Over the course of our lives, we have become convicted through our faith to become people who work towards social justice. We believe that our dedication to following Jesus Christ motivates us through love to help people in the world who are oppressed, disenfranchised, and marginalized. We think that one way to promote social justice is to show love towards orphans by providing them with a basic need: warmth.
The Bible references orphans numerous times. In the book of Deuteronomy, God commands that His people to leave food for the orphans as well as provide shelter and clothing for them. Later on in Israel’s and Judah’s history, God judges them for not following his commands. He cites the abuses done to orphans in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. In Matthew, Jesus talks about a judgment rewarding people who have taken care of and helped those in need, and casting away people who did not. And in the book of James, “Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you,” (James 1:27, NLT).
We know that Quilts for Orphans is not the sole way to help orphans, nor the sole way to furthering social justice, so we encourage every one to search for ways to help and love others. Even though we have been motivated by our faith we do not believe that it’s the sole motivator to bring about change and social justice in the world. We want to encourage all people no matter what faith tradition to help those in need.
