About Us Quarterly Magazine Foreword: The Problem is Sin; The Solution is Christ
Foreword: The Problem is Sin; The Solution is Christ Print E-mail
Saturday, 12 June 2010 07:28
By Rick Postma

When someone is very ill and the physician makes the wrong diagnosis, an incorrect remedy is inevitably prescribed with often serious, even fatal consequences.

Few will argue that we live in a world characterized by suffering, poverty, illness, addiction, war and disaster. Where the difference arises is in the diagnosis. We at Word & Deed are firmly convinced that the problem is rooted in one little word: sin. Given that diagnosis, the biblical remedy follows: Christ.

Many, even in the Christian community, would accuse us of over-simplification. In some cases, this charge is due to the assumption that the solution is to simply preach the Gospel, wash our hands, and depart the scene with a sense of having fulfilled our duty. Nothing could be further from the truth. Christ Himself is a model of how we are to respond to those in need – lovingly feeding the hungry, healing the sick and ministering to their souls.

For others, the charge of over-simplification is the assumption that Christianity is something you nod to occasionally by reading the Bible and praying, while giving the vast majority of your energy to the latest secular solutions to the world’s problems. But this contradicts the Christian worldview and comes close to functional atheism. If the problem is sin, then the solution involves repentance, forgiveness, reconciliation, and grace, together with numerous biblical prescriptions for a just society: a considerate response to the needs of the poor (Psalm 41:1, Luke 10:37); sanctity of marriage (including a biblical view of sexuality); biblical roles for husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, children; the blessing of work; the covenant family; obedience to and respect for civil governments and much more.

A biblically considerate response to the needs of the poor often results in solutions directly opposed to our first instincts. Showering the poor with funds, goods and free labor does more harm than good, as is so effectively pointed out in When Helping Hurts – How to Alleviate Poverty without Hurting the Poor ... and Yourself by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert (highly recommended!). Instead, recognizing the gifts and talents that God has given every person, we are to come alongside the poor, supplementing only as necessary. They will build their own homes, provide for their own families and, by God’s grace, love the Lord their God with all their heart soul and mind and their neighbor as themselves.

In this issue, we highlight the importance of volunteers by profiling two of them (Tanya Byl and Dick Naves) and providing a fascinating article by a third – Caroline VanDyken in Malawi. Rev. Elshout brings us face to face with the biblical necessity of the believer presenting his or her life as a living sacrifice to Christ in his meditation. Other articles highlight new projects in Ecuador and Sumba, Indonesia. This issue also includes the latest on Haiti at press time and a recent trip to Guatemala. May you have a safe and blessed summer.

Rick Postma is Director of Public Relations for Word & Deed Ministries.
 
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