'like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural - it is man made and can be eradicated through the choice of human beings' -nelson mandela

watched some of the G8 concerts. heard nelson mandela say ' whilst poverty exists, no one can truely rest'... really? but i'm a christian...shouldn't beautiful waves of peace constantly wash over me?

parts of the body are living in extreme poverty. parts of the body are living in extreme wealth. that strikes me as odd. it doesn't seem to line up with things like sharing and being nice to your family. all the stuff we teach in kindy.

'we dare not rest until the scandal of starving christians is removed' sider

'it is a sinful abomination for one part of the world's christians so grow richer by the year while our brothers and sisters ache and suffer for lack of minimal health care, minimal education, and even in some cases-enough food just to escape starvation.' sider

'we have failed to comprehend the concept that the church worldwide is one body' sider

'would we build lavishly furnished buildings if members of our own congregation were starving?' sider

imagine if we christians actually shared our wealth equally with our global brothers and sisters. i've done the sums (based on If the World Were a Hundren People) and we (western christians) actually wouldn't come of to badly. turns out god really is a god of blessings and abundance. there's heaps for all his children...if they would just bloody learn how to share.
charlie