As most of you are probably aware, today the End It Movement launched a social media campaign for its supporters to quiet their voices on social media just as the voices of the 27 million people enslaved today, more people than have ever been enslaved in history, are silent.
I fully support the End It movement (and made a donation to the cause at Passion 2013). I also don't think anyone who has decided to silence themselves on social media today thinks that they're ending slavery by not tweeting - it's all about the awareness of the cause. But I thought that today, instead of quieting my voice on social media, I'm going to raise my voice and speak for these slaves whose voices have been silenced by modern day slavery.
With friends at Passion 2013 after we made donations to End It!
I think a lot of people have a problem with the cause because it was launched by Christians (which I'll address later). However, the fact of the matter is that this isn't just a Christian cause - it's a humanitarian cause that anyone and everyone should at least be aware of. What we're fighting here is sex trafficking, forced labor, child labor, generational slavery (when people are working off their great-great-gradfathers' debts that will never, ever be paid), and general injustice.
Last night when people were posting statuses and tweets about going quiet on social media for today, it seemed like for every post supporting the cause, there was a post making fun of the cause. So I got mad. And I got frustrated. And I got upset. Because factually speaking, many of the non-profits that End It supports are actively liberating people who are enslaved, rehabilitating former victims of human trafficking, and prosecuting traffickers.
As I was getting upset by the influx of negative tweets about a cause that I believe in (and have believed in since Passion 2012, over a year ago, when I first learned about how big of an issue human trafficking is right now), about ready to post my own argumentative tweets firing back at those who were, basically, mocking the cause, I came across this passage of scripture:
Instead of arguing (or posting passive aggressive tweets), I think it's much more productive to try to educate (or as the scripture passage above says, "gently instruct") on the causes that the End It Movement supports!
23 Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. 24 And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful.25 Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will. (2 Timothy 2:23-26, NIV)
This certainly isn't all the causes that End It supports, but this gives a general idea of the GOOD that these organizations are doing.
International Justice Mission (link to their website): The International Justice Mission seeks four outcomes on behalf of the people they serve - victim relief (immediate relief for victims suffering abuse/slavery), perpetrator accountability (prosecuting human traffickers), survivor aftercare (helping survivors of trafficking rebuild their lives), and structural transformation (to help deter traffickers from committing crimes). You can read more about their causes on their website.
The A21 Campaign (link to their website): Their four main goals are prevention, protection (giving refuge to those rescued from slavery), prosecution, and partnerships (partnering with law enforcement and communities to ensure that the needs of rescued victims are met).
Free the Slaves (link to their website): This organization works on the frontlines of liberating slaves and giving them refuge once they have been freed. They also do research on how to create a world that doesn't depend on slavery. Read more on their website!
These organizations and SO MANY MORE are actively fighting this cause, and that's where the money that End It Movement raises goes.
So now that you've made it this far into this lengthy blog post, here's what I have to say to the naysayers. Many of you (not all, but many) seem to have a problem with the cause rooted in A) the church and B) the failure of Kony 2012, or so it seems. I won't get into the issues with the Kony campaign because we all know them. And now that you've seen a little bit about what the organizations End It supports, you know that they don't have the same issues that Invisible Children does.
So since that Kony stuff is out of the way (and seems like a pretty fallacious argument to begin with), I want to talk about what seems like the root of people's issue with the End It Movement, that being the church, Passion, and hypocritical Christians.
When you get to the heart of Christianity, you learn that being a Christian isn't about being a "good person." It's about recognizing that you are an inherently sinful person and realizing that the grace of God and the death of His son Jesus Christ are the only way to be free from sin. Being free from sin doesn't mean you don't have sin - it means that you don't have to live in guilt and shame over your sin and brokenness, because Christ has saved us from that. Once you recognize that you've been saved by grace, your life does start to look different because you're living for something larger than yourself, but still, hypocrisy can be part of our sinful nature.
As far as the church goes, I know that Christians can be judgmental. Again, that's part of sinful nature. And I am so, so sorry that anyone has had to experience the judgment of Christians because the Bible very clearly says that we are not to judge (Matthew 7:1-5, Luke 6:37, and many more places in the Bible). That judgement turns people away from the church, and I hate that, because we serve a God of grace and love and acceptance. Just look at who Jesus spent time with - thieves, prostitutes, etc. Christians should be loving and accepting everyone just as Christ Himself did, and I am so sorry that there are many Christians who do not love like Jesus.
I guess what I'm trying to say after all of this about Christians and the church is that if you're not a Christian, and you have some issues with Christians, please don't allow that to cloud your ideas about the End It Movement. They really do support causes that are doing amazing things. I encourage you to take some time to research the causes in depth before you mock them or argue against them.
Finally, I just wanted to address the argument that this cause is first world people dealing with third world problems. That argument is completely blown out of the water by the fact that we are people with resources to contribute to causes that are actively working to end modern-day slavery. I don't think that argument has any merit whatsoever because so much can be done with what we have, because, compared to the rest of the world, we have so much.
So I think that pretty much covers everything I wanted to say. Have a wonderful Wednesday, and look for more blog posts (maybe not this lengthy) from me in the future.
