We also have a responsibility towards the animals in the world; humans were put in charge of all the animals by God. (Genesis 1:28) Christian teaching differs when it comes to animals. Catholic theology does not accept that animas have rights but does say that we ‘owe them kindness’ Quakers on the other hand say that you must ‘show a loving consideration for all God’s creatures.’ It is our own choice whether or not we agree to this and carry out our responsibilities.
How might followers of Christianity best fulfil their responsibilities towards the world to day?
Christians have been taught what to do; all they have to do is take action and carry out their beliefs. They need to start taking responsibility for what they have done to the earth and it creatures.
There are many ways to help people in need. Nowadays people have very busy lives and rarely have time to stop and help; therefore quick and easy ways have to help have been created. Many organisations such as Greenpeace, WWF and Christian Aid, have been created to help the earth and its people. These organisations try to make the world a better place, but they rely on donations.
As a Christian, a person may feel that they should only help Christian charities because only they will carry out the work as it says in the bible. This is not true. Non-Christian charities still care and help in the same way as Christian charities do; they will both help people no matter what their religion.
By paying a couple of pounds a month to charities, many people feel as if they are doing their bit for the world, most in fact are not. Simply giving money is not really helping anyone; it is just a shortcut. This way of helping is just pretending to show that you care. Yes they are giving money but only from their spare change, they are not giving because they truly want to help. This is shown in ‘the widows offering’ Mark 12: 41-44. Jesus told us that it does not matter how much we give, as long as we are giving for the sake of helping.
Giving money to charity is still the most popular way to help others. But there are many other ways in which a Christian can help; every little thing counts. By teaching others how to treat the world and their neighbours, a Christian is fulfilling his/her responsibility towards the world. For example, if a Christian encourages others to recycle he/she is helping to sustain the world and keep it clean. This is necessary since God took so much care into creating a beautiful world for us.
We cannot always spoon-feed others. We have to teach them how to work themselves out of their problems. This is also charity. “Give a man a fish and you fill feed him for a day; teach him to fish and he will feed himself.” There are many charities such as CAFOD (Catholic fund for overseas development) who try to give illiterate people in developing countries the education and skills to help themselves. Christians should support these charities so that their neighbours can carry on living amongst them.
Although a lot of people in this world need help, charity can also take place in the home. Christians need to help those who are close to them as well as those who are not. By helping family and friends they are still carrying out their beliefs.
By helping to bring about equality we are also helping those who are in poverty. Although we must remember that no matter how hard we try to give everyone equal amounts, there will always be poor as long as there is rich. It is a fact of life, but we do know that God treated everyone the same in the beginning and hoped that it would continue. Hopefully we can work hard to bring that about again.
Just by living life in the way that Jesus taught us about poverty, wealth, charity and helping others, we are looking after each other and fulfilling our responsibilities. If everyone lived as Jesus did this world would be a much better place for all its inhabitants.
‘The problems of the third world communities are their own fault.’
The third world has many problems, some which we cannot even begin to think about. Here are just some of them:
- Poverty
- Starvation
- Lack of health care
- Lack of education
The third world also has many problems which are no ones fault. These problems are caused by nature. They affect everyone and everything. These problems are always devastating but cause even more of a problem when there is not enough money and resources to deal with it.
Many of the problems in the third world could be solved with money. The problem is the third world is also called the poor world. There is an obvious gap between the poor and rich world. This gap, which has always been there, has been steadily growing.
The bible often talks about the rich and how they should treat the poor. The bible does not say that it is wrong to be rich as long as you use your wealth wisely. This is shown in the story of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16: 19-31). However, it is a fact that if it were not for some of the rich people, the poor wouldn’t be so poor. Many of the rich have become rich through stealing from the poor. The bible teaches us that one should not steal. Yet, people are stealing now and have always been stealing. If we look at in this way, some of the third world communities’ problems are not their own fault. The rich have created them.
There are three main reasons why the poor countries are so poor and have so many problems: Different natural environments, cultural differences and the colonial framework.
Different natural environment : Many of the third world communities are in the southern hemisphere. These hot countries tend to get more pests, weeds and diseases. This makes it difficult for people to farm and make money. The northern hemisphere, which consists of the main rich countries, had the right temperature to make successful cultivation.
This is another reason why the third world communities’ problems are not their own fault. If they had had the same opportunities as the rest of the world, they would have been far better off. But they didn’t have the same opportunity; their land was different therefore they had different problems, in this case making them poorer.
Cultural differences: The European temperament has been driven towards economic success (even if that meant taking form other countries to get it) while the eastern societies have been more content with limited wants. Countries like Africa, India and Indonesia had the same type of communities; tribes that lived in harmony with each other and their surroundings. They cared for everyone like their family, so in a sense everything in their tribe belonged to everyone. There was no need to try to be richer and more successful than anyone else.
Some say that it was their lack of knowledge and it was their own fault that they didn’t develop and make money and industrialise. From this point of view, you could argue that the third world has problems because it didn’t want to develop. On the other hand, wouldn’t it just be better to have a world that is equal and the same? There world was better for people when everyone was equal and there was no rich and poor.
The colonial framework: Most of the ‘less developed’ world has been colonised by Europeans. The framework has provided Europeans with money and cheap raw material as well as markets for their own industry. A pattern developed in which these colonies provided mainly primary products to the rich countries. This pattern helped create the gap between the rich and the poor. Some of the colonisation could be called stealing. This is against Christian beliefs and should not have taken place.
Yes, we could say that the problems of the third world communities are their own fault. If one part of the world can sort out its problems why can’t another? Each third world country has its own government. It should take responsibility and try to sort out its problems. Some say that these countries don’t want to face up to their problems. Corruption is such a major issue for some countries that it can lead to many people suffering from one persons lie. They should learn to crack down on their own corruption within their political hierarchy and they should also provide materials and resources to their people to help work themselves out of poverty. In the bible, it teaches us that we must not give false evidence against our neighbour to get what we want.
In conclusion, I believe that the third world communities’ problems are not just their own fault. They were created by others who were selfish and only thought about themselves. If it wasn’t for some countries taking away all the wealth and natural resources, then third world countries would be much richer right now and more able to sort out their problems. However this all happened in the past, these less developed countries cannot spend the rest of eternity blaming others, whoever’s fault it may be. The world should pull together and help each other. Christians believe that we should help each other and treat each other as we would like to be treated. Therefore, the 3rd worlds problems are not just their own they are everyone’s.