We Can Provide Clean Water All Day, But if They Never Receive the Gospel....

Some of my dear friends are missionaries in a poor country.  They host short-term groups, particularly in the summer when youth groups are looking for a way to serve others and provide a learning experience outside of the normal comfort zone of American teenagers.  In the past ten or so years, many groups are seeking to provide clean water to people living in third world conditions. 

In the Bible, Jesus expresses that "the poor will always be with you," and although Mother Theresa took that to mean that we will ALWAYS have an obligation to help the poor, most people take it to mean that sometimes you just can't do enough because there are too many poor people, and you will NEVER solve all of their problems.  My friend seems to hold that view. 

She sees people come down, put in a water system, give trinkets to the lucky citizens who happen to be nearby at the time, and then go back to the comforts of home.  She expressed her frustration, saying, "We can provide clean water all day long, but if they never receive the gospel, they are still going to hell!"  My friend feels the importance of the afterlife.  Who cares about today's conditions when these people are not bound for heaven in eternity?  What is a little discomfort and dirty water in this life, compared with an eternity of thirst in the fires of hell?  Well, put like that, I'd rather be thirsty for a few or 50 more years and then be assured that I would never thirst again.  Give me the living water, and don't waste your time cleaning up my dirty well!

But what if we're wrong.  I mean, we can say all day that we have assurance of our salvation, but there's just no proof.  What if our religion is wrong?  What if this life is all we get?  And what if as a missionary, I have spent all of my time providing a message of an afterlife, but I have neglected to provide creature comforts to the only life these people will get? 

See, I'm starting to get the uncomfortable sense that athiests make much better "missionaries."  Without a hope of eternity, with a view that our 50, 70, 80 years is all we get, there's an urgency to help those in need!  It may never get any better than what they are experiencing right now!  How can we, as whatever religion we are, fail to help in any way possible?  How can we not provide medical assistance to those who are ill or injured?  How can we not send money to Aid organizations?  How can we not sponsor a child in a third world country, providing food, shelter, education, and hope of a better life?  When we stop assuming that these people need to have their theology just so in order to experience heaven, we can look at them as finite humans who need our help now!  And ultimately, we become better citizens, more caring and compassionate people, as a result.