RE: Coursework: Wealth and Poverty
Christians have views on wealth and poverty. To understand the true Christian teaching on wealth and poverty, you have to know the heart of God and his intentions for mankind. What does God say about wealth and poverty? We all know that God is the Creator of the all universe and everything in it belongs to him. We also know that God loves his creation and he honoured man to rule over it. So concerning wealth and poverty in God's view; poverty is not what God intended to have for his treasured creation- man. He created him in his own image and went out of his way to have his beloved son die for him.
Poverty in the Old Testament is fallen on people when they went out of God's way. When they rebelled against God and in such a time even their ears and eyes were closed to see or hear from him in case of a famine. God always communicated to man when drought was imminent, for example in times of Joseph in Egypt. In Deuteronomy, God tells his people his intention was for them to have a hope, a future and prosperity. In Deuteronomy 28: 12-24, he warns his people the result of not heeding to his word was poverty and disease.
God's model of wealth was a communal ownership of wealth, where everyone had an equal share on the abundance of his blessings. But now man is corrupted with individualism consumption of wealth that the weak and the venerable are left with nothing. That is when the Christian teaching of wealth and poverty comes in. Some Christians preach on poverty as sin in ones life, saying, "That is why he is in that condition." You are saying this to a bootless man, who was born in Poverty and denied any opportunity to get a go at even the little opening to sustain himself. Other Christians preach that; wealth is sin and they quote the bible text when Jesus said, "it is difficulty for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God!" (Luke18:23-25). God does not want us to live in poverty, but he wants us not to put faith in wealth, but to be able to have appreciation of his grace and share the bounty with the have not.
Christians believe that wealth is something in two different ways example (such as buying food for the starving) or evil (such as buying weapons for terrorists) so it really isn’t that bad of an idea.
The New Testament teaches that wealth can be very dangerous. It is easy to worship wealth and material success instead of God.
This means that people can easily get attracted to things which give them success in life. By doing this they are doing acts which link them to wealth and stop them from worshipping God for example: attending a very important business meeting instead of going to the church on Sunday morning.
Jesus said that it is very hard for rich people to enter heaven,
This links to the first fact which is mentioned above because if people are attracted more to wealth and not worshipping God, they don’t get more chances to earn good deeds. Jesus was trying to explain that money is not something which is going to last forever as your not going to take it with you when you die but good sins will help you in the here after as we will be judged to go to hell or heaven depending on the way we have spent life. The evidence which backs up this point is that Jesus said, ‘’Do not store up for yourselves treasure on earth…But Store up for yourselves treasure in heaven.’’ (Mathew 6:19-20)
St Paul said that the love of money is the root of all kind of evil. This again links to the above facts mentioned. The churches teach that Christians should only earn money in lawful and moral ways. For example, not drug dealing.
We should use wealth to help those less fortunate then ourselves and we can only do this by sharing, giving to the poor, donating to charities. Jesus said that if we feed the hungry, clothes the naked and visit the imprisoned, we are helping Jesus himself. He mentioned this in many parables, especially in the parables of the sheep and goats.
In 1948, the United Nations made a Universal declaration of Human Rights. To achieve a peaceful and harmonious earth, all countries that are part of the United Nations have to accept those rights. They should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood as they are endowed with reason and conscience. It is wrong for people to be starving to death in less economically developed countries there is inequality in the world developed countries U.S.A and Western Europe – are rich. If poor people were left out, they may take the path of violence to solve their issues. Big examples of these were the London train Bombing and the Twin tour attack. I think that Christian Aid is an effective organisation because it first set up in 1945 and now has been running for 63 years and is still a well known organization. If Christian Aid was an unsuccessful business, it wouldn’t have still been here.
Islam teaches that wealth is given by god and is shared. Islam has always taught Muslims there duty is protect there family and provide for themselves and family around them. Muslims should work fairly and be honest. Muslims shouldn’t be involved anything in cheating or any sort.
I don’t agree with this statement as firstly, I believe some people are lazy it is because of their lack of work that they are poor. This isn’t to say however, that all poor people are lazy, but people who work hard to earn their living deserve to enjoy their wealth, and why should they be made to suffer just because of a few lazy people? Also different people have different levels of potential. As long as a person pays Zakaat and works within the Islamic law, then why should he not work hard to provide the best for himself and those close to him?
Lastly it is up to Allah, who He chooses to be rich and who He wishes to stay poor. As I have mentioned earlier, this test of greediness, or ruthlessness and generosity for the rich and a test of patience and faith for the poor. If everyone had the same amount of wealth then they would have taken it for granted but due to this difference, the rich are able to thank Allah for His blessing upon them but looking upon those who are less fortunate.
If there were no rich people then there would be no-one to help the poor or give Zakaat and everyone would suffer from poverty. The poor will become poorer than what they are today. If there is no rich to give to the poor then there would be no bond of society, no affection of brotherhood. Zakaat is a pillar of Islam. If one pillar was missing then Islam would be incomplete.
The subject of poverty is a major worldly issue and concerns everyone, whether noticeably or not. Islam lays a great emphasis on balancing the financial scale of the world, by giving charity a high status in Islam and lots of importance.
The believers shade on the Day of Resurrection will be his Charity. By giving charity, a person thinks more about others and less about himself. To share what one has with others with no thought of return, gives a person a great amount of satisfaction, and helps to accomplish the real feelings of contentment- the foundation of happiness.
It is wrong for people to be starving to death in less economically developed countries there is inequality in the world developed countries U.S.A and Western Europe – are rich. They are rich enough so they can buy products from that country but there economy isn’t good enough and if there country isn’t looked after they will suffer from credit crunch.