Poverty and Religiosity as Bridges to other Faiths
Poverty does not choose who to strike or who not to, and neither does it focus on one religion over the other. However, many people believe that poverty is dictated by a specific religion, a speculation which is not true. This discussion will focus on the following characteristic that explains religion and poverty as a bridge to other faiths; Intense Social Stratification, Omnipresence of Poverty, The Transience of Life, and Philosophical Detachment with Africa as the specific community.
Intense social stratification
Social stratification is the act of forming hierarchies among people so as to distinguish one group from another. Most of these groups are formed according to the powers, with some expected to have an advantage over the others, meaning that the topmost people will enjoy all they want while the disadvantages will suffer. Many Christians have been victimized by social stratification especially in the global south, but they cling to the Biblical teachings and opt to do what is right for them by helping others faithfully. In the book of James 1:9-10 says that a person in a humble setting should take pride in their high position, but the rich one should take pride in their low position simply because they will one day pass away like the way a flower does. Again, God has chosen those people poor in the eyes of the world to be the riches of their faith so that they can inherit the kingdom of God as He promised.
The global south experiences social change simply because their economies are destructed, but they are left with no choice. Africans may be willing to change, but the majority fall as victims of economic disadvantages due to the wealth that is unevenly distributed in their communities. Ecclesiastes 2:26 says, “To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind”. In other words, Christians use this teaching to show that the search of wealth is a burden because whoever has it will one day pass away and whatever they struggled to look for will be in the possession of someone else who did not toil to earn it. Therefore, Christians use it to reach many cultures and help those who are victimized because of their social standing.
Proverbs 14:31 goes ahead to show how people are in the eyes of the creator in that those people that show love to the poor honor God, but those who are harsh to the poor disrespect the creator. This verse helps the victimized people in the society, showing them that they deserve to be respected regardless of their financial background. Christians should not disregard the poor because it will be another way of disrespecting God whom they serve, and it helps people from Africa to lead a decent life even though they have nothing. Actually, this verse gives relevance of Christianity to African people and helps them in a time of challenges because they believe that poverty does not define who they are in the eyes of the God.
Omnipresence of poverty
It cannot be denied that most of the Christians live in poverty. Mathew 5:8 talks of the poor in the heart saying that they will see God. However, physical poverty is real, and it becomes hard for a poor Christian to convince a non-believer to get saved. The global southern people live in poverty while at the same time, the global northerners such as Canadians live in riches, and this becomes extremely hard to convince them anything to do with Christianity. James 2:1-8 talks about the poor and the rich, encouraging Christians not to show favor on the basis of the material things that one has. It also becomes difficult for people to fully understand the scripture, as poverty does not affect global South in the same measures it affects global north. This prevents the importance of the world of God preventing Christians from sharing it, and in the same measures, it prevents people from other faiths from developing an interest in the scripture.
King Solomon in the Old Testament is termed as the wisest King, and in some of his teachings, he said that poor people are hated by their neighbors, but the rich people are loved by many others (Proverbs 14:20). He said these words in a good will, but many people especially non-Christians may never understand how a king could define poverty given that he has never been poor all his life. Ecclesiastes 4:13 says that a poor but a wise youth is better than an old but foolish king who does not know how to take warning. The teaching shows that it is better to live in a poor country that understands and pay attention to the warnings of God that a wealthy country that disregards God’s law and makes their own. The teaching coincides with say Africa and the United States. Most of the African countries are hated by their neighboring countries because they are poor, and likewise, many people love the United States because they are rich. However, Africans would rather be poor and obey the teachings of the Lord, than become rich while disregarding the teachings of God. A good example is the approval of same-sex marriage in the United States, which against Biblical teachings. Besides, consistent poverty in Christians lives a room for the nonbelievers to weaken the effort of Christianity to spread the word of God to those people who may be willing to receive Him.
The transience of life
The transience of life shows the beginning of Christianity and its instability, and the forces that drive Christianity to continue sharing the word of God with people of other faiths. Generally, the transience of life shows the quality of life and how short it is. In the beginning, Eastern countries had dominated on Christianity, but later, a division that was inescapable cropped up leading to division over the body of Christ. That was when Catholic and Orthodox emerged with varying beliefs about Christ, claiming that he had two natures. Nestorius and his people accepted the fate of the nature of Christ, but they objected the fact that Virgin Mary was the mother of Jesus, and this led to them being cast out in 431 A.D at Ephesus. Later on, Easterners and Egyptians became Monophysites because of believing in Christ’s one nature, but they were ruled out by the Ecumenical Council in 451 A.D and announced heretical. At this time, Orthodox became the rulers and the command of the empire and executed the heretics.
Global south such as Africa and Asia had a chance to be larger in number than the Orthodox, but some of the religions were realized to die speedily and other faiths reduced. Besides, Manichaean had some followers from global north such as in Central America, but they no longer exist nor their faith, meaning that Christianity was destroyed by other religions that had more power. Whatever has happened in Africa is proof that Christianity is under persecution, but many people accept to be whom they are and to cling to the one they believe in. Therefore, most of the Christians accept the gospel and many churches have been planted with preachers imposing the law of Paul of Apostles in their churches.
Some of the African Christian leaders speak against churches in the United States which neglect the teachings from the Bible, but the fact is that they live in a tradition that speaks against the word of God. A Large number in the global north are believed to lose their lives through tsunamis due to the negligence in the world of God, but those who die in Africa due to HIV are not spoken about. Therefore, the transience of life happens all the way, and people are reminded to go back to where they came from. They are reminded to abandon their evil ways and turn back to righteousness because life is short and people live once. Hence, there is a huge diverse witnessed in the global south churches than those in the global north.
Philosophical detachment
Poverty and religions are the connectors of people of different faiths in the global south. Most of them live in poverty, and they also have loyalty towards the religion they believe in. Besides, they have the same economic background and work together in an attempt to lead a better life or move out of poverty regardless of their faiths. It is through the search of a better life that people connect to people of other faiths, either knowingly or unknowingly because they have a similar mission.
However, on the basis of philosophical detachment, the Bible hails detachment and self-control which is the principle objective to Christianity and Hinduism, and the book of James addresses the aspect of poverty and sincere religion. James 1:2 says that people should be happy when they face trials because trials develop the spirit of perseverance. James 5:1 warns the rich warning them that their riches will consume them. Besides, evil comes from the inside of a person because they have unnecessary desires and talk while drunk creating conflicts. Evil desires and conflicts detach people from each other, and this enlarges the gap between Christianity and other faiths. Therefore, James uses his teachings to address the global south to endure their trials and avoid any circumstance that may lead to conflicts. When this is done, it connects the people of various faiths, and believers to non-believers thereby encouraging poor people that they are not abandoned. Therefore, the Southern Churches are encouraged to proclaim the world of God in love and wisdom, in order to bring people together, rather than scattering them.
Bibliography
Jenkins, John Philip. The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia--and How It Died. Harper Collins, 2008.
Jenkins, Philip. The new faces of Christianity: Believing the Bible in the global south. Oxford University Press, 2006.
Jenkins, Philip. Believing in the Global South. First Things 168 (2006): 12.
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McAlister, Margaret. Human Rights: Politics of Persecution. Washington, DC: Middle East Research. 2011
Provan, Iain William. Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs. Zondervan, 2001.
