Anger Issues

There are some things I think we – the body of Christ – should be angry about. In the mix of Christian circles, they call this anger ‘righteous anger.’ Righteous anger basically can be defined as “Getting angry at things God would be angry with.” In conclusion then, I have put together a list of things we – the body of Christ – should be angry about.

1. In the country of Moldova – where at least 80% live below the poverty line – more women are led into sex trafficking than any other country in the world.
2. 1 in 6 women and 1 in 33 men will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime.
3. Only 6% of rapists will ever spend a day in jail.
4. It costs – on average $50,000 to keep one person in jail for one year. That is more money than a student will pay to go to schools like” Georgetown University, John Hopkins University, Carnegie Mellon, Bates College, or even Boston College. In fact, there are only three schools in the United States that cost more than $50,000 a year: Sarah Lawrence College ($53,166); George Washington University ($50,312) and New York University ($50, 182).
5. Thus far, The United States has spent over 607 Billion for the war in Iraq. None of this money has been shown to help rebuild or restructure the Iraqi people. This also does not include the $75.5 billion for FY2009 war funding.
6. According to UNICEF, 25,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world.
7. The poorest 40 percent of the world’s population accounts for 5 percent of global income. The richest 20 percent accounts for three-quarters of the world income.
8. Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names.
9. Almost two in three people lacking access to clean water survive on less than $2 a day, and more than 385 million on less than $1 a day.
10. For the 1.9 billion children from the developing world, there are: 640 million without adequate shelter (1 in 3), 400 million with no access to safe water (1 in 5) and 270 million with no access to health services (1 in 7).
11. 15 million children are orphaned due to HIV/AIDS (about the total amount of children in Germany or the UK).

I don’t want to end this post on a sad note. All I am trying to say is that there are reasons we should be angry as believers – as people in general. Did you know that if those who said they were Christians tithed to their churches, there would be $168 billion dollars given? To take care of all the world’s basic needs (food, clean water, clothing, health, etc.) cost $89 billion. That means the churches in the US alone could take care of all the world’s issues each year and still have almost half of what was tithed to share the Gospel. That is a dream to me. I don’t know if it could ever happen – Jesus said we would always have the poor among us. Yet, if we would give sacrificially like we really could and should, maybe Jesus’ statement would be challenged.