The teaching of St. Paul to the Corinthians reflects this. He told them that by participating in the Eucharist, they were becoming closer and more responsible for each other. He taught them about the meaning of the Eucharist because they did not understand in the early days of the first Christians. The Eucharist was celebrated as a meal, and the host did not feel obliged to cater for everyone. The poor were usually neglected. When Paul heard about this, he did not praise them for the poor were left hungry, and the wealthy were often drunk. He did not like this way of abusing the Lord s teaching so he set them straight.
For I received from the Lord the teaching that I passed to you: that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took a piece of bread, gave thanks to God, broke it, and said, This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way, after the supper, he took the cup and said, This cup is God s new covenant, sealed with my blood. Whenever you drink it, do so in memory of me. (I Corinthians 11:23-25)
The early church carried on the teaching of Jesus and tried to live up to it. In the New Testament letters, the first leaders encourage and instruct new Christians about serving the poor.
For example, in the General Epistle of James, we are told not to judge whether a man has a gold ring or whether he is dressed poorly, but to be patient, for the coming of the Lord is near, and he will be the one to judge everyone - so do not hold grudges against anyone.
Christians believe they should serve the poor because the Bible tells them to.
2. Choose two specific examples of problems faced by people in developing countries and explain how Christians might apply the beliefs you have identified to the problem.
Poverty is a major problem in developing countries. It is not just relative poverty when you cant afford the things you would like, nut absolute poverty - these people cant afford the things they need to survive, and this is how so many deaths are brought about by poverty.
There are many causes of poverty in the developing world. Some examples are war, crime, debt, famine, lack of resources, unemployment, and natural disasters. The developing world finds it hard to recover from floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions etc. in fact, the developing world finds it hard to recover from poverty no matter what the cause is. This is because of the cycle of poverty. It is produced when a lack of food causes hunger, producing less energy, making people unable to work and easily ill. This results in less food grown, making less money, so less resources are bought, which in turn creates a lack of food, and so the cycle continues.
To overcome the cycle of poverty, some countries apply to the World Bank for help. The debts are made worse as the country s debt increases, due to the interest owed on debt.
This results in many developing countries owing money to various banks, countries, and the International Monetary Fund, which they have no hope of repaying.
The World Bank could help overcome poverty in the developing world by cancelling third world debt.
An individual can help overcome poverty by getting involved in projects like CAFOD.
Developing countries suffer from various terrible diseases because of this third world debt and poverty. Poverty and the lack of adequate food in the developing world results in poor health.
All children need a lot of protein to support their growing needs. In the developing world, very few get the required amount. If they don t get it, they can be severely affected for the rest of their lives, both physically and mentally. Many are malnourished and lack resistance to disease, as a healthy immune system requires a healthy diet. The death rate of children under five in the poorer countries is very high, and poor health as a result of poverty continues as the individual gets older - which makes the average life expectancy considerably lower in these countries (50), than in Britain (73), a more economically developed country.
A typical three-year-old in a developing country will have had sixteen bouts of diarrhoea, ten infections of the chest and throat, an attack of the measles and conjunctivitis, and perhaps malaria or meningitis. This is worked out as an average of one illness every three months for each child. Few children are immunised against common illnesses like measles, which can kill.
Lack of good, clean, water is a major cause of poor health in these countries. Half of the world s population do not have access to a clean and adequate water supply. Poor sanitation is common too - 80& of all diseases in the world are water related.
There is a distinct shortage of trained doctors and nurses. Many people in developing countries do not have access to adequate medical care, causing disease to spread and conditions to become worse.
Many insects carry disease, for example, the mosquito spreads malaria.
Public health standards have greatly improved and research has resulted in ways of preventing and curing disease. Unfortunately, these methods can not be used in much of the developing world because of the poverty that exists there. Hospitals, clinics, and simple cures can not be purchased if the country s money has been spent on weapons for war and conflict.
Poor nutrition and a lack of sanitation produce many of the diseases in these countries. Polluted water supplies also result in disease. Inadequate housing spreads disease and can cause break-downs in health
There are many problems to overcome before medical aid can be established in the third world. Drugs may only be prescribed if the patient is educated enough to understand how to use them, and to be able to read the labels. Another problem is the living conditions. If this has caused the health problem in the first place, then they will never be effectively cured for good.
However, there are some possible solutions to overcome ill health in the developing world. For example, promoting proper nutrition will increase the population s resistance and immunity to disease. Educating people about hygiene, and providing adequate water supplies and sanitation can reduce water-originated diseases. A program of immunisations can stop the most common childhood diseases. Training people from each village in basic first aid and health care would be a great help for common ailments. Training more doctors and nurses, and introducing new mobile clinics to improve the standard of health care and its ease of access.
The progress of the developing world is restricted by many problems that are all inter-linked forming a vicious cycle of depression. The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Food and Agricultural Society (FAO) strive to find solutions to these problems. Reports like the Brandt Report attempt to provide a balanced program of human, agricultural, industrial, medical, and economic aid.
The Christian response to the problems of the developing world is represented in the Parable of the Rich Fool. It teaches the dangers of the pursuit of wealth. In this parable, the farmer puts all of his efforts into getting rich, and when he finally thinks he can retire and enjoy his wealth, he dies. Someone who has not earned his possessions inherits them. In God s eyes he has done nothing of value.
In this parable, Jesus is asking people to be considerate, and to share their riches with the less fortunate. Christians will be not being judged on their riches, but on how they have enriched the lives of others and those less fortunate. After all, what is it worth when you re dead?
The teaching of the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus applies to the problems of the relations between the world s poorest and richest countries. The richer countries can afford to help but don t, just as the rich man from the parable didn’t t help the poorer when he had the opportunity.
This story tells us that it is only us who can decide for ourselves whether we are charitable or not - it can not be decided for us, and that we must not be greedy and wish everything for ourselves when there are people much less fortunate than us.
Christians believe it is our duty to serve the poor. They do this by getting involved in Christian charity work, and supporting the work of charities such as Christian Aid and CAFOD, with prayer, fasting, and alms-giving (giving donations).
Christian Aid was set up after World War II to help refugees. It s members span forty different churches in the UK and Ireland, and it works globally to relieve poverty. It raises money through fund-raising events, donations, and collections.
Most of Christian Aid s work is in development. They believe that the best way to do this is by helping people to help themselves. This motto supports more dignified ways to help people rather than just giving them handouts. Christian Aid aims to draw on local peoples skills, setting up projects throughout the Third World focussing on agriculture, education, health care and sanitation, as well as disease and population control.
The organisation also strives to change government policies be trying to relieve Third World debt, and fair-trade products.
CAFOD is the official agency of the Catholic Church. It was set up in 1962 by the bishops of England and Wales to express the concern of the Catholic community for the problems and needs of the developing world. CAFOD is a major British charity that has been fighting third world poverty since then. The organisation believes that all human beings have a right to dignity and respect and that the world's resources are a gift to be shared by all men and women, whatever their race, nationality or religion. It is the English and Welsh arm of Caritas Internationalist, a worldwide network of Catholic relief and development organisations. With the help of this network of Regional Organisers throughout England and Wales, CAFOD works in partnership on over 1000 programmes worldwide.
They raise money in England and Wales to finance long term development work, and work with some of the world's poorest communities. Programmes include education and skills training, health care, safe water, and agricultural and small business development. They provide immediate help for people affected by emergencies such as wars and natural disasters. They analyse the causes of underdevelopment and organise campaigns on behalf of the world's poor. CAFOD provides education in England and Wales that raises awareness of the causes of third world poverty and promotes change.
Ireland, and it works globally to relieve poverty. It raises money through fund-raising events, donations, and collections.
a) iii. Analyse and explain the work of ONE religious agency working for world development.
Christian Aid is a major British charity working to overcome poverty in over sixty countries. Since 1945, they have been providing emergency aid, long-term assistance to the Church and community organisations working to overcome and eradicate the problem of poverty. Supported and sustained by the churches and driven by the Gospel, Christian Aid is inspired by the dream of a new earth where all people can secure a better and more just future. The organisation strives to be prophetic, challenging the systems that work against the interests the poor and works of the basis of need, regardless of race or religion. They work for world development in four main ways: fund-raising, emergency aid, long-term aid and education.
In order to fund their work, money is raised in several ways. Annually, a Christian Aid Week is held in which Churches increase awareness of the need to eradicate poverty and appeal for donations. In 1995, Christian Aid Week raised £8.6 million. Many churches and individuals also have their own fund-raising events throughout the year which raises over £30 million yearly.
Christian Aid has a disaster fund which spends between 10-15 per cent of its annual funds on emergency aid. They send food, clothing, antibiotics, blankets and shelters to the disaster stricken, such as the victims of the 1998 Honduras hurricanes and war refugees in Bosnia and Rwanda.
As well as supplying emergency aid, Christian Aid sees its function as helping people to help themselves so that they will not need aid. Christian Aid has an advantage over many charities because much of the aid they provide is channelled through Christian organisations within the country concerned. Therefore they can receive feedback and work in cooperation to build the interdependence and development of poverty stricken countries. For example, in Lesotho, Christian Aid is financing a local Christian agricultural school which is trying to increase food production by reducing soil erosion and bringing in new and more practical farming methods.
Christian Aid can also strengthen interdependency of people of less developed countries through education. They provide information about the organisations work and information on world development which increases awareness of the unjustness of poverty. For example, the total world expenditure on arms in two weeks, would give everyone in the world enough food, water, education and shelter for one year.
