whenever you did this for one of the least important brothers
of mine you did it for me’ Matthew 25:35-40
After reading this passage you can get a clear idea of Christian teaching about wealth and poverty. Basically when you give to the poor or help those in need you are doing it for God and it pleases him.
Though Jesus talked about giving wealth up to help the poor, being wealthy is not against Christian teaching we can easily see this because the Catholic Church is a very wealthy institution. A big question bought up when thinking about this topic is surely the wealth of the world ultimately belongs to God and therefore should only be used for everybody’s good.
‘The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil’ Timothy 6:10
Wealth in itself is not wrong but it is how you use it that can be evil. Many people who own a lot of money uses it badly, for example in gambling and the sex trade. Christians believe it is there duty to care for other people and to use their wealth to do this if necessary.
Luke 16:19-31 is a parable Jesus told called the Rich Man and Lazarus. It is about a rich man who has many possessions and a poor man named Lazarus. When they die Lazarus goes to heaven and the rich man goes to hell. When the rich man was alive he had a good life but Lazarus had a horrible life so in the story this is reversed. This parable is saying that if you endure hardship on earth you will have comfort in heaven and that you shouldn’t store up riches on earth or you go to hell. It is about storing up spiritual wealth rather than earthly wealth. Another side of Jesus teachings is that if you are rich it is virtually impossible for you to go to heaven. We can see this teaching in this quote from the bible,
‘Yes, I tell you that it is easier for a camel to enter the eye of
a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God’
Matthew 19:24
After looking at all these quotes it can definitely be concluded that the main Christian teaching on wealth and poverty is that it is a Christians duty to help and support the poor all around the world. If you have more than you need then you should give some away. However it is debateable to say if you are rich you wont go to heaven and that to get into heaven you must sell all your possessions. I think that through Jesus’ example we learn that we should be more concerned with our treasures in heaven rather than on earth and that we should help relieve poverty.
A2. There are over six billion people in the world and many of these people don’t have the basic necessities of life. All of the countries in the south, known as the third world countries are in a desperate state. Poverty isn’t exclusively in the third world, poverty is very real right under are noses, in England. There are many problems in the world, which suggest there is a need for world development. The world needs to develop the methods used to prevent poverty and develop and change the way we look at poverty. Also introduce schemes to help the poor and needy like fair trade.
The world is ridiculously proportioned we see this in the north south divide. The north and south are very different and it isn’t a good thing and should change. The north contains 25 per cent of the world’s people whereas the south contains the remaining amount of 75 per cent. Despite this 80 per cent of the world’s income comes from the north. Over 90 per cent of the world’s manufacturing industry and most people are educated through primary and secondary school. The life expectancy in the north is 70 years old in huge contrast to the life expectancy in the south, which is 50 years old. The world is in a great need for development, a fact that portrays this is 20 per cent more people in third world countries suffer from hunger and malnutrition than in the western countries.
The third world owes a huge amount of money to the western countries such as America. This is called the third world debt and it causes many problems. Because the third world debt the little money the countries have is used to pay back first world countries rather than on there own people to improve living conditions. War is a huge problem in the world that could be changed. War causes instability that means the way people earn there living is often disrupted. The children of these countries are sent to war because they are cheap and less likely to refuse authority, after they get back from the fighting they have no education. Richer countries exploit the poorer countries. Big company’s buy raw materials very cheaply from the third world and sell their goods such as guns for a high price. The workers in these countries are exploited and get a very small pay. This shows there is a need for world development. Not only is it the third world countries that need development but countries like England. Poverty, which exists in rich countries, includes unemployment, under pay, homelessness and gambling.
Through looking at the evidence displayed it is obvious that there is a need for world development. By looking at all the war, conflict, greed, poverty and exploitation in the world there is no doubt there is a need for world development. It is the rich countries duty to ensure the world develops. The question is how do we start to do this?
A3. Christian aid is a huge organisation, which works globally to relieve poverty; it raises money through donations fund raising and collections. Christian aid was set up after world war two to help refugees. Christian aid works within the UK and has over 40 churches that support their work. Christian fights poverty overseas, they believe the best way to help people is to help them help themselves. They would do this by teaching them more efficient ways of cultivating there land more efficiently for food.
The role of Christian aid has changed as the times have changed. In the 1950’s Christian aid concentrated on refugee work. In the 60’s the rate of world hunger grew so Christian aid made agricultural work a priority, along with churches they set up the world development movement to campaign against causes of hunger. They also started teaching schools about poverty. By the 1970’s Christian aid started to emphasis self-reliance. They funded over 100 long-term projects to help people become self-sufficient. At present Christian aid do a great deal. They have launched campaigns to reduce the third world debt and they try to promote fairer trade and working conditions for third world workers. The mission statement of Christian aid is ‘all shall be included in the feast of life’.
Christian aid fits in well with Christian teaching about poverty. The Christian faith provides the basis of Christian aid, they believe God loves the world and he treats everyone equally this is what they try to do. Christian aid get encouragement from the example of Jesus, Jesus mixed with and respected the poor. The work of Christian aid is incredible and affects millions of people.
B. The quote that says ‘there should be no rich people as long as there is poverty in the world,’ brings up many arguments and points of view. Although being rich is not against the Christian faith there is no doubt that there are many problems in the world as a result of wealth and greed. Throughout this essay I will be reviewing the Christian view, my own view and a wealthy persons view on the statement above. In my point of view it is fine to be rich whilst there is poverty in the world. Despite it being all right I think that if you are rich then you should not use your money in sinful or selfish ways but to help and support less fortunate people.
Most Christians would say that it is fine to be rich. But in their view there are exceptions for example the rich shouldn’t indulge in the occupations such as the arms trade, sex industry and gambling. A quote from the bible that shows this Christian idea is from Timothy 6:10
‘The love of money is the root to all kinds of evil’
Christians believe that all these kinds of evils should be avoided as they may harm other people or the rich person himself. However other Christians believe that if you are wealthy you should give up your wealth to help the poor. If you take the bible fundamentally much of the bible suggests you should give up your wealth or you wont go to heaven. We get this impression from the verse
‘Yes I tell you it is easier for a camel to pass trough the eye
Of an needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom
Of God’ Matthew 19:24
It says in the bible you should give ten per cent of your earnings I know this from the verse
‘And I will give God one-tenth of all he gives me’ Genesis 28:22
Overall Christians believe that being rich is fine but some of there money should go to others.
Non-Christians or wealthy individuals may think they should keep their money as they worked hard to gain it. Wealthy people would ask why they couldn’t do something else for the poor rather than giving up there wealth. This view is a fair one and maybe it could be seen as unfair that they are expected to give up their wealth, which they’ve worked hard for
If every wealthy person was to give up there wealth it would stop poverty and suffering would decrease. But is it too much to ask? In my opinion it is the rich people’s duty to help the poor but think it is unrealistic to say there should be no rich people as long as there is poverty. Overall I can conclude that the statement is wrong but holds an important message, that the better of should help the poor and not use their money for selfish and sinful activities.
