Poverty: Are the poor to be blamed for their poverty?

[Mara]

Are the poor to be blamed for their poverty?

160:4:10  It requires intelligence to secure one’s share of the desirable things of life. It is wholly erroneous to suppose that faithfulness in doing one’s daily work will insure the rewards of wealth. Barring the occasional and accidental acquirement of wealth, the material rewards of the temporal life are found to flow in certain well-organized channels, and only those who have access to these channels may expect to be well rewarded for their temporal efforts. Poverty must ever be the lot of all men who seek for wealth in isolated and individual channels. Wise planning, therefore, becomes the one thing essential to worldly prosperity. Success requires not only devotion to one’s work but also that one should function as a part of some one of the channels of material wealth. If you are unwise, you can bestow a devoted life upon your generation without material reward; if you are an accidental beneficiary of the flow of wealth, you may roll in luxury even though you have done nothing worth while for your fellow men.

Aside from the subject of wealth, do you think poor people can get themselves  out of poverty?  Is poverty a choice?

[Gene]

I like to believe that given a choice, anyone would do whatever it takes to lift themselves out of poverty.

[Mara]

Mara wrote:

Is poverty a choice?

I probably asked the wrong question.   As you say Gene, “. . . given a choice, anyone would do whatever it takes to lift themselves out of poverty.”  I do not think people choose poverty or prefer poverty.  I guess what I’m asking is: if poor people want to lift themselves out of poverty, can they do it?  Can they grab their bootstraps, so to speak, and pull themselves up to a better standard of living? If people want out, can they get out by force of their own determinations and decisions?

I wondered what Jesus thought about it.  I thought he said something to the effect that the poor will always be with us –  “. . . let me say that you have the poor always with you so that you may minister to them at any time it seems good to you . . . .” (172:1:6)

140:8:12  The Master did not say that men should never entertain their friends at meat, but he did say that his followers should make feasts for the poor and the unfortunate. Jesus had a firm sense of justice, but it was always tempered with mercy. He did not teach his apostles that they were to be imposed upon by social parasites or professional alms-seekers. The nearest he came to making sociological pronouncements was to say, “Judge not, that you be not judged.”

[Bradly]

We need to watch our Western and economically developed “bias”.  Most people in poverty around the world are culturally and circumstantially born into and trapped into poverty.

As far as “Western” poverty is concerned….are you impoverished if you have a car and  color tv and AC and tattoos and are overweight and kids are in school?  Or are you making bad choices?  I’d say it’s 80% bad choices and priorities.

There’s an economic theory that proposes that if all the money/wealth in the world were seized and proportionately redistributed that it would take less than a decade for it to substantially return to its prior positions due to the inherent differences in personal judgement and management which makes capital flow according to the “laws of capital”.  While I think this an exaggeration in some ways, it’s hard to deny the premise or the conclusion.

Life is far more fair than those who claim it to be unfair believe – or that is so where there is sufficient freedom of choice and self determination that most results are the results of free will.

[Gene]

I spent a year in an extremely impoverished country and the people were very ambitious and creative making the best out of what they had to work with.

 

[Bonita]

Rodan said, ” . . .  it requires intelligence to secure one’s share of the desirable things of life.”  There are a couple things to consider in that one little statement:  What is intelligence, what are the desirable things of life and what is considered one’s “fair share”?

 

[Keryn]

Poverty is rarely, if ever, a sole condition.  Most people who are in poverty also have multiple other challenges such as poor health, addiction, mental illness,  being born in servitude, intellectually inferior, or isolated of no fault of their own.

 

So, no.  The poor are not to be blamed for their poverty.

[Bonita]

When it comes to poverty, I think what really matters is willingness to take responsibility for your life and do the best you can.  Then, when you have faithfully done your duty to your fullest ability, accept your lot in life with gratitude. Sometimes even your best effort falls short, but that is reality.  Those who try their hardest and still fail are the neediest.  It’s all about the attitude.  Some people don’t have the right attitude, and some don’t even try.  I think this is why Jesus required that alms only be given with his permission or with the approval of at least two apostles.

140:8.13  He made it clear that indiscriminate kindness may be blamed for many social evils. The following day Jesus definitely instructed Judas that no apostolic funds were to be given out as alms except upon his request or upon the joint petition of two of the apostles. In all these matters it was the practice of Jesus always to say, “Be as wise as serpents but as harmless as doves.” It seemed to be his purpose in all social situations to teach patience, tolerance, and forgiveness.

[André]

Hi friends,

I’m asking is: if poor people want to lift themselves out of poverty, can they do it? _{post • 21407  Mara}

Otherwise: if rich people want to lift themselves out of wealth, can they do it?

Both situations required to have good educational tools. No need to tell you, education do not refer as our self-centered needs.

Here in Québec, we have an expression who serves to illustrate a collective conditioning address once by Catholic church to French speaking flock (ouailles) as lack ambitions, resignation, fatalism: hopeless future.

“Être né pour un petit pain.”  “Born with a wooden spoon in one’s mouth.”

Regardless, how you approach the situation, independently at which end you stand … cul-de-sac (dead end) await you due to ignorance.

Question:   Which ignorance, I’m referring to ?

Thanks Mara,

André

[Author]

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