THE GREAT CHASM BETWEEN "HAVES" AND "HAVE - NOTS" / THE GLOBAL APARTHEID

THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS (Luke 16:19).  

1. In this famous parable, Abraham  said : " Between you and us a great chasm has been fixed - the gap between the "haves" and "have-nots". In many societies and across the globe, the gap between those who are wealthy and those who are poor is indeed becoming a great chasm. It grows more and more difficult for those who are poor and destitute to improve their lot in life. We hear about millionaires becoming billionaires, many of  whom seem to have little or no regard for the millions of people who go without in the world. This parable speaks volumes to the inequities in our world and to our responsibility to be concerned for all the Lazaruses at our door. 

2. Christian social teaching asserts that we must advocate for a living wage for all workers. A living wage is the minimum hourly wage necessary for a person to achieve a basic standard of living above the poverty line. Paying higher wages is sometimes difficult for small business owners who fear it may raise operating costs and put them out of business. However, it is certainly no excuse for failing to give workers the wages they need to adequately survive. ( The Catholic Youth Bible)

3. "Be on your guard against all kind of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions"(Luke 12:15)

4. THE GLOBAL APARTHEID.  When we look around, we see God's children suffering everywhere. The poor are getting poorer, the hungry getting hungrier, and all over the world you see many of God's children suffering oppression and treated as if they were rubbish. You would not be mistaken to call the situation between the haves and the have-nots, between the powerful and the powerless, a form of global aprtheid.  Children are dying - are dying from poverty, are dying from preventable disease. Imagine your dearly baby, your infant, your child, expiring before your very eyes for lack of food or of fairly cheap inoculations. Getting kwashiorkor because of not having enough to eat. Contracting cholera just because of a lack of clean water.( Desmond Tutu).

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