Are you shocked? Since you are here allow me to share a few statistics with you which should truly shock you.
Shocked at lostness: Out of the seven billion people in the world, only one-third claim to be Christian. That leaves us with 4.7 billion people in the world today who are on a road that leads to eternal hell. And two billion of those 4.7 billion unbelievers have no access to the gospel. That's a sobering reality. To put that into perspective, think of one particular region in northern India. Given that the death rate in this region is about five thousand per day and the number of evangelicals is estimated at less than .01 percent, about 9,999 people plunge into hell every two days. Are you shocked?
Shocked at physical need: Today over one billion people live and die in desperate poverty on less than one dollar per day. Close to a billion others live on less than two dollars per day. That means nearly half of the world is struggling to find food, shelter, and medical care for the same amount of money you and I spend on a soda for lunch! Consider that more than 20,000 children will die this very day due to starvation and preventable disease. These individuals are poor and powerless, and they are dying quietly in relative obscurity while we comfortable ignore them in our affluence. Are you shocked?
Shocked at amount of waste: Every year 1.3 billion tons of food-about one third of all food produced globally-ends up wasted. 870 million people worldwide do not have access to enough food to be healthy. Yet 28% of the worlds farmlands-area bigger than China- is used to produce food which is being thrown away. In the United States, alone we through away 1/3 of our food-equivalent of $160 billion and 220 pounds per person per year. Are you shocked?
Shocked at the church's lack of giving: In short, we in America and much of Western Europe are rich. If you make $25,000 per year, you are in the top 10 percent of the world's wealthiest people. Food, water, clothes-God has give us so much. But what are we doing with these great blessings? Christians give an average of 2.5 percent to their churches, and churches in North America give an average of 2 percent of their funds to overseas missions. Based on these averages, this means that for every one hundred dollars a North American Christian makes, he give five cents to the rest of the world. Five cents! Not only do we not give our finances to help those less fortunate, we don't even take the time to open our mouth and share the Gospel. On average only 2% of evangelical Christians in America share their faith. Only 2%! Are you shocked?
I wonder if followers of Christ one hundred years from now will look back at Christians in America today and wonder how we could live with such affluence while millions were dying of starvation, many of whom had never heard of Christ? Will they wonder, "How could they prioritize more things, more programs, more comforts, while individuals on the other side of the world were suffering with malnourished bodies and deformed brains?
*Statistics taken from Dr. David Platt, Christ Centered Exposition: 1 Timothy Commentary
*Statistics taken from blog: From the farms to garbage cans
Shocked at lostness: Out of the seven billion people in the world, only one-third claim to be Christian. That leaves us with 4.7 billion people in the world today who are on a road that leads to eternal hell. And two billion of those 4.7 billion unbelievers have no access to the gospel. That's a sobering reality. To put that into perspective, think of one particular region in northern India. Given that the death rate in this region is about five thousand per day and the number of evangelicals is estimated at less than .01 percent, about 9,999 people plunge into hell every two days. Are you shocked?
Shocked at physical need: Today over one billion people live and die in desperate poverty on less than one dollar per day. Close to a billion others live on less than two dollars per day. That means nearly half of the world is struggling to find food, shelter, and medical care for the same amount of money you and I spend on a soda for lunch! Consider that more than 20,000 children will die this very day due to starvation and preventable disease. These individuals are poor and powerless, and they are dying quietly in relative obscurity while we comfortable ignore them in our affluence. Are you shocked?
Shocked at amount of waste: Every year 1.3 billion tons of food-about one third of all food produced globally-ends up wasted. 870 million people worldwide do not have access to enough food to be healthy. Yet 28% of the worlds farmlands-area bigger than China- is used to produce food which is being thrown away. In the United States, alone we through away 1/3 of our food-equivalent of $160 billion and 220 pounds per person per year. Are you shocked?
Shocked at the church's lack of giving: In short, we in America and much of Western Europe are rich. If you make $25,000 per year, you are in the top 10 percent of the world's wealthiest people. Food, water, clothes-God has give us so much. But what are we doing with these great blessings? Christians give an average of 2.5 percent to their churches, and churches in North America give an average of 2 percent of their funds to overseas missions. Based on these averages, this means that for every one hundred dollars a North American Christian makes, he give five cents to the rest of the world. Five cents! Not only do we not give our finances to help those less fortunate, we don't even take the time to open our mouth and share the Gospel. On average only 2% of evangelical Christians in America share their faith. Only 2%! Are you shocked?
I wonder if followers of Christ one hundred years from now will look back at Christians in America today and wonder how we could live with such affluence while millions were dying of starvation, many of whom had never heard of Christ? Will they wonder, "How could they prioritize more things, more programs, more comforts, while individuals on the other side of the world were suffering with malnourished bodies and deformed brains?
*Statistics taken from Dr. David Platt, Christ Centered Exposition: 1 Timothy Commentary
*Statistics taken from blog: From the farms to garbage cans
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