Bare Necessities
Thanks to Shuja Nawaz for his report from the border. As someone born in Lahore, I have a personal interest in Pakistan, and am saddened at the violence there. If we want to make changes, we have to do as he suggests. Work with local people. Help them with the basic necessities of their lives. Here, I am thinking of an analogy from missiology. In an earlier age, missionaries were sent to convert people. Build churches, baptize "the heathen". There was no thought to their lives, no thought to the foreignness of what was being imposed (there are no grapes in Indonesia, for example, and people eat rice instead of bread. How then were Indonesians to understand the Eucharist of bread and wine?). Now, we speak not of establishing the "church", but participating in "the reign of God", helping people to better their lives. That's precisely what we are not doing in Afghanistan and Iraq.
If we want to make changes, we have to . . . Work with local people. Help them with the basic necessities of their lives.
Sounds like it's time for you to de-emigrate, eh wot, Amir?
September 25, 2008 1:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe some other time. Last time I looked the Iraqis and Afghans were fighting to expel the foreigners. They also are having trouble distinguishing between those who are spreading their reforms out of a barrel of a gun and those who come with peace in their heart. Actually, I don't think they care if there is a difference between the two.
We should just realize that if we really wanted to help those people, the best we can do today is leave them alone.
September 25, 2008 3:22 PM | Reply | Permalink