Poverty

In God’s economy, the most important people are not the billionaire, the business owner, or even the blue-collar worker. Instead, in God’s economy, the most important people are the widow, the orphan, and the immigrant. Which is to say, the poor and the powerless. I’ve previously gone into depth on what the book of Proverbs has to say about poverty and wealth, as well as how Christians should think about wealth. Here are some more biblical passages relevant to the topic. All quotes are from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV): ...

Great news! If you only have a minute to read about wealth, here’s my argument in a nutshell: Outline of My Argument Main Claim: American Christians should reduce their standards of living to what is necessary for human flourishing and give their excess resources beyond this standard to the poor and oppressed. God is the firmest advocate for human flourishing. The pursuit of wealth is spiritually dangerous and crippling. Our culture’s inclinations toward upward financial mobility go against the message of the New Testament and the life of Christ. God is revealed in Scripture to have a special concern for the poor and the oppressed. Christians will be held accountable for how they treat the poor and the oppressed. Objections: This line of reasoning is advocating asceticism and is unbiblical. Christians have every right to keep what they have earned and to do what they wish with their excess funds. Because the poor are lazy, Christians should not feel pressured to give, in case their generosity is taken advantage of. Warrant: Christians want to remain true to Scripture and submit to God’s way of life in order to find satisfaction. (For more on Christianity, wealth, and poverty, see my topical study on what the book of Proverbs has to teach us about poverty.) ...

Introduction: Poverty and Wealth In contrast to the affluence of mainstream American culture, poverty is a harsh and painful reality. It can be found in abundance in the urban centers of this country, and in countless other places around the globe. Modern day slavery “more cruel than any beast of prey” (Wright 2005, 136), it traps human beings created in the image of God in a lifestyle of hunger, sickness, anger, and darkness. ...