The land called India, with the immensity of its need, cries out for our hearts.
As of May 11, 2000 the population of India officially reached one billion—not one billion statistics but one billion souls for whom Christ died. I cannot take it in. It doesn’t compute. I read the numbers but what do they mean? Augustine of Hippo wrote, “We must not despise the science of numbers. That science is of eminent service to the careful interpreter.” But how would he interpret these numbers?
Approximately 340 million Indians are under the age of 15. Ten thousand children a day die of starvation (while millions of shrines receive their daily food). Child prostitution is rampant—in Bombay alone there are over 100,000 prostitutes, most of them minors. There are 3.2 million lepers, 10 million blind (one quarter of the world total), 60 million deaf. While one of the largest countries in the world with an area of 1,269,219 square miles (3,287,263 sq. km.), by any standard large areas of India are now overpopulated. From a population of just under 300 million in 1900, it increases at about 1800 per hour! The second edition of The World Christian Encyclopedia, just released, describes conditions:
India’s huge and growing population magnifies every human need and problem into Himalaya-like proportions. With a growth rate of 1.8% annually, the people added to the country every year equal the population of Australia. India’s carrying capacity has been estimated at no more than 300 million, so that, in effect, over 600 million are not being properly fed, clothed, or housed.…Illiteracy is estimated at 48% nationally, but in certain areas…it is as high as 87%. Life expectancy is 64 years but a variety of diseases ravage the impoverished villagers, cutting their productive years to no more than 40. Per capita income is $240 but there are hordes of unemployed in the cities who eke out their daily lives on less than 10 cents a day. The daily calorie supply is 2,229, but the average diet is so deficient in vital nutrients and proteins that it can be described as only little better than fasting.…Nearly 41% of the urban population and 51% of the rural population live below the poverty level. This means that the majority of Indians live in unrelieved misery all their lives (p. 361).
These conditions exist in spite of one of the best systems of higher education in the world, a flourishing industrial base (10th largest in the world), and a reasonably good infrastructure. And the worst of it is this: That after these millions “live in unrelieved misery all their lives” for most of them a hopeless eternity awaits.
How do you grasp the thought of India? These one billion people live in a land that is home to sixteen major languages and hundreds of minor ones, thousands of ethnic groups, and scores of religions. It would seem to me that India, like any other country, must be understood one person at a time. Statistics may expose the enormity of the challenge, but each soul, in God’s book, is worth more than the whole world. Then where do we begin?
We can plead for India: We need to be informed about the land, the workers, the challenges. We need to pray large prayers to our mighty and generous God. How He loves boldness in faith mixed with a passion for souls. William Carey wrote just before arriving in India in 1793: “A large field opens on every side, and millions tormented by ignorance, superstition, and idolatry plead with every heart that loves God. Oh, that many laborers may be thrust into the vineyard, and the Gentiles come to the knowledge of the Truth!”
We can give for India: No doubt there are beggars and charlatans aplenty who will try to tap into Western Christian giving. And we must be wary of doing damage with our money. But that doesn’t mean there are no viable ways to invest in the work of God in India. If done wisely, our resources can be multiplied a hundred-fold due to the low cost of goods and services there.
If nothing else, we should weep for India. May God help our often over-indulgent, self-absorbed, easily-distracted Western hearts to beat a little more like His heart of whom it was written: “When He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion…because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd” (Mt. 9:36).