Christians teach of seven main causes of poverty. They are:
- The Cycle of Debt
- Inability to Recover from Natural Disasters
- Corrupt Governments
- The Arms Race
- Ignorance and Illiteracy
- Unfair Trade
- A Population Explosion
These have been determined to be the foremost causes of poverty. The Cycle of Debt occurs where countries have been lent money to help them become ultimately independent; however the richer countries who lent money to the third world countries charged them interest which they couldn’t afford. This meant they had to loan money to pay the interest and then loan money to pay the interest for that. This cycle still goes on and only builds up the debt of each third world country in this situation. Exodus 22:21-22, 25 says that we must not exploit the poor, but help them without asking for anything in return. If we were to all live in this manner then the Cycle of Debt would no longer be a problem and countries would be able to be economically stable and thus hunger and disease would be greatly reduced in lesser economically developed countries.
War and The Arms Race consume an enormous amount of third world countries money. Also wars can ruin trade for citizens within the country at war. Therefore, this deprives countries of such amenities as food and medicine. War divides many countries unnecessarily. If we all lived as Jesus taught then war wouldn’t be an existing problem. Jesus said that if you are struck on your left cheek, turn your right cheek. This is referring to forgiveness and not retaliating. If we all lived in this manner then no wars would commence and that would inevitably leave countries richer and more capable of keeping themselves in an economically stable condition.
Unfair Trade has been a problem that is becoming a lot more widely known thanks to charities. The awareness they have raised has caused the sales of fairtrade products to dramatically rise. This greatly helps those in poverty because it provides them with more money. Currently, unfair trade goes on in a lot of third world countries. It is where employers pay pittance to their workers. Although they make a bigger profit it makes life hell for the employees. To earn enough to survive they are forced to work in conditions which are often damaging to the poor paid workers. In one case children were made to sit cross legged on the floor and this eventually led to deformed growth of the bones and their legs became bowed. They employ children because they are cheaper, however because they are in their developing years it is exceedingly dangerous to have child labour, especially in the conditions they are forced to work . The biggest problem so far though is that the people who are paid next to nothing have no choice because without that money they wouldn’t have anything. As the employees rely on poverty stricken people’s desperation for money, they succeed in playing them a clearly unfair amount. However if these people were to not accept this pay, they would have nothing and so are forced into it. Deuteronomy 24:14-22: “Do not take advantage of a hired man who is poor and needy, whether he is a brother Israelite or an alien living in one of your towns. Pay him his wages each day before sunset, because he is poor and is counting on it.” In relation to unfair trade this tells us that we should be paying them fairly. If we all lived like this poverty would not be an existing problem and as Christians we should do our best to live like this. Another bible extract which you can link with unfair trade is Amos 8:4-6: “...skimping the pleasure, boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales, buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals...” It says we mustn’t use people like objects which is what we are doing at this moment in time by exploiting our neighbours. God created us all equally and so no body should go hungry or be diseased with no means of help. In Matthew 25:31-46, it says: “I was hungry and you fed me, thirsty and you gave me a drink, stranger and you received me in your homes, naked and you clothed me.” We must help our brothers as much as possible because it is our Christian duty and we are told: “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me”. When we look out for the very poorest people, we are looking out for God.
