The following details gathered from a variety of supposedly reliable sources help put our own life situations in world perspective.
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If the world’s population were shrunk to a village containing 100 people with present human ratios remaining as now, the human village would contain 57 Asians, 21 Europeans, 14 people from the Americas (North, Central and South) and 8 Africans. Of the 100 villagers, 70 would be non-white. Sixty-six would be non-Christian (22 Muslims, 15 Hindus, 14 non-religious, 6 Buddhists, 9 other) while 34 would profess Christianity (18 Roman Catholics, 7 Protestants, 4 Orthodox and 5 other).
Only one person in this village would have a college education. One villager would be near birth and one would be near death. Six people would possess half the wealth of the total village, all six of them from the United States. Meanwhile, 80 villagers would live in substandard housing, 30 would not be able to read and 50 would suffer from malnutrition.
All of us reading this have much for which to be thankful and also much for which to be accountable as stewards of God’s bounty. What would happen if all professing Christians took seriously Jesus’ teaching about the proper use of money? What could happen if wealthy countries (and wealthy rulers of poor countries) set a priority on supplying basic human needs to all human beings? Imagine a world in which national goals, individual greatness and personal success were measured by good done for others. How do these thoughts make us feel? Why?
