Statistics released by the Corporation for Economic Development...
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Statistics released by the Corporation for Economic Development reveal the number of poor families has increased by 21% since 2009, so that now 1 in 4 American families is poor! The church needs to be more concerned about this reality. Though not a Christian, Mahatma Gandhi was on target when he wrote: "There are people in the world so hungry that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread."
Our neglect of the poor relates to our mad chase of more wealth for ourselves. Having money feels good and makes us feel important. That's why we devalue the poor. But a theologian of the church's first centuries named Lactantius gets our priorities straight: "Riches do not render men illustrious, except that they are able to make them more conspicuous by good works. For men are rich, not because they possess riches, but because they employ them on works of justice..." (Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 7, p. 151).
Money makes you somebody, when you use it to help others!
Our neglect of the poor relates to our mad chase of more wealth for ourselves. Having money feels good and makes us feel important. That's why we devalue the poor. But a theologian of the church's first centuries named Lactantius gets our priorities straight: "Riches do not render men illustrious, except that they are able to make them more conspicuous by good works. For men are rich, not because they possess riches, but because they employ them on works of justice..." (Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 7, p. 151).
Money makes you somebody, when you use it to help others!
