Judgment

Pax Et Bonum

The Bible says that we are to join Christ in judging mankind. (ICor 6:2 -Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts?)
This got me to thinking. Will all the saints judge all the people? Will all the saints be of one mind like Christ tells us to be. Or will each saint be a judge over another individual?

But who will judge who? Some interesting scenarios come to mind.

Starving children in Africa judge rich Christians from western Europe and America?
Muslims judge Christians from the Crusades?
Jews judge Nazis?
Blacks judge whites?
Parents judge children who abused them in old age?
Children judge parents who abused them as youths?

We know they will be judged according to their deeds (Rev. 20:12-13 - And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is [the book] of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.), as we all will. But who will judge the "saints"?

Considering all the oppression that the church has wrought over the last 2000 years, who will their judges be? Will all the victims of Christianity, be they forced converts, victims of the crusades or inquisition, or the myriad of current victims of the politicized, national religion of American evangelicalism, end up being the ones who judge the saints. I think not. In the end, all will be judged by God's standard, regardless of who actually does the judging. That means people will be judged by one standard, not Pat Robertson's, not George Bush's, not Jesse Jackson's, but God's. And from what I can see of God's standard, it is based on love. Not bullets, bibles, idealogy, race, religion, orientation, height, weight, riches, or any of the other things that religious people (whether they will admit it or not) seem to place so much importance on.

So, if you want to stand in good with the Lord, just love. It's not easy, but it is possible with the grace of God and it rewarding in the end.

WHY???

Pax Et Bonum

I just saw a quick fact on the EWTN Rome Reports that 11 million children die each year from hunger. It then asked how much each Catholic would have to give in order to prevent this. The answer was $2.30. $2.30!!! So, being the analytical person I am, I ran the numbers. Currently there are around 1.1 billion Catholics in the world. That works out to $2.53 billion. It also works out to:
US Population - 275 million - $9.20 each
Christians in world - 2.1 billion - $1.20 each
Christians in US - 224.4 million - $11.27 each
Catholics in world - 1.1 billion - $2.30 each
Catholics in US - 64.8 million - $39.04 each

So as you can see, if you look at the largest amount, if each catholic in just the US gave $50 for feeding poor children, that would raise enough money to feed each of those 11 million who die plus feeding those who barely have enoungh. But the problem isn't just on the giving end, but also on the distribution end. Plenty of food has been sent to starving people in the past only to be stolen by corrupt governments, destroyed by those who want to kill off a group of people or just want the starvation to continue in an attept to destablize the current government, or gone unused due to poor distribution or lack of desire for it because of rumors spread that say it is really poisoned, usually by those seeking genocide or destabilization.

So, give what you can to a reputable charity whom you are sure can actually get the aid to those who need it. And just as importantly, pray for those who are starving, those who are working to distribute it, and for the aid that is given to reach those who need it unobstructed.