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The 2005 gross world product was estimated to have exceeded $60 trillion. According to the May 2007 issue of the magazine Awake!, if it is spread over earth’s population, each person living today would have $9,000 to spend for a year. “But why are there a total of 2.5 billion people who are living on less than $2 a day? Why are there millions of children dying from malnutrition?” (Awake! 2007, p. 3)
The answer is economic inequality exists in the world today. As the famous saying goes, “the rich become richer, and the poor become poorer.” To illustrate the gap between the world’s richest and the world’s poorest, a recent UN publication reported that the wealth of the three richest persons in the world is greater than the combined wealth of the 48 poorest countries. (Awake! 2007, p. 3)
To address this problem of poverty, hundreds of governmental and non-governmental institutions have created programs to help people in these “underdeveloped” countries. Many religious groups have also joined in this mission. One such group is the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD), the official overseas development and relief agency of the Catholic Church in England and Wales which was established in 1962.
CAFOD’s work covers all demographics and addresses a wide variety of problems related to poverty. According to its website, CAFOD’s mission is “to promote human development and social justice in witness to Christian faith and Gospel values.” It also emphasized the aim of the agency to “transform the world by reflecting the Kingdom of God.” Included in the agency’s agenda are issues concerning education; health and disability; environment; food and farming; young people and children; and many others which stem from the major problem of economic inequality.
However, reality shows us a great irony. More and more institutions join in the quest for eradicating poverty yet the number of poor people increases. Where does the problem lie? Could it be that these well-meaning people and institutions address only the surface of the problem and not its root?
This is what the Bible says about poverty its solution. In Daniel chapter 2, verse 44, it says: “The God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be brought to ruin… and it itself will stand to times indefinite.” This “kingdom” was included in the prayer that Jesus taught to his disciples, the Our Father. According to the other passages in the Bible, this kingdom’s ruler is Jesus Christ himself who was described in Psalm chapter 72, verses 12-14 as delivering the poor one crying for help and redeeming their souls from oppression.
According to the Bible, the permanent solution is the heavenly kingdom of God which will root out the cause of all sufferings on earth – wickedness. Throughout man’s history of governance, none was capable enough to battle wickedness. So we can expect that no matter how optimistic an institution like CAFOD may be in eradicating poverty, as long as there is wickedness, its efforts may not just be enough.
Another question is, does God or the Bible condemn rich people? In 1 Timothy chapter 2, verse 4, it says that God would like “all sorts of men to come to an accurate knowledge of him.” By saying “all sorts of men”, both the rich and the poor are included as long as they hold fast to God’s righteous standards. So saying that “there should be no rich people as long as there is poverty in the world” would be in contradiction with God’s quality of being impartial. God’s not condemning rich people, however, does not mean he condones injustice done by rich people to those poor ones. Deuteronomy chapter 25, verse 16 says that injustice is something detestable to God.
From the foregoing, we can see that poverty is a problem that can only be solved by God and not by man. It will permanently be eradicated in the future when God exacts his judgment against wickedness. However, God does not condemn rich people the same way that he does not condemn poor people.
Works Cited
Catholic Agency for Overseas Development. Web.
“Coping in a World of Unequal Opportunities.” Awake! 2007, pp. 3-5.
Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. 1984. New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures. Revised Edition. Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania: New.
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