Christian Teaching on Wealth and Poverty

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Christian Teaching on Wealth and Poverty

In the world today rich countries are at a great advantage over

LEDC's, this is because the richer countries can pay for good

education systems, hospitals and ever improving sanitation, whereas

LEDCs are stuck in debt and poverty. MEDCs keep getting richer - a lot

of money they get from foreign labour or debt repayments that can be

seen as an exploitation of the weaker countries, MEDCs get the

majority of their income through businesses and industry.

In the first section of my coursework I researched the need for world

development and answered the question why are some countries less

developed than others? In this section of my coursework I will look at

Christians and Muslims responses to wealth and poverty.

In Christianity people believe that wealthy people should use their

money to help the less fortunate, and that money can be used either

for good or evil. One of the strongest messages that comes through in

the Bible is to use your money to help other people, not just

yourself. In the parable of the Sheep and the Goats (Matthew 25:31-46)

the sheep represent good Christians who carry out selfless acts of

giving and serving, Christians use this teaching in many aspects of

life, in money they see this as it is ok to have money as long as you

help people when they are in need, if you have excess money and see

someone in debt or other money related problems do not spend the money

on your self but help that person out. This message is similar to one

in The Rich Ruler:

(Luke 18:18-29)

"Indeed it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle,

than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God."

This is used because the front entrance to the Jerusalem market was

known as the eye of the needle and wealthy people had heavy laden

camels who could not fit through it. Rather than dismissing their

important possessions they used the back entrance.

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