Christian Teachings on Poverty and Wealth

Christian Teachings on Poverty and Wealth

Ever since the beginning of the Christian faith, poverty and wealth

have been a big issue. Before Jesus was born, the rich would use

religion to keep the poor away from them. The wealthy thought their

riches were a blessing from God and that their faith and dedication

was a reason for God bestowing them with wealth. They believed that

the poor were not true followers of God and therefore suffered with

poverty. They thought that the poor were not as important in the eyes

of God. However, Jesus himself was born in a poor family and he was

born in a stable where the animals were kept. “For you know the grace

of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes

he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.” 2

Corinthians 8:9. Jesus and his disciples didn’t own anything. Jesus

thought that greed and attachment to wealth would prevent people from

going to heaven. Jesus was once asked by a rich man how he should

inherit eternal life. When Jesus told him to give up his wealth to the

poor and to follow Jesus, the rich man went away upset. Jesus

commented that “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” in Luke 18:25.

The message behind this story is that the no matter how good a person

may lead his life, he always has an attachment to worldly and

materialistic things and that with this attachment it is impossible

for him to enter heaven.

God was never against the rich themselves. Abraham, Job and Solomon

all were devout believers of God and their wealth was never condemned

by God. Jesus believed...

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...heaven. “Blessed are you who are

poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now,

for you will be satisfied.” Luke 6:20.

Having examined all the opinions above, I believe that the rich should

not give up all their wealth in service of the poor but should help

them to increase their standard of living and to provide them with a

better life through charity work and the improvement of certain

policies concerning the poor. Many of the rich are born into families

that owned great amounts of wealth and that they don’t have to work. I

agree that this is unfair to people who work hard day and night yet

don’t earn a sufficient amount of money but that’s part of life and

possibly part of God’s plan. If we are bestowed with a great amount of

wealth, we might as well put it to some good use and help others.