The First World

As I proofread my own post from earlier today, I noticed a slight misnomer.

I mentioned that Lane and I were shocked by our re-entry into the "first world." While it is true that the moment was shocking and that we were in the "first world," it must be noted that I actually live in the first world now.

Lane and I were having a discussion the other night about what exactly the terms "first world" and "third world" meant. We were also having a "discussion" about whether Peru and Turkey were in the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd worlds. Lane was very correct in saying that Peru was considered 3rd world, but to my utter surprise, Turkey is considered part of the 1st world. This, obviously, made me question.

So, what do you do when you have strange questions that need an answer immediately? Wikipedia!

God bless the man who thought this up!
Here I learned that the terms 1st world, 2nd world, and 3rd world were originally political in nature, instead of economic (which is how most of us think of them today). After WWII, when the world was being divided between the NATO countries and the USSR, the terms "Western Bloc" and "Eastern Bloc" came into use to describe which side you were on, freedom's or communism's. Then a Frenchman (of course he'd be French) felt sorry for all the countries being left out of the talk, since the majority of the world was not involved in the NATO/Warsaw Pact ordeal. He coined the term the "Third World" to give these countries some unification and identity. The Western countries grabbed the term "First World" for themselves and left the Soviets with the "Second World" term. Among those in alliance with NATO was the young republic known as Turkey. It sat precariously below the USSR, squeezed between Big Red and the Med. Peru, however, was not part of these political bickerings, and thus is 3rd world.

Map courtesy of Wikipedia.
Blue is the First World.
Red is the Second World.
Green is the Third World.
Now where are Turkey and Peru?
The article does go on to mention how the terms have drifted to more of a socio-economic meaning. The Third World is more widely understood to be an economic label put on those countries that are not producing at the rate of "the West." The Global South is made up almost exclusively of these "developing" nations.

The problems are larger and more dynamic than I can ever understand. I don't pretend to know even what the problems are, and I would never claim to have an answer. But I do know one thing. As Christians, we are commanded to help those in need (Matt. 5:42 and Luke 6:35, among MANY others). Jesus said we would always have the poor with us (John 12:8). That means we will always have someone to help. And help we must. How? Well, there are great organizations out there to support: the Hunger Site for helping feed the poor; Amnesty International for protecting the poor; and the American Red Cross to heal the poor. These are just names I thought of off the top of my head. I can't vouch for the work they do, I'm just throwing out ideas.

And supporting those organizations through time, labor, and money is very important. But the biggest, the most widespread, and, potentially, the most world-changing organization in the world is the body of Christ. We need to take a good look at our own lives and determine what we are doing to uphold these commandments of Jesus. If we are to be obedient to the Gospel, we must be obedient to the whole Gospel. Let's consider what we can do in our lives to help feed the hungry, clothe the cold, give hope to the hopeless, and love those that don't know love. When we as Christians begin to do this in our own lives and as it grows into a movement of the Body as a whole, then we will be able to show a lost and hurting world what the love of Christ is truly about, bringing the kingdom of God to this world.

Lord, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.