What do Christians teach about the poor

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Religion, Poverty wealth
How did you find the exam??? Any horror
stories/good points/ happy things to say?

• What do Christians teach about the poor?
• What do Christians teach about money?
• What do Christians teach about charity?
• What do Christians teach about moral and immoral
  occupations?

THIS IS A VERY CONTENT HEAVY POWERPOINT!! You do
not need to write every last word down! You need
to write down the key pieces of information!! I
will highlight/underline what I think are the
important bits!!
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The Developed World
The Developing World
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The Developed World

• These are countries, like Western Europe, USA and
  Australia
• 25 of the worlds population lives in the rich,
  developed world.
• These countries, however, consume 80 of the
  worlds resources energy, food etc

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The Developing World

• These are countries such as India, Africa and
  South America
• These countries contain 75 of the

worlds population, but live off just 20 of the
worlds resources
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1. High level of malnutrition. This comes from
not having enough food or enough of the right
sort of food
2. A largely illiterate population. There is a
direct link between poverty and illiteracy. It is
almost impossible for illiterate people to find
their way out of poverty
What do they have in common?
3. The lack of clean drinking water. 25million
people die each year due to water borne diseases.
30 world population do not have adequate
sanitation
5. Most people work in agriculture (3/4). People
grow what they need to survive and no more, not
enough to trade effectively
4. Poor Medical Services. Inadequate food and
lack of clean water bring about many major health
problems that cannot be dealt with properly
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The Bible and the Poor

• The theme of uneven distribution of wealth is
  common in both the Old and New Testaments. People
  believed that everything in the world was
  provided by God for everyone to enjoy. The
  failure to ensure that everyone partook of this
  wealth is put down to selfishness and corruption.

The Prophets of the OT were upset about the
massive gap between the rich and poor of ancient
Israel. The strongest message came from Amos in
700 BCE he attacked the unwillingness of the
rich to use their wealth to feed the poor. His
argument was based on the fact that God would not
care for those who did not care for others you
were of no use to God if you did not care for
your fellow human beings.
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Jesus and Poverty

• Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the
  kingdom of God. Blessed are those who hunger now,
  for you will be satisfied
• Luke 620-21
• Jesus taught this message to his disciples. He
  told rich people that their wealth stood between
  them and God. Only those who shared their wealth
  with others could gain entry to the Kingdom of
  God. (Matt 2531-46)

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In order to make his point JC told two parables
that illustrated his thoughts

• The Parable of the Bigger Barns
• (Luke 1213-21)

• The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke
  1619-31)

• This story shows that the value of a persons
  life has little to do with their wealth.
• One year, the ground of a farmer was very fertile
  and yielded a bumper crop. This overwhelmed the
  farmer as he had nowhere to store the extra
  grain.
• He decided to build new barns so the grain could
  be his security for the future.
• JC pointed out that God demands more of those who
  have more than their fair share of resources.
• You fool! This night your life will demanded of
  you. The who will get what you have prepared for
  yourself?

• JC told this story to show that it is the poor
  and not the rich who will enter Gods Kingdom.
• There was a man dressed in purple who lived a
  life of luxury and a poor man, Lazarus, covered
  in sores who lay outside the rich mans gate.
• The beggar would have been grateful for the
  crumbs that fell from the rich mans table but he
  received nothing.
• The beggar eventually died and was carried to
  Heaven, the rich man was taken to the underworld.
  From there he envied the poor mans place in
  Heaven but it was too late for him.

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The Early Christians

• The early Christians sought to put JCs teaching
  into practice. In the Christian community, we are
  told that no one claimed that their possessions
  were their own they belonged to everyone to
  share.
• There were rich and poor in the community. The
  rich sold their land and brought the proceeds to
  the apostles. The money raised was given to the
  poor. As a result, we are told there were no
  needy persons among them
• In todays world, there is an immense need for
  food, education and shelter. This can only be met
  in the long term if there is a massive shift of
  resources from the rich to the poor. The
  teachings of JC suggest that his followers should
  set an example.
• You lack only one thing. Sell everything that
  you have and give to the poor, and you will have
  treasure in Heaven. Then come, follow me
• Luke 822

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Money!

• We seem to live in a society in which material
  goods are all that matter. Materialism is the
  approach to life that attaches a very great
  importance to money and possessions. It places a
  very low importance on spiritual and moral
  values. Christians believe that materialism is
  contrary to the teaching of JC. They do not
  suggest that money does not matter simply it is
  not the most important thing in life. Without
  money, people suffer from poverty, hunger and
  homelessness.

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The Bible has more to say about wealth and its
dangers than almost any other subject. Wealth
figures prominently in JCs teaching. Here are 2
examples

• The Sermon on the Mount

• The Widows Mite

• JC encouraged the rich to share their wealth with
  the poor secretly (Matt 6.1-4)
• If they did this, he said, God would reward them
  openly for their generosity.
• People were not to spend their lives accumulating
  wealth, since it is treasure in heaven that
  matters (Matt 6.19-24)

• On one occasion, JC sat down opposite the place
  where people made their offerings to the temple.
• After watching many wealthy people put in large
  sums, JC saw a poor widow putting in 2 small
  copper coins. JC told his disciples that she had
  put in more than all the others since they had
  given to God out of their wealth, but she had
  made an offering out of her poverty
• To please God we must sacrifice.

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Money and Wealth according to St Paul

• Paul had much to say about wealth and its
  dangers. Writing to Timothy, a young Church
  leader, he said
• The love of money is the root of all evil
• 1 Timothy 6.10
• Notice that Paul did not trace all evil to money
  itself, but to the love of money. This fits in
  perfectly with JCs teaching. JC suggested it is
  the love of money that prevents someone from
  giving it to the poor. Its hold is so strong that
  will even prevent someone from entering the
  Kingdom of God. They would rather keep their
  money and stay outside that kingdom.
• Money offers people some kind of security,
  whereas it is very risky for someone to put their
  faith in God.

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All Christians are encouraged to give money to
the church to which they belong. In the OT, Jews
were expected to give a tithe to God. This was
10 of their income each year. Some Christians
continue this practice today. In giving money to
the Church, they are not only supporting their
local church, but also helping various charities.
Other Christians may not give a tithe, but they
do give a certain amount each week or month that
they place in an envelope. This regular giving is
very important because it enables their church or
charity to plan its expenditure.
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Giving in the NT

• Writing to the Romans, Paul listed many gifts
  that members of the church had received from God
  prophesying, serving, teaching, encouraging etc
• All of these were used in the Church to make them
  spiritually stronger. He then came to the gift of
  contributing or giving. To those with this
  gift, Paul said
• .. If it is contributing let him give
  generously.. (Romans 12.8)
• In another letter, Paul says that the spirit in
  which we give is important
• Each man should give what has decided in his
  heart to give, not reluctantly or under
  compulsion,, for God loves a cheerful giver (2
  Corinthians 9.7)
• Now about the collection for Gods people.. On
  the first day of every week, each one of you
  should set aside a sum of money in keeping with
  his income, saving it up, so that when I come no
  collections will have to be made (1 Corinthians
  16.2)

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Charities

• Of course, giving money is not the only form of
  giving to charity. Most charities, as with most
  churches, rely heavily on volunteer work.
• Christians, and others, give their time and
  energy to help favourite charities in running
  collections, bazaars etc
• The variety of charities in this country alone
  runs close to 10000!!
• Some charities have a specific Christian aim,
  such as Tearfund, Christian Aid, Cafod.

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Immoral Occupations

• Christianity does not lay down hard and fast
  rules about the occupations that its members must
  follow. At the same time, many Christians spend
  their lives in caring professions, such as
  medicine, teaching, social work etc

This gives them the opportunity to express their
concern and care for others through the work they
do. They also see this as an important way of
expressing their Christian faith. So too do
others who have gone overseas as missionaries.
There are also occupations that Christians might
feel unhappy about working in. They might, for
instance, be uncomfortable working in a cigarette
factory or in a job selling alcohol or working
in connection with gambling. This would be
because they know the great damage that such
activities can do to many people. They might feel
the same working for a company that does not pay
a fair wage to its overseas employees or that
treats animals badly.