Should I accept my own poverty and the poverty of others as divine punishment for past sins, or, should I work for Social Justice?

[Bartolome_Casas]

The Catholic Church teaches that every sin ordinarily must receive temporal punishment from God. Only eternal punishment in Hell can be waived by God.

In India, the Hindus generally do nothing to help those on poverty, since they view it as a divine punishment for sin that those in poverty must accept. Thus, India has vast, vast poverty. Mother Teresa began famous because she did not accept the Hindu view of poverty.

But the Catholic Church DOES teach that every sin must be punished and will be punished, either on earth or in Purgatory.

Many political Conservatives and Libertarians say directly that the poor must not be aided, and that even things like the Minimum Wage, Labor Unions, Unemployment Insurance, Anti-Child Labor Laws, Social Security, Medicare, Medicare should all be totally eliminated. Their view is that the poor should be given the message: “It’s up to you to live righteously and get out of poverty that way. If you chose to be unrighteous, and die as a result, well, that’s your fault, not mine.”

Maybe poverty is the result of sin, and we should have no mercy on the poor? No charities for them, no government programs like Unemployment Insurance?

Maybe all the alleged “Social Injustices” in the world are, like the Hindus, Conservatives, and Libertarians say, just divine punishment working its way through the world?

 

[Trishie]

Poverty is not a punishment, it is a condition of life that some people find themselves in, some through birth into poorer families, some through the uncaring of others, some because of economic conditions that cause high unemployment…there are many reasons why people can be poor.

Jesus and Mary’s family were poor. As a grown Man, Jesus sometimes had ‘nowhere to lay’ His head, as He Himself told us.

Charity is an essential part of our mission as Catholics

Pope Benedict writes in “Deus Caritas Est” vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20051225_deus-caritas-est_en.html

In the early Church, in fact, with regard to the daily distribution to widows, a disparity had arisen between Hebrew speakers and Greek speakers. The Apostles, who had been entrusted primarily with “prayer” (the Eucharist and the liturgy) and the “ministry of the word”, felt over-burdened by “serving tables”, so they decided to reserve to themselves the principal duty and to designate for the other task, also necessary in the Church, a group of seven persons. Nor was this group to carry out a purely mechanical work of distribution: they were to be men “full of the Spirit and of wisdom” (cf. Acts 6:1-6). In other words, the social service which they were meant to provide was absolutely concrete, yet at the same time it was also a spiritual service; theirs was a truly spiritual office which carried out an essential responsibility of the Church, namely a well-ordered love of neighbour. With the formation of this group of seven, “diaconia”—the ministry of charity exercised in a communitarian, orderly way—became part of the fundamental structure of the Church.

In Sollicitudo rei socialis, Pope John Paul 2 wrote:

“By virtue of her own evangelical duty the Church feels called to take her stand beside the poor, to discern the justice of their requests, and to help satisfy them.”
vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_30121987_sollicitudo-rei-socialis_en.html

 

[acarlson]

Poverty is absolutely not divine punishment for past sins. Catholic social teaching has aspects that fall under the Republican wing as well as some that fall under the Democrat wing; Catholic does not equal Republican nor Democrat (which some people tend to forget). Furthermore, the idea that poverty is punishment for sin is a twisted spin-off of Puritan Calvinist beliefs that stated the accumulation of wealth (prosperity) was a sign of salvation. The sin is in leaving the poor to fend for themselves because they “deserve it.”

 

[grandfather]

The Catholic Church teaches that every sin ordinarily must receive temporal punishment from God. Only eternal punishment in Hell can be waived by God.

In India, the Hindus generally do nothing to help those on poverty, since they view it as a divine punishment for sin that those in poverty must accept. Thus, India has vast, vast poverty. Mother Teresa began famous because she did not accept the Hindu view of poverty.

But the Catholic Church DOES teach that every sin must be punished and will be punished, either on earth or in Purgatory.

Many political Conservatives and Libertarians say directly that the poor must not be aided, and that even things like the Minimum Wage, Labor Unions, Unemployment Insurance, Anti-Child Labor Laws, Social Security, Medicare, Medicare should all be totally eliminated. Their view is that the poor should be given the message: “It’s up to you to live righteously and get out of poverty that way. If you chose to be unrighteous, and die as a result, well, that’s your fault, not mine.”

Maybe poverty is the result of sin, and we should have no mercy on the poor? No charities for them, no government programs like Unemployment Insurance?

Maybe all the alleged “Social Injustices” in the world are, like the Hindus, Conservatives, and Libertarians say, just divine punishment working its way through the world?

The Catholic Church and her saints have always cared for the poor. Jesus said those who feed the hungry, clothe the naked, care for the sick care for Him and will be blessed for it. If the government forces others to do works of charity then it is not charity. Mother Teresa cared for the poor and avoided government programs or assistance in her work. We sould love and care for the poor motivated by love not, because the government compels it.

 

[Trishie]

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

VI. LOVE FOR THE POOR

2443 God blesses those who come to the aid of the poor and rebukes those who turn away from them: “Give to him who begs from you, do not refuse him who would borrow from you”; "you received without pay, give without pay."232 It is by what they have done for the poor that Jesus Christ will recognize his chosen ones.233 When “the poor have the good news preached to them,” it is the sign of Christ’s presence.234

2444 “The Church’s love for the poor . . . is a part of her constant tradition.” This love is inspired by the Gospel of the Beatitudes, of the poverty of Jesus, and of his concern for the poor.235 Love for the poor is even one of the motives for the duty of working so as to "be able to give to those in need."236 It extends not only to material poverty but also to the many forms of cultural and religious poverty.237…

When we attend to the needs of those in want, we give them what is theirs, not ours. More than performing works of mercy, we are paying a debt of justice.241

vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a7.htm

 

[Bobby_Jim]

Well to begin with isn’t the Hindu notion dependent on reincarnation, that even a child born into poverty may be a carryover from a previous life? This is certainly not part of Christianity, nor the mainstream “conservative” beliefs in the US.

Also - I suspect Christian conservatives would draw a distinction between private charities or individuals supporting the poor and working for justice, versus the state using tax dollars to accomplish this.

It brings up larger issues of how to set priorities. On the one hand, government may tend to crowd out private giving and private charities, or take up a certain amount of money that individuals might otherwise devote to charity. On the other hand, private individuals sometimes have strange or misplaced priorities with their charitable giving, and some people or causes might go unserved. Some causes might also touch on larger issues of public good or public health, or have significant legal hurdles for private individuals or charities to get involved, in which case government is sometimes the only player. For better or worse.

As to the main question though, whether or not you should help the poor because maybe it’s just their own darn fault they’re poor - no, this is contrary to the Gospels. Jesus doesn’t say “when I was hungry, you asked me why, did a background check on me and decided whether or not it was my own fault, and then gave me food only if you thought I deserved it, after proving that I spent the last week looking for work and didn’t refuse any jobs that I thought were beneath me”, or “when I was thirsty, you found out that I was an English major college and so you didn’t give me anything to drink because I deserve to be poor for making such a stupid choice with my life”.

 

[Bobby_Jim]

And to extend my last post - the other extreme reaction would be to say “why should I help the poor? I already pay too much in taxes to the government and they pay women to sit around and have babies and not work and not get married, and unemployed people get to sit around and play video games all day and collect a check from the government for doing nothing, and my tax dollars pay for all those illegal immigrants that show up in the emergency room because they have a cold, and poor people in this country aren’t really poor, can you believe they all have TV’s and cell phones, and if they’re so poor then how come they’re all so fat, don’t tell me it’s my job to feed the poor!”

The 19th century analogy of that would be Mr Scrooge - are there no prisons? and the union work houses? The treadmill and the poor law? …I don’t make merry myself at Christmas and I can’t afford to make idle people merry. I help to support the establishments I have mentioned: they cost enough: and those who are badly off must go there." “Many can’t go there; and many would rather die.” “If they would rather die,” said Scrooge, “they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.”

 

[usnlt76]

It would be pretty silly to refuse someone help because they are hurting due to their own fault. Are we all not hurting due to our own sins, and didn’t Jesus help us? Much of the time our sufferings are in some way or another our own fault, but God doesn’t leave us to our suffering. We must do the same.

 

[AndyCothran]

The Catholic Church teaches that every sin ordinarily must receive temporal punishment from God. Only eternal punishment in Hell can be waived by God.

In India, the Hindus generally do nothing to help those on poverty, since they view it as a divine punishment for sin that those in poverty must accept. Thus, India has vast, vast poverty. Mother Teresa began famous because she did not accept the Hindu view of poverty.

But the Catholic Church DOES teach that every sin must be punished and will be punished, either on earth or in Purgatory.

Many political Conservatives and Libertarians say directly that the poor must not be aided, and that even things like the Minimum Wage, Labor Unions, Unemployment Insurance, Anti-Child Labor Laws, Social Security, Medicare, Medicare should all be totally eliminated. Their view is that the poor should be given the message: “It’s up to you to live righteously and get out of poverty that way. If you chose to be unrighteous, and die as a result, well, that’s your fault, not mine.”

Maybe poverty is the result of sin, and we should have no mercy on the poor? No charities for them, no government programs like Unemployment Insurance?

Maybe all the alleged “Social Injustices” in the world are, like the Hindus, Conservatives, and Libertarians say, just divine punishment working its way through the world?

The people that you mention who say these things are either Ingnorant , Malicious or both . While sin is the cause of all our problems unlitm,ately in this world , poverty is no divine punishment …