My name is Becca and I work with Compassion International. I was doing some research recently and I came across your blog, http://negative99.com/faith/blog-action-day-2008-poverty/. I know this was posted a while back but I noticed that you Sponsor a Child in Bolivia. Thank you so much for your support and love for that little girl.

Also, I wanted to thank you for taking the time to share with everyone your experiences with Compassion. This is a terrific way to help spread the word about Compassion and encourage others to help children living in poverty.

Do you think it would be possible for you to add a Compassion banner on your site? If so, our banner and widget creative is available at the link below.

http://share-compassion.org/widgets/featuredchild/web/getHTML.php5?referer=&refererrequired=2
Thank you for your efforts to help release children from poverty in Jesus’ name!

If you have any questions about this, please feel free to contact me.

Be Blessed,

Becca Brickey
Compassion International

You sound like you’ve thought about this topic at LEAST as long as I have. Surely when Christ returns we will be drawn up together in the exclusive “first wave”.

If I may clarify a bit my “fight, don’t end” stance… I think it was more an observation of the ineptitude (or sin, whatever) of some humans to actively gets themselves into poverty despite having every chance of success slathered on them by others.

I’m not talking about the country who, through free-market prosperity, has now established a solid water and electricity system that has bolstered their agriculture to the point of major exporting (and by extension potential food for all). No, I’m talking about the person who’ll quit their great job… blow their plentiful cash (and any cash given them by others) on drugs and alcohol… and, despite every chance at success, will ACTIVELY PUT THEMSELVES into “poverty”.

But, I think I agree with your major point… in that despite income inequities that eventually – in theory – poverty as a global issue could effectively “end”.

And I also agree that that won’t ever happen. For the same reasons… greed, corruption, control, power… just take a gander at most any third-world government and list off their major flaws and you’ll get a list matching our reasons. Coincidence?

Some well-meaning but logically-retarded “Christ-followers” have oh-so missed the boat on this issue — as Alister McGrath was just saying on Ravi Zacharais’ podcast, many young Christians have gotten so involved in serving Christ through fighting social injustice that they have in the process abandoned Christ!?

Thanks so much for stopping by!!! (oh yeah, and I fixed your link for you)

And feel free to delete this little comment here, it just seemed the quickest way to tell you about the messed-up link.

And thanks for posting!

Just found your blog today, and I like what I’ve seen so far. As a fellow Christ-follower I agree with part of what you said, but I think you actually get at something toward the end of your post that informs something you say earlier.

Near the end you say: “we should be supporting free markets and lower taxes so that not only is new wealth is created for all”

First of all, I completely agree. And the idea of paying into socialist systems is, in my opinion, at best misguided, and at worst motivated by “rich guilt” or attempts to get even with the wealthy for being wealthy, etc. And where many people miss the boat is exactly the point you end with when you say “Free market capitalism and lower taxation actually become a major part of the Christ-follower’s fight against poverty — surprise surprise.”

In other words, ultimately business is a force for good (link to an Economist article from this summer that makes this point quite well with regard to Mr. Gates).

But this is where I would start to take issue with your earlier claim that as followers of Christ we are not meant to end poverty, but rather to fight it. I would argue that for the first time in history (or, perhaps more specifically, since the start of globalisation), we’re living in a world where a true fight can be made to *end* poverty.

And I don’t mean through socialism and redistribution of wealth. I mean through capitalism. (I like links

Basically, many people who rail against capitalism and scream the evils of the west make the mistake of thinking that capitalism is a zero-sum game. But it’s not (again, that economist article is good). And if it’s not, that carries an important implication: if wealth and prosperity can be created through capitalism, then in theory we should be able to raise the standard of living worldwide to the point where poverty has been eliminated.

And I use the word “poverty” here very specifically, because here is where I must respectfully submit that you have made a mis-judgment (and I freely admit that I may be wrong! . I absolutely do *not* think we will ever eliminate income *inequality*, but I think you’re mistaking income inequality with poverty. As you mentioned, our version of poverty here in the United States is rather mild compared with the rest of the world. I’m not saying it’s not real, but there’s a fundamental difference between our poverty and “their” poverty, and the difference is, well, prosperity. And our prosperity came through free market enterprise, through business.

Income inequality is an inherent characteristic of a prosperous free-market society. Poverty is not. You must, nearly by definition, have income inequality with capitalism. But that doesn’t have to be evil. Because what you don’t have to have is poverty. When capitalism is allowed to run its course, the standard of living of an entire society can rise so high that even a society’s “poor” are not actually living in “poverty” by any historical standard. In my opinion, the US is living proof of this. We have some very poor people in this country, and I’m not minimizing their struggle, but anyone who has even seen pictures of some of the conditions to which human beings are subjected in other parts of the world must admit (as you say) that our “poor” have it far better than some.

So my (long-winded) point is merely this. Yes, the bible says “the poor will always be with [us]“, but I would argue that capitalism in a globalised world has the potential to radically transform the living conditions and quality of life of the “poorest of poor” to a level which would never be called “poverty” if it were compared with the worst poverty we have seen over the course of history (though it may still be poor compared to the world’s rich).

Thus, I think in the *modern* world (and this is different that 1,500 years ago), Christians actually have a responsibility to fight poverty “hands on”, but also globally, with true coordinated effort to eliminate poverty without deceiving ourselves that we will ever eliminate income inequality.

Now, here’s the part where I argue with myself: do I think this will ever fully succeed? Probably not. But not because the idea isn’t fundamentally sound. I think it is (and by comparison, I think socialism is not). I think this will never fully succeed because of evil people in positions of power who will continue to oppress large groups of human beings for as long as the Earth has left. It’s ironic, in fact, that poverty today is more severe by far than that faced by people thousands of years ago. I can’t prove this on the fly, but I think it must be true. The past century has seen government regimes which have inflicted inconceivable poverty and living conditions upon huge populations, and that seems to be a particular evil of the modern era.

So no, because of that, I don’t think efforts to *completely* stamp out poverty will ever succeed. However, I think my main point remains, which is that Christians (well, really, everybody, Christian or not) in the modern era are the first in history with the opportunity to fight for the end of poverty wherever it is possible. In other words, wherever it is not prevented by the presence of evil, oppressive systems of governance.

And of course, the rub is that one of the best ways we can do this is not by throwing money at poverty itself, but by fighting for the preservation and continuation of wisely-regulated free-market capitalism, which will do an infinitely better job than simple money ever could. This does not excuse us from our responsibility of getting right down into the mud with hands-on love of the poor, and thus it is not an excuse for inaction. Rather it is an expansion of our responsibility beyond what we have traditionally faced.

Holy cow this comment is long. I’ll wrap it up there. I hope my argument makes sense. Would love to hear what people think.

Anyway, just my two cents.

-StanTheMan

I agree….there is no way to stop it.

But how do we make the world better?

“One random act of kindness at a time.” – God (Morgan Freeman) Evan Almighty