2011 We can change things.

[Chris]

At church yesterday my pastor spoke of world wealth, I live in a wealthy country by world standards. he explained the distribution of wealth in the world like this:

20% of the word has 80% of the wealth/income. that means if 10 farmers had 10 cows to share 2 farmers have 8 cows between them. 8 farmers have 2 cows to share to feed more people than the 2 farmers with 8 cows.
I do know this from prior looking it up.

If you own a pair of shoes you are lucky, if you own 2 pairs of shoes you are way up there by world standards.

If you live in a house with running tap water and a flush toilet you are the envy of lots of the world.

if you own a car its like top 10% of world, if you own 2 cars top 6%. To tell you the truth most people I know are filthy rich in my country by world standards I think we need to give of what the lord blessed us with. Thats my conviction this year writing this will make me do it.

why this post is here is because I just read a post from another forum where the person who posted it cant pay for anything or even eat salad because it is so expensive in a country covered in snow. Ok so I am bleeding heart but...

Us guys in rich countries can change things. The lord if we give will give us more to give with

 

[Hitch]

Sell your computer give the money to the poor.

 

[Chris]

Sell your computer give the money to the poor.

we could but what if i don't need to but can give to the poor anyway because the lord pulled me out of poverty myself and put me in a better position.I remember how it was. The poor and suffereing are to be taken seriously

 

[Hitch]

we could but what if i don't need to but can give to the poor anyway because the lord pulled me out of poverty myself and put me in a better position.I remember how it was. The poor and suffereing are to be taken seriously

I dont know you at all ,but the impression I get is that you would prefer giving someone elses property to the poor, at least over setting an example ,as suggested. Im curious as to the mechanism you think of in order to clean up the 'filthy rich' as you put it?

 

[Mike]

I understand there are poverty issues, and we have an obligation to address needs, but whenever I see a thread like this, I just don't know where the conclusion lies. Almost everyone could do with less than what we have, so where is the line drawn between being a conscientious steward of our resources and feeling guilty for having anything at all? People often look to what others have who have more and point the finger. But behind these people are countless others who have even less.

Someone could say a person shouldn't have a big SUV and feel justified in saying so because they drive a Yugo. But there's a person who rides a bike to work who could point the finger at the Yugo owner. Where does it end? How much do we have to give away before we have amply driven ourselves into poverty? We should all be open to give as we are lead, but we shouldn't be guilt-ridden for having anything at all. Jesus said to give up everything, but I see that as a state of the heart. If we hold what we have with an open hand and not a tightly closed fist, we will be open to giving as the Lord leads us.

 

[Hitch]

Right Mike ,when it comes to charity there is no giving but that which is freely given .

 

[reba]

Guess we lost the 1964 war on proverty. By how many millions? hmmm bet it cost more than the one in Iraq..


Free willl giving is not TAXES.

 

[Chris]

I dont know you at all ,but the impression I get is that you would prefer giving someone elses property to the poor, at least over setting an example ,as suggested. Im curious as to the mechanism you think of in order to clean up the 'filthy rich' as you put it?

dont worry if if it didn't appeal to you don't be offended

 

[Chris]

its all good guys the usual response from people in western countries about this topic is most are wallowing in self pity about why they don't have the wealth the guy next door does. It often falls on deaf ears....I tried.

 

[Hitch]

its all good guys the usual response from people in western countries about this topic is most are wallowing in self pity about why they don't have the wealth the guy next door does. It often falls on deaf ears....I tried.

Hmm maybe my example idea was the way to go ?

 

[Chris]

I dont know you at all ,but the impression I get is that you would prefer giving someone elses property to the poor, at least over setting an example ,as suggested. Im curious as to the mechanism you think of in order to clean up the 'filthy rich' as you put it?

ok mate for your smart comment why you pick on my for trying to change things? people are suffereing shouldn't we try. if you feel you are exempt it is cool I'm not. I am the most accountable person there is for needing to give. Its ok mate you dont have to feel you need to give anything.

 

[Hitch]

ok mate for your smart comment why you pick on my for trying to change things? people are suffereing shouldn't we try. if you feel you are exempt it is cool I'm not. I am the most accountable person there is for needing to give. Its ok mate you dont have to feel you need to give anything.

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Re: 2011 We can change things.

its all good guys the usual response from people in western countries about this topic is most are wallowing in self pity about why they don't have the wealth the guy next door does. It often falls on deaf ears....I tried.
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</B>

Will the real Chris please stand up?

Perhaps you believe this is an invalid question ;

'Im curious as to the mechanism you think of in order to clean up the 'filthy rich' as you put it?'

I have to admit from your lashing out and condemnations of people you've never met or even spoken to on the phone that you might prefer forcing folks to see things your way. Just an observation.
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[Chris]

"We are poor. We struggle to pay the bills and feed ourselves. I would love to eat green salads, but you can imagine how expensive they are in a country where you have snow for 6 months. So mostly I eat cooked rice.
I don't like being poor, neither do they. I have used affirmations to try to break it but there has been no effect so far.
Today, again, I was fantasizing of dying. To end this misery."

Its the post from another forum today that encouraged me to write this. her desperation right after I ate asalad sandwich that mostly cost me nothing from my garden.

I could just go out the back and get her a salad meal out of my garden it is like 6 feet from me fresh . It breaks my heart to see this, I want want to help so i put it to my brethren to let us stop this and help in whatever way we can. that person is probably one of billions in the world.


@hitch sorry I asked dude..don't worry. please forget I brought it to your attention.

today i an sick have fevers and am not my usual polite self sorry for bad comments. No offense intended anfd sorry if it made any of you guys feel unnecessarily guilty, I was just trying to help.



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[jasoncran]

mike said it best as that is the truth.

one should decide for oneself and not another what they feel is too much.

i bought a house that i thought was more than enough for me, and i could have gotten a larger one for the same price, but i didnt since i dont have kids.

i drive an aging truck, both of them are owned and i maintain them, most of what i have is paid for.

some would say that i make too much? if they only knew my situation.

and i was poor as a kid due to mainly my parents inability to manage money.

so i have been the modern welfare thing a time or two and its not much.

if you make just one dollar over the set max your given the boot.

so we just encourage laziness?

 

[reba]

To these people who want everyone to GIVE. Until you have given all don't judge someone else. If you have even a slight bit more then the guys who chooses not to help himself , and you complain about others not giving. You are a hypocrite.

Do you know what the other guy has given? Or do you just assume because there is poverty that no one gives. Poverity has many causes one being laziness.

When looking for a job do you go to the the lazy poor guy?

People should help others who need help. People NOT governments. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p> </o:p>

 

[handy]

How right Jesus was when He said, "The poor you will always have with you."

I'm approaching this subject from a different perspective, Chris.

Rather than the redistribution of wealth, let's focus instead on working towards equal opportunity for all.

I grew up poor, really poor. We went through one season where we had pinto beans for supper, a small bowl oatmeal for breakfast and a slice of bread with cold pinto beans spread on it for lunch. This went on for a whole entire winter. I won't eat pinto beans to this day because of how sick I got of them during that time.

But, because we live in America, "the land of opportunity", we got out of that kind of poverty. Dad and mom worked hard, very hard. During my whole 5th grade year they left the house before I got up and got home about a half/hour before I went to bed because they worked such long hours. However, by the time I was in 7th grade, we had bought a house. In high school, we not only had a house, but a sailboat and a tent-trailer RV and spent most of the summer at the lake. We went from poverty to a comfortable middle-class. I went to college even, something out of the question for my parents.

My folks did this without any government programs also. And, they did it during the 70's, not a stellar economic time. As a matter of fact, they lost the house we bought, but were still able to buy again.

Taking money from a "rich" guy (and we can get into endless arguments as to what constitutes "rich") and giving it to a poor person won't accomplish all that much in the long run. Remember the old adage: "Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime." How true!

But, there is more to it than even that...most areas of the world that experience extreme poverty do so not because of lack of resources, nor lack of wealth even. Rather, it is the lack of equal opportunity. Most of these very poor nations are ruled by tyrants and dictators who see to it that the masses of people stay weak and without so that they can hold onto what they have. Or are ruled by cartels which keep the government in chaos so that they can operate their illegal enterprises.

Then, there is the poor that are that way because of their own choices and outlook on what is due to them. Hurricane Katrina taught me a lot about how things work in the real world. New Orleans had been a political cesspool since time immemorial. Money that was supposed to go for shoring up levees, money that was supposed to go to renewing the infrastructure...somehow didn't get the job done and we are talking billions of dollars over the years. The poor of New Orleans had been taught to let "Big Brother Government" take care of you. This wasn't the case throughout the entire Gulf Coast region, but it was in New Orleans. Then Katrina hit. Many, in fact most, cities and towns made preparations, did evacuations, and went in afterward and cleaned up. Life went on. New Orleans...well, we all know what happened there and the best the media could come up with was to blame President Bush, like it was all his fault. Yeah.

So, instead of making 2011 the year that we continue on with the idea of blaming the rich for the problems of the poor, let's concentrate on that which truly makes folks poor: lack of opportunity in some places and lack of self-reliance in other places.

We will always have the poor around. That has been true since society began. But, we can level the playing field and work with individuals and teach children from early on that they can succeed and achieve security on their own.

I think this is a much better plan that taking money from those who have, giving it to those who have not and teaching children that they are entitled to a free lunch.

 

[handy]

btw, Chris....hope you get better!

 

[farouk]

Redistribution of wealth is what the communists supposedly were trying to do and manifestly it didn't work.

Paul did say in the New Testament, we 'should remember the poor', and this we should certainly do.

 

[reba]

Nicely said Handy

 

[Oats]

wealth is relative


I work a part-time Job and all of my money goes to bills and duties. This would be the same as someone who lives in Africa and works pay check to pay check


Of course you may say we have it better here in America,

which may be true, but if i wanted a cheaper place i'd be out of luck

Americans and other countries do help some....but for the most part things never work out....


The world is just going to get worst

People in third world countries are treated like crap...this is true


But the answer is not giving them money....

because it is better to be poor....

the answer is giving them Christ