Group+5-+Christian+Ideas+on+Poverty

__**What is poverty?:**__

"Poverty is a state in a which humans are subjected to a life of finacial difficulty, resulting in a scarcity of resources. Although there is some degree of poverty throughout the entire world, the effects are much dier in developing nations. People often lack basic necessities such as food and medical care, which often results in death. Absolute poverty means you lack basic requirements to live without a constant threat of death, whereas relative poverty is when you are poor in relation to society."

Here are a few statistics on the scale of the poverty problem:

>Half of the world's population live on under $2 a day. >The worth of the three richest people is higher than the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the 48 poorest contries combined, which is a quarter of the world. >86% of the worlds goods is consumed by just 20% of people in the deveoloped nation.

As you can see, poverty is a major problem in the world. Here are a few problems in less economicly developed countries (LEDCs):

1. People work for long hours for low wages 2. They can be ripped-off by unfair trade 3. Diseases like malria can be a serious problem, as people cannot afford, or even have any accessto    vacines 4. Low life expectancy 5. Lack of education

__**Government Aid**__

Government aid can be when the government teaches people things like agricultural skills, which can be better than simply giving food because that is only a short-term solution solution, and you do not want them to become dependent on you either for anything. The final problem is curruption, as often money never reaches the people it was intended for and is stolen. Some people believe it is the job of the government to write off dept the dept that is owed to them by LEDCs, as dept can cripple a country, and stop it from getting out of thebad state it is in. Some disagree with writing of dept as it is giving money often to currupt governments, and they believe the money would be better spent on speciic projects.

__**Christian Aid &amp; CAFOD**__

CADFOD stands for"Catholic Fund for Overseas Development". It was set up by the Catholic bishops of England and Wales in 1962. Christian Aid is also a Catholic charity, and they both have very similar aims. CAFOD's aim is to support human development and social justice according to the Catholic faith. To do this CAFOD raises funds from within the Catholic community and outside of it.

Christian Aid's slogan is "We believe in life before death. Do you?". They try to help poor people in a range of ways, including providing imunisation, rescuing children from labour and getting education to everyone.

__**What does the Bible say about Poverty?**__

//This is from the 'New International Version'//

The Poor and needy search for water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. But I the LORD will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.

Here, God is saying he will help them. This could imply that humans should not turn their backs on poor people, and should help them. Also, God does not appear that he is blaming poor people for being poor, as then he pobably would not help them. I then infur that Christians should not blame poor people for being poor.

"Go, sell everything have and give to the poor, and you will hae treasure in heaven."

Jesus is very clearly saying Christians should give to the poor, and it appears to also say you should give all your money, even if it makes you poor too, but then you will be rewarded when you die. He also goes onto say the famous line:

"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

This seems to be saying that if you are rich you will go to hell. However, in the following passages, welth is not condemned but seen as smething positive as long as the rich share with the poor:

2 Mose 23:10-11 1 Mose 41:47-57 5 Mose 14:22-29 Amos 8:4 Isaiah 41:17 Luke 6:20 Matthew 25:31-46

For the full text refer to www.biblegateway.com


 * __What Causes Poverty?__**

1) War- in times of war economy can fall apart, things lke farms can be destroyed 2) Lack of education, which leads to unemployment and economical power if on a large scale 3) Disease. For example, aids is such a serious problem in some places that most people do not get very old before dying, resulting in orphans, loss of income in families and other diseases can have high medical costs 4) When a country is not in a good state economicly, people are given far less choices, making it very hard to get out of poverty 5) Many developing countries have unstable and currupt governments. This can result in bad public sanitation, not many schools, no welfare state, holding down the poor. 6) Dept- LEDCs often have large depts, stopping them from improving their economic status