ANDREW RICHDALE
Staff Writer
As a high school freshman, I was involved in a program at a Baptist church in Florida that had the primary goal of converting individuals in need. Before going out into the community, we learned tactics and strategies to maximize the volume of conversions. On one occasion, my group leader told me to witness to a homeless man by handing him a track, “Sharing the Good News.” This command deeply disturbed me.
In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus places an ethnic and theological enemy of the Jews, a Samaritan, on a pedestal and urges us to love and care above all else for those we encounter.
Samaritan’s Purse, an organization founded by Bob Pierce and headed by Franklin Graham, son of Christian mega-star evangelist Billy Graham, began in 1970. Pierce’s mission was “to meet the emergency needs in crisis areas through existing evangelical mission agencies and national churches.”
The group helps domestic and international victims of natural disasters, war, poverty and famine by providing temporary shelter, food, water, medical attention and clothing. The group’s programs include Operation Christmas Child, HIV/AIDS Prescription for Hope and many other effective relief efforts. Volunteers have also been instrumental in helping those affected by Hurricane Katrina.
The widespread efforts of Samaritan’s Purse have been invaluable by caring for the sick, needy and devastated people around the world.
While I applaud the organization for all the good work it does, its “most important mission is to provide spiritual help by proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ.”
Psychologist Abraham Maslow placed physiological needs, such as nutrition and physical comfort, as the foundation of his famous hierarchy of needs. Maslow said it was impossible for an individual to focus on any other need — spiritual, mental or emotional — if these physiological needs were not met first.
“Love God and love, thy neighbor — this is the sum of the Law and the Prophets. Everything else is doctrine, dogma, theological exercises, and secondary,” said Religion Professor Bob Cargill about the context of the parable of the Good Samaritan. “We wanna get them in water, to baptize them, when what they need is a cup of cold water to drink.”
My high school church program was wrong because the man I came across did not need “to be saved.” He just needed a can of pop and a slice of pizza. The program only worked to proselytize and convert, to earn more badges for the spiritual boy-scout vest.
I would urge everyone to seek out those suffering and aid them in every way possible. Definitely spread the good news to all, but our first motivation in helping those with needs should be to care for the essentials. Theology can come later because love is the essence of Christianity. It is not always what you think, but it is always what you do. Feed the hungry and clothe the poor, as Christ commanded, because these are acts of love.
09-15-2005