for all time; and I know of no man who dares to deny that these unfortunate ones have an absolute right to live, and, consequently, a right to so much of the property of others as may be necessary to support them."

Timothy Titcomb -Photo by Mark Skalinski

3 comments:

Joseph Pulikotil said...

Hi Fred :)

The photo leaves me with mixed feelings. It is true man has to survive and earn his daily bread. But at what cost? Look at the poor birds which are tied upside down and tied in a tight bunch and driven through the road. They will be killed but after this suffocating, frightening ride. This is where the cruelty of man comes to the forefront for his survival. We can justify this perversion saying that all other animal have been created to satisfy the basic needs of man and man is above all other creatures. Now that we have advanced so much in knowledge and wisdom is it necessary to put these birds to so much cruelty?

In Kerala cows from Tamilnadu are brought to be slaughterd. The earlier practice was to tie the cows in a bunch and make them walk all the way from Tamilnadu which involves hundreds of kilometers. Cows which could not walk were beaten with whips and you could see them bleeding with the lashes. The animal lovers came together and made a loud hue and cry over the cruelty. Ultimately the Govt. had to introduce a law to transport these cows by trucks into Kerala.

Many thanks for the very informative post.

Best wishes :)

Mel said...

Hi Fred! Hi Joseph!

Joseph, your heart is so soft and compassionate towards the animals. It does my heart good. I pray that your heart will stay soft towards these creatures that are so innocently at our mercy. God trusted us with the planet and everything on it--I pray He will give us the grace to be good stewards of it all.

Fred,

I love, love, LOVE this post and am awed and humbled because it so specifically reveals something that I've been wrestling with lately (just in the last few days.)

Isn't this principle the basis of the invaluable difference between socialism or communism, as opposed to Democracy? I have a friend who was recently complaining about the poverty in the world versus the wealth in the world, and saying how she wished everyone could just be on equal footing. I said something about how I thought that was a communistic sort of principle, and have been deeply bothered by what she said ever since, but not able to verbalize my thoughts or but them into coherant language.

Then I read this post and - viola! - God gave me the answers to my questions.

Are you familiar with the teaching about the five love languages? (physical touch and closeness, gift giving, acts of service, etc...) I view them as being the languages that humans use to communicate love to and receive love from each other.

Well, I believe that we all have spiritual love languages that God uses to communicate His love to us, and that we use to communicate love back to Him. I'm fond of telling people that blogging is one of my top spiritual love languages... God speaks to me through it so powerfully, usually several times per day. And so many times with direct answers to something I've asked Him...

Thank you, Lord! And thank you, Fred, for being sensitive to His leading! :)

FCB said...

Hi Joseph,
I agree, this picture is horrid! And believe me it would never happen in the U.S. He would have a trail of people running after him threatening his life! Probably a poor choice of illustrations but it shows the bounty of some. I think in countries where there is little, animals are treated more brutally.In the U.S. we have so much that we are very strict on the way animals are treated. This reminds me that on my way to work I pass by two apple trees and all the fruit is laying on the ground, rotting. It reminds me of countries where every scrap would be salvaged and treasured.
God Bless.

Hi Mel,
Like my teen grandkids would say, "wow, that is so random", and yet it spoke to you. That is gratifying. Are we are brother's keeper? And did God choose to make unequal distribution of wealth for the betterment of man? That last thought is interesting isn't it?

If I were listening to your friend speak about wishing we were all on equal footing, I would be thinking, "I hope you are doing what you can to achieve this goal?"
If we all do what we can we will meet the needs; and world hunger is dramatically less than it was 20 years ago, thanks be to loving people, but we have a long way to go, so, we encourage each other to not forget. I know if it were my child that was suffering from famine, I would be shouting from the housetops for help! But because they are strangers, in a strange place......we forget.
Many blessings,
Fred