Catholic Teachings on Wealth and Poverty

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Catholics believe that wealth is not a bad thing in its self. It can

be used for good or evil depending on how you choose to live. They

believe that if you have earned it in honest and lawful ways, it is a

gift from God. Many biblical teachings show us this. Examples of this

are the parable of the sheep and the goat: This parable explains that

when the world came to be judged the people who had done good and

helped others were sent to heaven. As for the goats they would spend

the rest of their life in hell. This is one of Jesus most important

parables. The message that is being giving is that if you have helped

people you will earn you place in haven for everyone you have helped

it is as if you have done it to God. Another important parable is

Matthew 6:24, this tells us that we either love God or we love money.

We cannot love both at the same time. An example of this is people who

stopped going to Church on a Sunday because if hey go to work they get

double money this shows that these people have a love for money and do

not think about God. You cannot be a servant of two masters. In the

parable of the Good Samaritan, we are taught that there is a well off

man who has the decency to help the poor. As no matter how well off or

how poor people are, we are all human and all equal no matter what

race or religion. This is telling us that we should help anybody we

see that is in need. Timothy told us that people, who long to be rich,

fall into all types of foolishness and harmful ambitions. If people

love money then it is a root to evil.

ii) Explain why there is need for world development (4)

From about 1950 to 1985, it was common to cal the poor countries

"Third World" countries. This is because some people in the world were

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