Teaching a Man to Fish

On Friday mornings in the cafe in the bookstore my wife and i used to manage, we did what we called "Nooma n' Coffee". We would show a Rob Bell Nooma dvd while people were eating breakfast or having their morning cuppa-joe. It was great (when people showed up for it!) and great discussions afterwards.

One Friday we watched the one called "RICH". Rob starts out talking about how wealthy Americans are compared to most of the world. How an organization stated that $20 billion could feed the world and how that is the same amount Americans spend every year on ice cream.

I had a friend who preached a sermon one time using Krispy Kreme Doughnuts...quite a tasty sermon! Anyway, he had volunteers from the congregation come up and stand in groups. Each group was given a tray with doughnuts on it. There was a group with 2 people who had 14 doughnuts, a group of 16 with 1 1/2 doughnuts, a group of 6 that had 8 doughnuts, etc. Each group represented a nation or people group and what they consumed, food-wise. The group of 2 was the US...the group of 16 was Africa.

I shared this with the woman who had come in for the Nooma that morning. She was a great customer and wonderful person...very sweet and funny. I could tell that she didn't care much for the message in the video. She started out talking about how the poor people in the world had "brought it upon themselves". She stated how we should "teach them how to fish rather than give them a fish". In response I said, "How about we give them a fish WHILE we teach them to fish?"

She continued to try to support her view...did I mention that she is very wealthy? She pointed out that she didn't like organizations...she didn't trust them. She also felt that giving an extra big tip to her hairdresser was a Christlike thing to do, which I didn't dispute. But, her hairdresser HAS a means of support, as opposed to the truly poor.
I pointed out to her that, what if...what if God had looked down after the Fall and said, "Hey, they brought that (sin and it's effects) upon themselves. Let's show them how to be saved, but let's not actually save them." She remained silent.

I understand that some people just don't get it. I also understand that some people will NEVER get it. Those people are one of those that Jesus will say "Depart from me...I never knew you."
I have nothing more to say except...

Think about it.