I have a question regarding the amount of decency and compassion that was intended for our lives. After having read God's Debris by Scott Adams, a book I don't totally agree with, I am wondering how decent we actually are. In this book, the character that appears to know the origins of the universe brings up the point that if we were all true believers in the Christian view of God, why do we not spend every moment of our brief lives in support of the true principles. There are people that are starving and dying in all of human existence. Many of them are across seas, but a lot also are right here in our own backyards. There can be no doubt that would could sacrifice a greater amount to help these people, yet we don't because we spend money on vacation homes, golf memberships, and other unnecessary luxuries.
I don't claim to be above anyone else, because I know that I would be very hard pressed to give up all the extra comforts I have in life. How compassionate, though, can we all be if we continue living our lives without actively searching for remedies to all the pain of other individuals? I don't think true compassion qualifies as only helping when the rare opportunity falls into your lap.
Now a possible argument to my statements could be, "God doesn't expect us to live as monks or nuns. He wants us to do the best with the opportunities we have." Now I think that would be a fine way of looking at things, but how can we honestly tell ourselves that our leisure activities are more important than eradicating starvation if we were 100% true believers of this view of God?