Christians are expected to treat their wealth as a blessing, and to use it for the benefit of others as well as yourselves, not just being selfish and using it o create for themselves a selfish and lavish lifestyle, using it to replace God, family and friends. John (3:17-18) says “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need and has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?” whilst James says that instead of just using well meaning word, to put your power and wealth into effect “faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead”.
Summing up the overall teaching of Christians on wealth and poverty, we respect everyone’s right to personal belongings and would never go to Communist extremes to make the world a more financially even place, but rather urge people to use their money charitably for the good of others.
Aii: Explain why there is a need for world development
Poverty is a very complex issue. First of all, there are two types of poverty, relative poverty and absolute poverty. Relative poverty is poverty in comparison to the others around you, for example, a working class family having trouble paying off the mortgage. Absolute poverty however, is when you are homeless, un-educated, starving, unable to get access to clean water or health care and clothing, i.e.: all the things people in the West take for granted.
In this world, there is a significant amount of absolute poverty, and there is therefore a need for a significant amount of world development. This world can be divided up in terms of developed, developing and less developed countries. This highlights how unjust the world really is, as with the right help, many people could be relieved from their suffering. For example, Canada recently cancelled all of the debts that developing countries owed them. In a developed country, we are guaranteed food, warmth, shelter and clothing by the government, as long as we do not make ourselves homeless on purpose. We even have access to free healthcare, clean running water, gas and electricity and warm clothes. In a developing country there would be a mix of people with all of the above and much more, and those with only the essentials, for example, a country such as China. However, a country that is less developed would have high disease and infant mortality rates etc. A country that would support this example would be Sudan, an African country torn apart by war. The people there stave all the time due to a huge famine sweeping the country and die due to diseases: “There are high rates of malnutrition, bloody diarrhoea, and waterborne diseases such as Hepatitis E (Jaundice). Cases of meningitis and polio have also been reported. The risk of a deadly cholera outbreak remains high.”
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Basically, what we often take for granted are luxuries to those with nothing, suffering terribly under absolute poverty.
There are many causes of absolute poverty, but the main causes are war, natural disasters and debt. This lethal combination causes multiple crisis’s wherever they exist, for example, Afghanistan. This is a country wrecked by war (Taliban etc) and natural disasters such as violent earthquakes such as the one in 2002 where 5,000 people were estimated to have been killed. As a result of all the earthquakes and war, there is a lot of poverty and disease as the government is trying to pay back debts instead of paying for health and other necessities.
As you can see, debt is the main cause of all the problems that occur (mainly disease, lack of education etc). Examples of how debt occurs are:
-In Ethiopia there was a drought and they had to borrow money to feed its people.
-The debt was so large they have to cut back on certain areas such as health
-The people then get sick and the country has to borrow more and they are then stuck in the poverty cycle.
Summing up, I believe that all countries should follow Canada’s example and cut their debts to the developing countries as they can then focus on long-term development without any catches.
Aiii: Describe the work of one Christian agency working for world development
I have chosen a world development agency called Cafod (Catholic Fund for Overseas Development). My chosen agency is working for relief of poverty, especially in the long term. It has chosen to do so as it relates to Gospel values. For example- the Parable of the Sheep and Goats, when God invites all the sheep to his right, and all the goats to his left. To the sheep he says “When you saw me naked you clothed me, when I was sick or in prison you visited me” to which the sheep asked when they had done any of these things, and Jesus said “When you have done any of these things to the least of my brothers, you have done unto me”. However, he says the opposite to the goats who were selfish and helped no-one and condemns them to hell.
Cafod does a lot of fundraising as this is how they raise all their money. This also appeals to the Christian element of donation and it is how most Christians fulfil their social responsibility to those less fortunate than themselves. They have a lot to do with the money, for example; programmes including education, skills training, health care, clean water supplies, agricultural and small business development. They also have to use fundraised money for emergencies such as wars and natural disasters, the analysis of the causes of underdevelopment, campaigns on the behalf of the world’s poor, and also the education of those in England and Wales that raises awareness of the causes of poverty and promotes change. This ties in with their long-term development aims, as it will bring future generations to help too. It promotes change and stops people forgetting what is going on in the world just because the news doesn’t report it. Also, long term development is the means by which they help poor people to help themselves, “Give a man a fish and feed him for a day, teach a man how to fish and feed him for a lifetime”. Examples would include giving poor villages cattle, chicken and other livestock to set up small enterprises such as selling eggs, livestock and it would (most importantly) give them food.
Emergency Aid is also a major occupation of Cafod, and there are many examples of emergency aid in developing countries around the world, especially in Africa. For example, Cafod is calling upon “the Prime Minister to press the Sudanese Government to:
- Facilitate the swift deployment of the 3,000 additional African Union troops accepted last week by the Sudanese government. These troops must be properly equipped and trained to protect civilians in Darfur.
- Accelerate the entry of many more international human rights monitors throughout the region in order to better monitor the situation and deter future abuses. The current deployment of monitors is entirely inadequate to cover a region the size of France.
- Work with the international community to ensure that any remaining obstacles to the delivery of humanitarian relief are minimised now.
- Substantially disarm the militias who have committed human rights abuses, and work with the international community to ensure that those responsible for crimes against humanity are brought to justice.
However, emergency aid examples include in Darfur where ACT/Caritas has sent teams of medical, nutrition and water and sanitation staff to meet some of the of the new arrivals’ most immediate needs. So far, 1,520 children have been given a week’s supply of food and more than 1,000 families have received plastic sheeting and jerry cans.
Theme B: There should be no rich people as long as there is poverty in the world. Do you agree?
No, I disagree strongly with this statement as everyone is entitled to their personal belongings, especially money that they earn or are given, as long as it is gained in a moral way, i.e.: not money from theft, drugs, prostitution etc.
Another reason I am so against this statement is that it is directly contrary to Christian teaching. This statement is verging on communism, which according to the Catholic Church is “intrinsically evil”. This means it is an evil that can never be justified.
Back on the subject of Christian teaching, the Christian faith does not condemn people who are wealthy, only people who are selfish, gain their money in immoral ways or people who put their money first, not God and other people, i.e.: they use it to live an immoral, selfish and completely self centred life. To prove this, a quote from the Bible says:
“The love of money is the root of all evil” 1Timothy 6: 9-10
This is because it is the love of money, not the money itself as it is inanimate, that causes people to become selfish and driven away from God, living a self-centred life based solely on pleasure and material satisfaction. For example, there are rich people who have managed to lead Christian lives, for example, Sir John Templeton. He owned a business as a financial consultant in Wall Street, New York. However, he always gave away 10% of his profit to charities, a practise known as tithing. In 1992, after a lot of work he sold his business for $400,000,000. As you have seen, Sir john has always combined his business interests with his Christian faith. He also started the Templeton Prize in 1972 and gives money to support projects around the world that further the understanding and the importance of human character.
In conclusion, I think being rich is perfectly fine, however, you cannot allow money to become the most important factor in your life.
