Does Christianity really care about improving the lives of the poor?

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   thegeckoposted 9 years ago

   Does Christianity really care about improving the lives of the poor?
   
   Or did Jesus just express that the poor will be favored and embraced by God in the Afterlife?
   
   

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2. 64

   Zelkiiroposted 9 years ago

   
   
   If you go by what the Bible says, Jesus explicitly told those who followed him that, if they want to enter the Kingdom of God, they must give their material possessions to the poor, leave their old lives behind, and travel the world preaching what Jesus taught. The followers of Jesus were to lead lives of asceticism, and put their belongings to better use--that is, in the hands of those who don't yet follow Jesus so that they may be inspired by the act of kindness and follow also. While Matthew 19:24 is a catchy verse, people often forget what happens before then--a rich man says, "Hey, how can I enter the Kingdom of God?" and Jesus says, "Keep the commandments, and here they are," but then the rich man says, "Yeah, I do all that, so what am I lacking?" and then this happens...
   
   Matthew 19:21-23, "Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me / But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions. / Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven."
   
   But if you go by what Christians actually do, then you'd be led into thinking Jesus' teachings consisted of "SCREW YOU, GOT MINE."
   
   You see, when Atheists get angry at Christianity (among other religions), it's not because they hate Jesus--hell, if Jesus were real, he sounds like a pretty swell guy who would be absolutely reviled by the Religious Right if he were alive today--but because they hate those who claim to follow Jesus yet adhere to absolutely none of the things he taught.

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      thegeckoposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you. This is what I was looking for :-)

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3. 84

   gmwilliamsposted 9 years ago

   
   
   While Christianity indicates that it abhors poverty, it glorifies poverty in its religious books and doctrine.  Christianity professes that the poor are more spiritual and morally superior than those who are wealthy.  Even in biblical verses, it extols the virtues of the poor person while denigrating the wealthy person.
   
   Early Christianity preached the ascetic life.  It proposes that the more impoverished one is and the more one suffers, the closer h/she is to God and is heaven bound.  The early church used the poor to increase their temporal power in addition to gaining followers for their religious cause.   Christian religionists saw the poor as their particular bank book.  Today, some religious authorities state how noble it is to be poor while enriching themselves.  Religionists need the poor in order to stay in power and to continue to oppress them with their destructive, negative doctrines in order to have and gain more followers.

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      celafoeposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      what you describe is churchianity (following apostate men)  it is not Christianity.

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