teachings from religions, both traditional and contemporary, about world poverty

•“the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil” - Paul

          •money feeds jealousy etc. and we may feel hatred towards others over it or do bad things 

•“you cannot serve both God and money” - Jesus

          •devoting yourself to money means you cannot devote yourself to God

          •this draws a distinction between temporal an eternal value - where one is temporary and the other may continue for eternity - dichotomy is at the heart of Christianity 

•“those who will not work shall not eat”

          •if people choose to be lazy, they shouldn't reap the rewards that others gain

          •it highlights that those who cannot work are not at blame for themselves 

•“love your neighbour as yourself”

          •if you see a person if suffering, you should try to help them as you would hope they would do to you 

•“it’s easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich person to enter the

  Kingdom of Heaven”

          •you cannot take your possessions to Heaven so you should work on your spiritual

           possessions

          •you should live by the eternal values of God and not temporal ones 

          •a huge difference in society means that empathy cannot exist - these values are opposite when there is so much poverty

•the parable of ‘The Good Samaritan’ teaches that people in need, need to be helped, even if they are of a different race or religion 

•spending life obsessively gaining money prevents Christians getting close to God or showing their love for God - the money should be used to help the poor and homeless instead