Abolishing Poverty Pt. 2

eric posted on July 10, 2009

Abolishing Poverty

After blogging my post last night, I had a few additional thoughts and great insights from my dad. While I believe we can make a serious dent in this world to make wrongs right, I don’t think abolishing poverty will be possible. Here are some thoughts on why we can’t…

Jesus said that we will always have the poor among us. I don’t understand that completely, but I know it has something to do with our sin, broken world, and what the poor have to teach us about the Kingdom of God.
Scripture says that poverty rains on the just and the unjust alike.
God blesses who he blesses and if it happens to be you, then you should be grateful and respond like God called Abraham. You are blessed to be a blessing to others!
Poverty is caused by more than the affluent hoarding their resources. It’s also caused by: corrupt governments, laziness, bad decisions, generational sin, mental illnesses, greedy corporations, lack of education and opportunities, etc. Obviously, that’s where some social justice comes into play, but it’s not just affluence that causes poverty.
If you are affluent, you have a responsibility to make justice changes in this world because we have a just God.
If you are affluent, you have to remember that what you have is not yours. Everything is God’s. He gives and takes away…for reasons I’ll never fully understand.

I hope that better rounds out my thoughts on poverty and affluence. May God give us all wisdom, discernment, and a steel-spine to live like we were created.

You can follow April Diaz’s thoughts and her journey into the world of adoption on her blog Plan A: Ethiopia.

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3 Comments so far

Sam Mahlstadt July 10, 2009 1:08 pm

Your thoughts are well formed and very written. Like you said, I too hate that quote, but it is very true. There are many factors that lead to poverty, and it is inescapable. I have been to villages in Africa where there is no water, no formal education and no access to doctors. I have also been in enormous lavish houses. My wife and I are a part of a launch team in Winston-Salem, NC and we just decided to forgo our pre-launch marketing campaign to host a community event that will focus on helping to eradicate human trafficking, modern day slavery. There will always be poverty, and poverty will always lead to slavery. But, as you mentioned, it is our responsibility to stand up for justice. We are to set the captive free. Thank you for sharing these posts, I know it is not easy to digest.
Michael W. Kruse July 10, 2009 4:05 pm

Some important words to live by. Thanks!
Micah July 10, 2009 5:04 pm

One possible answer to point #1:

If “poverty” is defined as “the poorest 10% of the population,” then you can’t ever end poverty. In addition, poverty is relative. There’s a difference between the American poor and Indian/African poor.

The poor will always be among us because no matter how much everyone has, there will always be someone else with more. So even if everyone has enough to eat and a safe place to sleep, there will still be economic stratification. There’s no solution to that… you can’t create a system where everyone has exactly the same stuff unless you’re creating robots.

The goal, then is not to make sure there are no poor people, but to make the poor a affluent as possible. By “affluence” I don’t mean “multiple TVs” but “access to good food, good shelter, good healthcare, and good education.”

One of the few times I’ve ever agreed with McCain was when he answered this question at the Saddleback forum. His response to “what about the poor” was basically “I want everybody to be rich.”

Sam Mahlstadt July 10, 2009 1:08 pm

Your thoughts are well formed and very written. Like you said, I too hate that quote, but it is very true. There are many factors that lead to poverty, and it is inescapable. I have been to villages in Africa where there is no water, no formal education and no access to doctors. I have also been in enormous lavish houses. My wife and I are a part of a launch team in Winston-Salem, NC and we just decided to forgo our pre-launch marketing campaign to host a community event that will focus on helping to eradicate human trafficking, modern day slavery. There will always be poverty, and poverty will always lead to slavery. But, as you mentioned, it is our responsibility to stand up for justice. We are to set the captive free. Thank you for sharing these posts, I know it is not easy to digest.

Michael W. Kruse July 10, 2009 4:05 pm

Some important words to live by. Thanks!

Micah July 10, 2009 5:04 pm

One possible answer to point #1:

If “poverty” is defined as “the poorest 10% of the population,” then you can’t ever end poverty. In addition, poverty is relative. There’s a difference between the American poor and Indian/African poor.

The poor will always be among us because no matter how much everyone has, there will always be someone else with more. So even if everyone has enough to eat and a safe place to sleep, there will still be economic stratification. There’s no solution to that… you can’t create a system where everyone has exactly the same stuff unless you’re creating robots.

The goal, then is not to make sure there are no poor people, but to make the poor a affluent as possible. By “affluence” I don’t mean “multiple TVs” but “access to good food, good shelter, good healthcare, and good education.”

One of the few times I’ve ever agreed with McCain was when he answered this question at the Saddleback forum. His response to “what about the poor” was basically “I want everybody to be rich.”

Abolishing Poverty Pt. 2

Abolishing Poverty

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