In some ways we are no different from any other species on earth. We are creatures subject to the usual conditions of space and time. But we know that human beings ’stand out’ from other beings in several ways. Some of these are plain enough; they partly explain humankind’s superiority over other creatures: our creativity, our intellectual, linguistic and cultural achievements.
But the Bible adds a further and remarkable point. People stand out not by what they do but by what they are. This is expressed right at the beginning, in the creation story of Genesis 1. God said, ‘Let us make man in our image after our likeness.’ It is a theme taken up and developed in other parts of the Bible: we are not like the other creatures; we share God’s nature in a special way. Read more
God is, but what is God like? The question is not merely academic, because if what we think about God is basically wrong, we may be worshipping a false God, an idol. And what we worship shapes us. We tend to take on something of the character of what we worship — money, pleasure, success, God, or anything else. So if we will worship God, we must think of him as he is. Otherwise the false image we worship will distort our motives and twist our personalities. Read more
God meant mankind to live in a garden, sin has sent him to the slums. The gospel is the power of God to save us from sin, therefore from poverty as well. Jesus often interpreted his ministry as ‘bringing good news to the poor’.
There are three major ways in which sin produces poverty.
- Sin separates people from the true God. But because humanity cannot live without God, we invent false gods. Often people worship creation rather than the creator. Societies that worship creation lose that ability to subdue and manage it which is essential for economic prosperity.
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