Rose Publishing - God In Real Life

Jesus said, For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.

Matthew 25: 35-36, 40

Following the example of these powerful words of Jesus, Christians throughout the centuries have reached out with love to those in need especially the poor, weak, and needy.

• During the Roman Empire, families were encouraged to abandon unwanted children and allow infants to die. Christians spoke against these acts; they rescued infants, cared for orphans, widows, and the outcasts of society. Despite their own need, early Christians voluntarily pooled their resources in order to support orphans, widows, the sick, prisoners, the disabled, and others in need of help.
• Basil of Caesarea and St. Chrysostom of Constantinople (4 th century): Both urged the construction of orphanotrophia to care for orphans. This was part of a trend within Christianity, from its earliest days, to care for orphans and others who were helpless.
• In the 1800s, during the Industrial Revolution in Europe, people moved into the cities to find work. Many found starvation instead. The Salvation Army was founded by William Booth (1829-1912), a minister, to help the poorest people with food, shelter, and support for their families. Thieves, prostitutes, gamblers, and drunkards were among Booths first converts to Christianity. To congregations who were desperately poor, he preached hope and salvation. His aim was to lead people to Christ and link them to a church for further spiritual guidance.

If Christians would really live according to the teachings of Christ, as found in the Bible, all of India would be Christian today.

Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948), Indian leader

the Church of Jesus Christ has done moreand often still does morethan any other institution in history to alleviate poverty. Furthermore, it has set the pattern for relief that is copied worldwide.

Many of the educational and scientific advancements, artistic achievements, music, acts of compassion, and freedom we take for granted have come from the influence of Christians over the centuries. Christians who have followed Jesus Christs commands to love God and love their neighbors as themselves have made powerful contributions to our world.

• YMCA: The Young Mens Christian Association that today serves more than 20 million people worldwide was founded by British Christian George Williams in the 1840s. The YMCA was formed with the purpose of the winning of young men to Jesus Christ, and the building in them of Christian character. Young men who went to the cities to find work often turned to crime and alcoholism. The YMCA was a religious organization that combined physical activities with educational and religious activities.

• Child labor laws: In England, some children as young as four or five worked in the coal mines and fabric mills more than 16 hours a day. Through the combined efforts of several committed Christians, especially Anthony Ashley Cooper, also known as Lord Shaftesbury (1801-85), Englands Parliament passed a number of bills providing much-needed legislation protecting children abused by employers.

Anthony Ashley Cooper

• Irene Webster-Smith : Young, single Irish woman who went to Japan in 1916 and spent her life rescuing girls from lives of prostitution, setting up homes for them.
• Mother Teresa (1910-97): Born in Macedonia to Albanian parents, Mother Teresa, established the Order of Missionaries of Charity, reaching out to the unloved, uncared for, and forgotten people in Calcutta, India. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.

Mother Teresa

Many people mistake our work for our vocation. Our vocation is the love of Jesus. Mother Teresa

The Value of Each Human Being

The Bible contains laws dating 1500 years before Christ protecting the weak and innocent. The Bible, for instance, sets down rules about protecting employees, orphans, widows, and foreigners (Malachi 3:5, James 1:27).

Here is a list of just a handful of key Christians and events throughout history who have made a difference in the area of the value of human life:

• Callistus of Rome (3 rd century): A former slave who later became Bishop of Rome, Callistus strongly opposed Roman infanticide, as did Clement of Alexandria , a Greek theologian influential in Egypt. Tertullian (ca. 160 ca. 240) was an African church father who also openly opposed infanticide.
• Constantine and Licinius issued the Edict of Milan ( AD 313), which provided Christians with the opportunity to legally voice their concerns over infanticide, ultimately leading to its formal abolishment in 374 by Christian Emperor Valentinian.
• Lactantius (c. 240c. 320): Church father and tutor to one of the sons of Constantine the Great, Lactantius commented in Divine Institutes (1.6) on the practice of abandoning children outside to die: It is as wicked to expose as it is to kill.
• Afra of Augsburg (later 3 rd century): A former prostitute who converted to Christianity, Afra ministered to abandoned children.
• Honorius and Theodosius II (5 th century emperors): Both proclaimed that abandoned children must be announced before a church. If the child was not claimed, the finder was allowed to keep and care for the child.
• Justinian (483-565): Byzantine emperor who had his jurists prepare the Justinian Code, which clearly condemned abortion and infanticide as illegal.

Justinian

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27

Because human beings are made in Gods image, they have eternal worth; and so Christians have worked to defend human life.

• King Magnus of Norway (13 th century) ruled that parents who exposed their child, resulting in death, were to be charged with murder.
• John Calvin (1509-64): Leader in the Protestant Reformation, French-born Calvin, who later fled to Switzerland, wrote, The unborn child though enclosed in the womb of its mother, is already a human being and should not be robbed of the life which it has not yet begun to enjoy.

John Calvin

• George Mueller (1805-98): Born in Prussia, Mueller was an evangelist who established orphanages in Bristol, England, after a cholera epidemic. For the next 60 years, he cared for more than 10,000 orphaned or abandoned children.