Responsibilities of Christians as Regards

Responsibilities of Christians as Regards Human Rights

The Darfur Region of the Sudan and Other Non-Christian Regions

The issue of global human rights is one that everyone, especially Christians, must be interested in. It is not okay to go about with blinders, that which obstructs the visual images of human rights violations and allows complacency to reign as third world regions of the world experience their demise because of natural disasters, political corruption, and especially not when a stronger, better armed people are in pursuit of ethnic cleansing, committing acts of genocide to bring about the end of a culture or ethnic group whose only crime is that of being different in some way - and the way does not really matter - from the majority. Christians have a responsibility to go these regions and to render service and care in whatever way they can to relieve the human suffering of another, regardless of the differences in race, age, and especially faith. This must be done as an act of humanity, a demonstration of faith, and not an imparting or transfer of faith because our faith lies in how we live towards others, not how we speak or preach to others. Thus, our responsibility as Christians is to serve humanity, relieve human suffering, even if that means to refrain from expressing our faith in words; leaving us with only the deeds of faith to perform, demonstrating our faith.

New Missionaries

There are Christian missions and missionaries around the world, those individuals who brave the elements of foreign lands, embrace the diversity of culture - even if it's a third world culture - and surrender a moment in the space of their own lives to devote the time and effort to showing how faith resides in their minds and heart through good deeds on behalf of others less fortunate. "Karen Zaayenga gave up the comforts of America to teach English at a small church she helped fund in Japan, ending each class with a short Bible time." What inevitably happens is that, as in the case of Zaayenga, there grows in your heart a love not just for America, but for the place where the missionary work is done as well. "I call both places home," says the career missionary from Springfield, who is stateside for a break before another four years with the Evangelical Alliance Mission in Oita, Japan."

There is a "new" missionary movement, different from that with which one might be familiar with from years gone by. "Missionary groups today divide the world into three parts, beginning with the nominal Christian west. Next, there are nations such as Japan that have heard the Gospel for centuries." In this way, there is a process of introduction to the work of foreign mission work, and it stems from foreign countries, while at the same time presenting no real danger to the missionary. Missionaries are not mercenaries, and it serves no purpose to send young Christians eager to share their inspiration into third world hotspots. "The cases of killed missionaries are few nowadays, but the stories of the risk are well-known." No one wants to see people whose life work it is spread goodwill, end their lives in tragic and foreseeable ways. That is not missionary work; it is plain and simple bad judgment and poor planning.

The new approach to missionary work is one that takes into account safety, but is still willing to meet the challenges with which evangelical work has always faced. "The final third are an estimated 10,000 "people group," or 2.1 billion humans, who for reasons of language or geography have never heard about the Christ of Christmas. And reaching them, missionaries say, involves crossing physical, political, and linguistic barriers." Those barriers will not always be gracious, not always be welcoming, but it goes without saying that devoted Christians do, and will continue, to overcome those barriers to touch the lives of other who have yet to experience the inspiration of the Word of God.

Not a Competition

There is not a competition for souls in Christian missionary work. Missionary work does not use people as human pawns on the chessboard of world politics.

Sometimes, it may be difficult for people, and missionaries alike, to understand that. Christians missionaries serve vital roles in places around the world where each day people lose the battle against the natural forces of nature, the evil of political corruption, the ruin of war, and to the hatred and racism of genocide. "Modern tyrants understand how to control the media," When they're in control of the government and the media, the sphere of their control and power must be understood and responded to in a way that minimizes the impact on efforts to bring relief those humans whose suffering under those conditions must be relieved. That is the time when it is appropriate to let the deeds speak for themselves.

The Darfur region of the Sudan has come into the spotlight of light because of t he heightened attention brought to conditions there through the celebrity of people like American actor George Clooney. As a result, the issues of genocide have indeed received a great deal attention, as have the refugees with whom Clooney spent time; they were subsequently targeted as a result of the press and celebrity surrounding Clooney, and the camp where Clooney and his father made their now famous "secret" documentary, was completely wiped out. It's easy to say that the refugees with whom Clooney met, and whom he secretly videotaped for his "secret" documentary were at risk; indeed, they were just that. However, once a celebrity breaks all the rules, bolding challenging the modern tyrants, and especially secreting videotapes out of a country; the risks to the refugee group are significantly increased.