Cedars, January 2019

H ello. Nice to meet you. I am a middle-class, white American woman. Growing up, I always had something to eat, presents on Christmas morning, sweaters for the winter, and nowmy parents have a house in the suburbs. I’m attending college, a monstrous expense, without worrying (too much) about how it will affect my future. I have an American passport which allows me into most of the world’s coun- tries if I can just afford the plane ticket to go. I am a native English speaker, which means I can walk into any establish- ment from a restaurant in Israel to the U.N. General Assembly and expect to be understood. I can say that I have never felt hunger or thirst for longer than a few hours unless I was intentionally fasting. Food has never been a paramount concern. I have never, ever wondered if I will go hungry. I have never, ever struggled to find somewhere to sleep. I have two jobs which pay me moderately well — enough to afford a $5 latte once a week, my textbooks for my classes and small luxuries. All of this means that I am wealthy — considering that 10 percent of the world’s population lives on less than $1.90 a day, according to the World Bank. The number of Americans living under the poverty line in 2017 was 39.7 million. On the global scale, I am exorbitantly wealthy. Why is this important? Jesus said that it is harder for a cam- el to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Is this because it is evil to be rich? (I’ve debated that question for days, but I certainly can’t give an au- thoritative “yes,” so we’ll give a tentative “no.” I still think that if you can afford things like jumbo jets and yachts, you have a large amount of excess money to give to the starving.) It is because, I believe, it is impossible for a rich man to recognize his need for God, without divine intervention from the Holy Spirit. Because ... It is incredibly difficult to see miracles if everything is pro- vided for you. If you have no need for the Lord to provide for you the way he does for the birds of the air and the lilies of the field, if you are completely self-sufficient in your nourishment and safety, you have precious little room to see God provide for you. Maybe our hearts are so hardened to miracles because we have become our own miracle-makers. I am not saying you should sell everything you have as God commanded the man in Matthew 19. I’m just posing a question and a challenge: Let’s situate ourselves in a global context and wonder how much we really need, and whether, in our individ- ualism and self-sufficiency, we are leaving no room for God to work. I am not arguing that it is a sin to have nice things. Sure- ly everything you have has been provided for by a loving and generous God. I am only arguing that our lack of need for Him physically may be contributing to our lack of need for Him spiri- tually — we should think about how to fix that. God commands us to care for and identify with the poor among us. James even calls this “true religion.” So how do we do that, instead of just looking at PowerPoint slides of starving chil- dren, feeling sympathetic, donating some money and returning to our air-conditioned dorm rooms? You don’t need to go to central Africa to see the poor. Go out to the city center in Dayton. In my time in Valencia, some of the best conversations I had were with the homeless. I watched a man take the food we brought and cheerfully portion it out for the cats, because “they need to eat too.” The face of Jesus, the character of Jesus, is there with the needy. We need a revolution, church. We need to be saved from our wealth. We need to feel a true need for God — if not physically starving, then spiritually starving. I’ll close with a quote that’s been bothering me for several weeks: “How can you worship a homeless man on Sunday morning and then ignore another homeless man in the street on Monday?” Alexandria Hentschel is a junior International Studies and Span- ish double major and the Off-Campus news editor for Cedars. She enjoys old books, strong coffee, and honest debate. January 2019 3 What’s it like being newly married? Keegan D’Alfonso Cedars Editor-in-Chief In the past month of being married I have received one question more than any other. “How’s married life?” or something along those lines. It seems like a benign question. It is certainly an awkward question. How does one answer such a question? Normally, I will say “it’s good, but a bit of an adjustment.” To be honest I don’t give the question justice, but to be fair it is a poor question. Marriage is an amazing gift that is meant to display Christ and His church. But it is also the union of two sinful people becoming one flesh. If you think dealing with your own sins are rough, try merging them with the sins of another. Don’t get me wrong. I love being married, but suddenly living with someone and knowing it’s for life means you’re both going to have to put some serious mileage on your communication skills and fill up on a lot of grace if you haven’t already. Nothing has been more rewarding and more challenging in my spiritual growth and movement to Christ-likeness than being married. And that’s only in the last month! I look forward to, God willing, the many years to come as we grow old together. If I were to answer the question of “How’s married life?” with the respect it deserves, I’d have to say that it reminds me every day of my need for Christ and forces me to rely less on myself. My wife and I must now share our burdens more than ever before. And the greatest challenge is not supporting your spouse with their burdens but trusting your spouse with your own. Just Sayin’ ... Alex Hentschel Poverty and the Gospel BEOC (Big Event On Campus) W inter P lay - ‘A ppointment with D eath ’ Jan 31 - Feb 10, DeVries Theatre Cedarville’s theatre department puts on one of Agatha Christie’s most suspenseful plays, which begins with a group of tourists visiting the ancient town of Petra in Jordan.