In this modern world, we normally understand the term "wealth and poverty" is to do with money. People who has a lot of money is wealth and poverty is when someone has only little amount of money, they are separate from one and other.
Some people may even think that making money is the main purpose of living. However, the Christian teaching, "wealth and poverty" it not like that, money is not the main purpose for living, wealth and poverty do link together, the rich people need to help their neighbours who need help. Christians believe that God created the world and everything for everyone to enjoy.In the Old Testament, Leviticus 25:23, it mentions that "your land" is not yours, it "belongs to God" so you are not exactly wealth, you are poverty. Therefore, you should provide money for the poor people no matter whom they are as "you would for hired servants. " This is because God has used his only son to save us.
This is a part of the Golden Rule "Treat others as you'd like to be treated yourself. " Nothing is evil in itself, but everything can be misused, this includes money too.It is supported by the Bible (1 Timothy 6. 0) 'For the love of money is a source of all kinds of evil' It can be squandered or it can be used to help the needy.
Jesus identified himself with the poor and their needs throughout his ministry, which Jesus said in the Bible (Luke 4. 18) 'The Spirit of Lord is upon me, because he has chosen me to bring good news to the poor' Zacchaeus, a highly unpopular tax-gatherer gave away 50 per cent of his ill-gained wealth when he became a follower of Jesus, as Jesus said that 'anyone who wanted to enter God's kingdom must sell their possessions first' So rich people usually find it hard to go in God's kingdom.Also Christians teach that they cannot ignore the poor, as Jesus made it clear that his followers must care for the poor in order to be accepted into God's kingdom, ' I was hungry and you fed me, thirsty and you gave me a drink, I was a stranger and you received me in your homes, naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you took care of me, in prison and you visited me..
. whenever you did this for one of the least important of these members of my family, you did it for me. '(Matthew 25. 1-46)And Jesus always identified himself with those at the bottom of the ladder to show that he is always cared for the poor. Albert Schweitzer and Mother Teresa spent their lives working in Africa and India amongst those who had none of this life's wealth just like many of the followers of Jesus have spent their lives working with the very poorest people. It explains in the parable of the sheep and goats, which also encourages Christians to see Christ in all people.
In the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10. 5-37), Jesus showed his followers must take time to help those in need, which suggests that no Christian should ignore the needs of others when they see people around them in great need, even if the needy are not those one would naturally help, just like the Samaritan took care of the man who has been attacked by the robbers. Wealthy Christians are called to avoid the temptations that wealth brings. They must also help those in needs to the best of their ability and think with compassion and love about the needs those who are denied life's basic essentials, and they are called to follow their own means.Where it says in the Bible (Matthew 6.
2-4) 'when you help a needy person, do it in such a way that even your closest friend will not know about it... and your Father will reward you' Explain why there is a need for world development There is an enormous need of help for the Third World countries in the poor Southern of the world like Somalia, and Bangladesh. These countries have an extremely low standard of living.
They only use 25 per cent of the world's resources, although 75 per cent of the world's population lives there. Where as the First World countries like North America, West Europe, and Australasia in the rich Northern.They have a very high standard of living, however they consume 75 per cent of world's wealth and resources, but they only have just about 25 per cent of world's population. The major factors making the Third World countries that poor are the high level of malnutrition, low level of education and literacy, high level of illness and disease, high rate of infant mortality which lead them to the low life expectancy. Only 5 per cent of people in the United State make living out of agriculture, on the other hand most people living in the Third World countries try to make living out of agriculture.This is because they need to grow food to keep their families going, they only have little to sell and left to buy things they need or cannot grow.
The poor condition they are living in leaves them defenceless to illness and disease. At least 25 per cent of world's population does not have access to clean drinking water and health; this has created a big health hazard problem , as unclean water contain lots of bacteria and germs which leads to diseases. Also over 15 million children under the age of 5 die of starvation each year, because malnourished mothers are unable to provide milk for their hungry babies and the cycle continues.The lack of education keeps them where they are, as nowadays to get a job you need to have a high standard qualification. If everyone had received education, most of them would be able to get a job to support their family, starvation would not be happened, they would have basic health knowledge and they can be more independence, pride to get rid of the extreme poverty and have fewer imbalances and more equality. Then the babies would not die so early and would not lead to the low life expectancy.
In Rwanda men can only expect to live to the age of 39 and women to 40, nevertheless in the UK, men can hope to reach the age of 75 and women 80. Another major factor is the world debt, as the debt is one of the most important blockades to world development. Many developing countries in the world are heavily in debt to the rich. The developed countries are unable to pay back the money that they first borrowed, as the debt of these countries is growing all the time. Some countries pay back far more money in debt payments then they spend on health and medicine.For example sub-Saharan Africa pays back four times as much money on the loans that it has from the USA as it spends on medicine.
This leads them becoming poorer. Over 40 countries are heavily in debt. They owe over i?? 150 billion. Much of the money borrowed was wasted or stolen by corrupt governments and not for the original purpose.
To pay their debts, countries have to use valuable resources and land to grow their own food. At the same time people are starving to death. Poor countries are also faced is that they have to pay their debts in hard currency.If their currency goes down in value then it is worth fewer dollars, euros or pounds. It is a vicious circle, because the poor countries get poorer they borrow more money to pay off their debts, this is the debt spiral into which poorer countries are drawn making them hard to become independent.
As a result world debts should be cancelled or at least reduced. This is the most significant way to help the poor countries Therefore there needs to be a lot of world development so that we can get rid of all the unfairness in the world. This is why we need a development.
