God, money, and poverty - Essay Example

Only few people are becoming wealthy and successful while logically, a large number is becoming even poorer. The irony behind this is that God has blessed humanity with abundant resources to allow every soul on the planet to access a comfortable and descent life. The role of Christians is a critical issue in this context. Though poverty is a crucial occurrence, it is a multidimensional matter, surrounding not only the material subject of human life, but also its physical, social, spiritual, and social dimension.

It is therefore essential to understand the concept of wealth and poverty in both the Biblical-Christian and economic perspective. A system cannot be viewed as efficient if it only improves the lot of simply a portion of the entire society. On the other hand, market efficiency cannot be the basic concern of the Christians. Keister (26) stated that there are vices of efficiency. Murder, theft, war, and slavery can all be reasons enough to the ruthless occurrences, regardless of the fact that there is an ethical code where such efficiency can be achieved.

No matter what people tend to believe, God has a place to fit in the equation of money and poverty. God loves each one of us but most probably, he hates some of our lifestyles, especially those that lead Christians astray. The whole idea behind wisdom of money and poverty is to offer a balanced perspective of how God wants people to view and handle money in their daily living. In a Godly perspective, human beings are portrayed symbolically as creatures whose convictions and attitudes are expressed in their body language.

The relationship comes in with the sense that money and poverty are often conceived as figurative extensions of the human body on earth. What people do with money and how they cope with poverty discloses and also shapes the uniqueness of their human identity. In addition to this, the passion of acquiring money or wealth is traced back to their inner desires. Gilder (38) argues that what a man desires whole heartedly and with his entire soul and might is for God himself. Christians may confess faith in God using the Church Creeds, but their personality in relation to God is revealed through what they love most as well as what they worship.

Rationally, money and the value that human beings attribute to it show their passionate and ultimate attachments either to the world or to God. It can also be argued that it is through money or charities to the poor that God intervenes in a person’s life. For instance, the Book of Proverbs provides that whoever is kind to the needy lends to God, and the Lord will repay him for his actions. God gives the best to those who share their wealth to the poor and this is what gives the best security for ever, for it is an act of worship.

The pastoral nature of the Christians’ faith does not allow the issue of poverty in circumstances like sickness, famine, and homelessness to be just a matter of theological speculation. Our forefathers urged the faithful to be compassionate, to use their money as a manifestation of their faith in the Lord. Secular institutions in a worldly society label religion and treat it as irrelevant or peripheral to huge areas of life. They charge that religion, in this context; Christianity and economic production are not intrinsically related.

Some critics argue that “religion cannot generate Grain,” implying that stewards of Christianity should not assume issues of economic productio