BuddhistCatholicContemplativeEvangelicalGeneral ChristianHinduJewishLatter-day SaintMuslimNew VisionsProgressive Christian
Beliefs
- Buddhist
- Catholic
- Contemplative
- Evangelical
- General Christian
- Hindu
- Jewish
- Latter-day Saint
- More Voices
- Muslim
- New Visions
- Pagan
- Progressive Christian
Topics
- Religion News
- Food and Religion
- Sports and Religion
- Religious Art
- Religious Music and Entertainment
- Religious Events
- History and Religion
- Style and Religion
- Politics and Religion
- Women in Religion
- Recreation Outdoors and Religion
- Business Finance and Religion
- Careers Workplace and Religion
- Education and Religion
- Family Parenting and Religion
- Health Fitness and Religion
- Home and Religion
- Relationships and Religion
- Technology and Religion
- Travel and Religion
Columnists
- Buddhist Columnists
- Business Finance and Religion Columnists
- Careers Workplace and Religion Columnists
- Catholic Columnists
- Contemplative Columnists
- Education and Religion Columnists
- Evangelists Columnists
- Family Parenting and Religion Columnists
- General Christian Columnists
- Health Fitness and Religion Columnists
- Hindu Columnists
- History and Religion Columnists
- Home and Religion Columnists
- Jewish Columnists
- More Voices Columnists
- Latter Day Columnists
- Muslim Columnists
- New Visions Columnists
- Nonreligious Columnists
- Pagan Columnists
- Politics and Religion Columnists
- Progressive Columnists
- Recreation Outdoors and Religion Columnists
- Relationships and Religion Columnists
- Religion News Columnists
- Religious Art Columnists
- Religious Events Columnists
- Religious Music and Entertainment Columnists
- Sports and Religion Columnists
- Style and Religion Columnists
- Technology and Religion Columnists
- Travel and Religion Columnists
- Women in Religion Columnists
Resource Library
- 2026 Calendar
- Library of World Religions
- The 100 Most Holy Places on Earth
- Patheos Answers
- Podcasts
- Videos
- Faith Leaders Database
- Anglican Episcopalian
- Bahai
- Baptist
- Buddhism
- Christianity
- Confucianism
- Eastern Orthodoxy
- Hinduism
- Holiness and Pentecostal
- ISKCON
- Islam
- Judaism
- Lutheran
- Methodist
- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
- New Age
- Paganism
- Presbytarian and Reformed
- Protestantism
- Religion Behind the Scenes
- Roman Catholic
- Scientology
- Shia Islam
- Sikhism
- Sufism
- Sunni Islam
- Taoism
- Zen
- See all religions
Research Tools
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support
Follow Patheos 
- Trending:
- Forgiveness
- |
- Marriage
- |
- Consciousness
- |
- Death Penalty
- |
- Election
- |
- Halloween
- Home
- Evangelical
- Politics and Religion
- “One life” how to make yours count: Pro-life for refugees
“One life” how to make yours count: Pro-life for refugees
Last updated on: June 5, 2024 at 2:01 pm by Adrian Warnock
“One life” how to make yours count: Pro-life for refugees 2024-06-05T14:01:38+01:00 Adrian Warnock
Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.
This inspiring film demonstrates the difference one life can make to our World.
The latest film stating Anthony Hopkins as Sir Nicholas ‘Nicky’ Winton ought to have a profound effect on you. I can’t remember the last time a movie moved me to tears as much as this one. The movie flips between his anguish as an old man that he couldn’t save more children and back to his activities just before the start of World War 2. He personally rescued 669 predominantly Jewish children from the Nazis in Prague. Once the war started and the trains stoped, the nazis took 15,000 children from Czechoslovakia into camps. Less than 150 survived.
The film also covers one of the most remarkable pieces of TV ever filmed when in 1988 The BBC’s Esther Rantzen reintroduced Sir Nicholas to a number of people he saved as a child. You can watch the original footage in the BBC archives.
But there’s a certain irony in me writing this article. Many of us today we will get outraged about terrible situations across the world. We may even decide to write about it. But tweeting (are we meant to call it x-ing now?), facebooking, or blogging alone makes little to no difference.
What will you and I actually do to change this world for the better?
Why are so many who say they are Christians today known for being antagonistic towards refugees or indeed other needy people?
Christians are known for being “pro-life” or anti abortion. The arguments used to support this viewpoint are that every human being is made in the image of God and therefore has inherent value and should be protected even if they are helpless and can’t return our help. But somehow this isn’t always applied to people once they are born.
Many Christians are right wing and seem to believe that Individuals should somehow look after themselves even when they clearly can’t. Free healthcare for all is seen as a communist threat by many evangelicals in America whilst the rest of the developed world look on aghast at the thought of people not being able of afford life saving medicine. And of course when we are talking about refugees which is the subject of the One Life film, even less sympathy is felt towards them by many of us.
Why is there so much hostility towards those who are escaping war and other forms of persecution today? As Christians we should value everyone.
Many Christians today have rejected the centrality of reaching out to promote social justice. Their concern is that if we focus too much on caring for the poor and oppressed then we risk making that our main aim and hence deny the Gospel. According to this view the emphasis of the church should be solely on preaching about individuals getting right with God. This view of the Gospel becomes so wedded to Western Individualism, that many claim Christians should not overly concern themselves with the suffering of the poor and oppressed.
If we do find a poor and needy person and teach them to follow Jesus, so the argument goes, then they will be lifted out of their poverty as a natural byproduct**.** Though few would go so far as to say this explicitly, there is an implicit assumption that poverty and its associated suffering is caused almost entirely by the victims own sin. In fact some would be uncomfortable even with calling the poor and oppressed victims at all, out of fear that would lead to the poor seeing themselves solely as the sinned against, rather than a sinner themselves.
How can we look a hungry man or woman in the eye and say “God loves you” but not feed them as a demonstration of this?
But there has always been a differing view among many godly evangelicals. According to this view the gospel itself is an announcement of social justice. It is the declaration that the Righteous ruler of the universe has seen the suffering of this world and has entered into it to put things right. According to this view demonstrating the love and justice of God requires us to see the needs of the suffering and alleviate them, demonstrating the love of God in practical ways.
How can we claim that we are proclaiming the love of God without putting that love into action?
When JESUS announced HIS gospel it was all about social justice:
He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and fsat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture ihas been fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:17-21)
Jesus was the child of a single mother (although Mary did marry Joseph after his birth).
He came to a relatively poor obscure village.
He gathered to himself manual workers, not the educated elite. None of the twelve had a theological decree between them.
Tax collectors, Samaritans, women, and even a prostitute were welcomed by him.
Jesus’ enemies were the kinds of religious scholars that today would be so embarrassed to read those words that they would try and over-spitualise them and explain away the notion that Jesus came to set things right for the oppressed. Jesus warns us that how we treat those who are less fortunate than ourselves will be part of his criteria for the final judgement of the world:
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne . . . Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’44 Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:31-46)
Throughout church history many Christians have been known for ACTION on behalf of the poor, needy, and sick. We have a glorious history of feeding the hungry, most recently through food banks, establishing hospitals, the hospice movement, early AIDS charities, debt advice, addiction counselling, and a myriad of other things. Why would we want to leave all that behind us?
Read more about Jesus’s gospel of Social Justice.
Compassion Fatigue
There is another reason why we do not reach out and make a difference in this world. It is easy to think that so many are suffering that there is nothing any of us can do to really make a difference. We find ourselves lacking in compassion because there is so much suffering in the world that it feels overwhelming and even if we want to make a difference we do not know where to start.
This sense of helplessness and being overwhelmed stops us from even starting to do anything. But I am sure Sir Nicky didn’t start out wanting to save so many kids, rather he wanted to do whatever he could to help the kids he was meeting. If he had only saved one child that is still one person made in the image of God that he had helped.
The question we should be asking ourselves is whoo has God put right in front of us today that we can make a difference to? Even if it a small step like smiling at someone who looks depressed or stopping and talking to a homeless person to see how we could help them connect to the help they need.
Queen Elizabeth who after her death is often described as “the Great” was actually an advocate for this idea of helping individuals, as she put it “doing small things with great love”
Even those who want to help others often feel compassion fatigue. The Human body is not meant to carry the burdens of the whole world. One of the effects of the pandemic, the Ukraine war, and the conflict in Gaza and Israel has been to numb us to the fate of others. This leads to a lack of compassion towards others and many now find it difficult to either watch the news or even talk with others about their own personal problems. We find it difficult to then obey what is fast becoming one of my favourite passages in the whole Bible:
Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important. (Gal 6:2-3, NLT)
When done right, sharing someone else’s burdens will often include them sharing your burdens too. Unfortunately the NIV and the ESV both translate a word in a way which we can then critically get wrong in this passage. They encourage us to do something I do not believe Jesus ever intended us to “BEAR” or “CARRY” other peoples burdens. There is a world of difference between the two ideas.
The Greek word means “to endure something unpleasant or difficult whether on one’s own behalf or on behalf of someone else.” (Logos Bible Software Factbook). I read into that a sense of taking on the problem but not so fully that you are now the one carrying it alone and the original person with the problem is absolved of all responsibility for it. So the image we should think of is of being yoked together in the sense that we are saying “We are in this together, you are not alone, but I will help YOU carry this, I will help YOU figure out what to do about this.”
Read more about how to bear other peoples burdens without carrying them.
So what is the solution? It is to recognise that we cannot save the world, and there will always be people we can’t help. But the solution is NOT to decide to do nothing to help anyone as a result. Too many are becoming even more individualistic since COVID and war filled our news channels. The correct solution is to look for the small steps that we can do to make a difference, perhaps just with one or two people God puts across our path. Sometimes those small things will lead you to start something a bit bigger like it did for Sir Nicky, but actually if you remember that whatever you do for the lowest most neediest person you are actually doing it for Christ, then you will approach each encounter with the attitude that your own life can make a huge difference.
“One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed boy picking up and gently throwing things into the ocean.
Approaching the boy he asked, “Young man, what are you doing?”
“Throwing starfish back into the ocean. The surf is up, and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die,” the boy replied.
The man laughed to himself and said, “Do you realize there are miles of miles of beach and hundreds of starfish? You can’t make any difference.”
After listening politely, the boy bent down to pick up another starfish and threw it into the surf. Then, he smiled at the man and said, “I made a difference to that one.”
Learn More
Compassion fatigue, the Saviour complex, and Benevolent detachment
Trailer for the One Life Movie
General Christian
Politics and Religion
History and Religion
About Adrian Warnock
Adrian Warnock
Medical doctor · Published author · Patheos writer since 2003
I have always lived within sixty miles of London, UK where I studied, worked and worshipped for thirty years. I began writing for this Patheos blog in April 2003, making it one of the longest-running individual columns on the Christian Internet. My writing here, on Substack, and in my books is influenced by my medical training, eight years of working as a psychiatrist in the UK’s National Health Service (NHS), eighteen years working in medical research in the pharmaceutical industry, twenty-five years of serving as a pastoral leader in a growing multicultural church, and a difficult decade of lived experience with chronic illness, including blood cancer, and the unexpected losses, including early retirement, that resulted.
Together, these all shape a biopsychosocial-spiritual approach which I first wrote about on Patheos in 2013. This model offers us hope, compassion, and healing in all life’s challenges. This holistic approach is based on the idea that all truth is God’s truth.
At times, since my illness, my faith has been faint. I wondered if this was the end of my story. I was not strong enough to live for Jesus the way I wanted to. I could not change myself. And then hope reminded me: The resurrection of Jesus changes everything. Just not all at once. Healing takes time. Compassion and patience sustain us over a lifetime of change. I aim to approach suffering with hope and compassion, and address tough questions including:
-
What does Jesus’ resurrection mean for you?
Raised With Christ: How the Resurrection Changes Everything (Crossway, 2010; 2nd edition, Amazon, 2025)
-
Why is change so difficult? What causes the resistance?
The Traitor Within: Understanding and Healing Our Deceitful Hearts (Amazon, 2026)
-
Why is change so slow? How does grace lead us over a lifetime?
Amazing Grace: How Faith Grows in the Human Heart (Amazon, 2026)
-
How do you become a Christian? Can you know if you really are one?
Hope Reborn: How to Become a Christian and Live for Jesus Co-authored with Tope Koleoso (Christian Focus, 2014)
Qualifications
I qualified with an MB BS from the University of London (equivalent to an MD in the United States), hold postgraduate qualifications in psychiatry (MRCPsych) and pharmaceutical medicine (MFFM, DipPharmMed), and took theological training courses run by Newfrontiers.
Connect With me
- Substack: adrianwarnock.substack.com (the best way to ask questions)
- Twitter/X: @adrianwarnock
- Facebook: Adrian Warnock
- Email: [email protected] (I may not be able to respond to every message)
You can read more about the author here.
Previous Post
January 19, 2024
Doctor, blogger, preacher, author, father, medical director
Next Post
January 27, 2024 Avoiding holocaust attitudes still common today
Recent Comments
"Atheism is no more a single worldview than theism is a single worldview. Both however ..."
Thank God Atheists Do Not Live ..."
"Athiests believe in love, most reject God because of the God depicted in the old ..."
Thank God Atheists Do Not Live ..."
"Have a read of some history, and you will find that your views are not ..."
Thank God Atheists Do Not Live ..."
"You act like Christians invented basic human decency. Here's a news flash: Humans thrived for ..."
Thank God Atheists Do Not Live ..."
Browse Our Archives
Select a Category 1 and 2 Corinthians 1 and 2 Thessalonians 1 and 2 Timothy 1 John 300 Leaders A Life of Joy Abortion Acts of the Apostles Adrian on radio Adrian on TV Adrian's Story Albert Mohler Amazing Grace Arminocalvinist Spectrum Assurance Atonement Atonement Series Attributes of God Barnabas Best of the Blog Bible Bible Software Bible Translation Biblical Inerrancy Billy Graham Bob Roberts Books C. J. Mahaney Calvinism Cessationism Charis Warnock Charismatic Spectrum Charles Simeon Charles Spurgeon Church Leadership Colossians Complementarian - Egalitarian Spectrum Complementarianism Conferences Culture Daniel Debates Deuteronomy DGM08 DGM13 Discernment Doctrine Don Carson Ed Stetzer Eddy Leo Ephesians ESV Bible Translators Interview Evangelism in a Post-Christian World evolution Exodus Expository Preaching Ezekial Faith and Feelings Family Florida Galatians General Genesis Get Wisdom - Proverbs sermons Gifts of The Holy Spirit Gifts of the Holy Spirit 2006 Global Faith Forum Godly Attitudes Gospel Gospels Grace Greg Haslam Grudem vs Piper: The Baptism Debate Healing Heaven Hell and Rob Bell Hebrews Henry Tyler Henry Warnock Holy Spirit Holy Spirit Baptism Hope Reborn Hugh Palmer Irresistable Grace Isaiah J. I. Packer Jack Hayford Joel Joel Warnock John John Lanferman John MacArthur John Newton John Owen John Piper John Smyth Jonathan Edwards Josh Harris Justification Justin Taylor Kenneth Ulmer Leadership Leadership Lessons from 1 & 2 Samuel Lex Loizides Liam Goligher Lig Duncan Limited Atonement Lou Fellingham Mark Dever Mark Driscoll Martyn Lloyd-Jones Matt Chandler Mental Health Missionary Methods: St Paul’s or Ours? My Story N. T. Wright Nehemiah NWA08 NWA09 NWA10 Opinion OT History Books Pentateuch Personal Personal Revival Philippians PJ Smyth Podcast Politics Preaching Prophecy Proverbs Psalms Raised With Christ Reformed Charismatic Regeneration Relationships Resurrection Resurrection & Salvation Revival Rice Broocks Rich Man and Lazarus Rick Warren Rob Rufus Roland Allen Romans Sam Storms Sanctification Series Sermons Sermons on Philippians Serving Jesus at Work Sexuality Sin St Paul Steve Chalke Strange Fire Suffering T4G T4G Statement TAB09 Tamasin Warnock Teamwork Terry Virgo The Atonement Debate - Chalke book The Soulwinner The Spirit-Filled Church The Traitor Within Theologcial Spectrums Theosis Tim Challies Tim Keller Titus TOAM06 TOAM07 TOAM08 TOAM09 TOAM10 TOAM11 Todd Bentley Tope Koleoso Total Depravity Video Water Baptism Wayne Grudem Worship
Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 May 2025 April 2025 January 2025 November 2024 October 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 August 2023 May 2023 April 2023 February 2023 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 August 2021 May 2021 April 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 January 2019 December 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 June 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 June 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003
Follow Us!
TAKE THE
Religious Wisdom Quiz
What did Pharaoh’s daughter find floating in the river?
Select your answer to see how you score.
Baby Moses A scroll A golden idol A fish
Books by This Author Books by Adrian Warnock
Related posts from Adrian Warnock
"As I read John Newton, he reminds me...
The Andy Burnham Bounce is Real. What next...
Why I Love Bluebells, an English Wild Flower
GOP Congressman says Trump is Almost the Second...
TRENDING AT PATHEOS Evangelical
How the author of the world's best hymn...
I've been working with John Newton for a while now. This makes...
Long before this Lectio Divina, Psalm 130 - the song - started...
What About the Trees? Another Living Parable
After I finished writing the last article about falling leaves as a...
Why Classical Education Is a Conversation, Not a...
Come and Read: Joy in Classical Education When I was a little...
Falling Leaves: A Living Parable on Letting Go
I’ve spent the vast majority of my life in the southeast corner...
Cornell University has received a great deal of negative publicity and intense...
view all Evangelical blogs
What Are Your Thoughts?leave a comment
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support
- About Us
- 2026 Calendar
- Videos
- Podcasts
- Library of World Religions
- Faith In Media Tracker
- Advertise With Us
- Write for Us
- Privacy Policy
- Terms of Service
- Do Not Sell My Data
- Contact Us
- Radiant Digital
- Manage Newsletter Subscriptions
- Unsubscribe From Notifications
- Sitemap
Copyright 2008-2026, Patheos. All rights reserved.
Subscription Support Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In
Follow Patheos