How did I come to join this movement?
It started with concerns about the growing world population, which seemed to me like an exponential instability. My first memory of these numbers dates back to the 60s. It is the number of 3.5 billion earthlings. Now there are 7. 7 billion (11/2019), the number has more than doubled. If it went on like this, we’d have 15 billion in 50 years. But the facts speak a different language. According to the book “Factfulness“ by Hans Rosling, we expect a saturation of the growth at the next turn of the century at about 11 billion. But that will still be 3. 3 billion more, and that’s mainly happening in Africa. But the tenor of the book is, for example, “It will all settle itself by itself“, “It will all be fine,“ and “Don’t worry”. As a Christian, I think that this in a way is true.
But:
- God has given us human beings the command “to subdue this earth“ (1 Mo 1:28). By that he did not mean that we should destroy it, but on the contrary that we should deal with it sensibly. And humanity doesn’t do that anymore. So I felt that God was telling me to do everything I could to stop it. Many Christians unfortunately think differently and see the world problems as predicted by the Bible and as a sign of Christ’s imminent return. We’ll be taken care of in heaven. Unfortunately this has not happened for 2000 years now and Jesus has not come back yet. So shouldn`t we do something after all?
- The highest commandment according to Jesus is: Love God with all your heart. . . and your neighbour as yourself (Mk 12:29-31). It is a commandment against any egoism, be it capitalist or nationalist. When things get critical and bad times come, you naturally think of yourself, your family, your state. But with this commandment, we may be able to think globally.
- I’ve been a happy grandpa since 2018. My grandson will be a little over 80 in 2100 – God willing – and I don’t want him to accuse me of doing nothing to save his living conditions. It may not affect us anymore, but it does affect our children and grandchildren. So let’s do something!
- Christian churches, if they remembered their central message of bringing the gospel to the whole world, could participate in the salvation of the world and use their influence to motivate and empower people to stop the destruction. Perhaps then young people will come into our churches again more frequently.
But now to a brief description of the current global world problems –> or right to the solution.
Translated by Hartmut and Paula Schäffer