Free Markets (11) - Poverty?

Blaming the market for people being in poverty does not help them much. There are several reasons why a person may have lost their employment and become poor.

1. Their employer might have been hard hearted and enjoyed punishing people by destroying their work opportunities.
2. The employee might have been sinful and cheated their employer.
3. The people who brought their employers output may have found a better supplier, or changed their tastes. They may now be buying something different.
4. A pirate may be preventing the employer from getting their products to the market.

In the first case the employer is responsible for the poverty. In the second case, the employee is responsible. In the third case, no one is morally responsible. In the final example, the pirate is morally responsible.

Finding the real cause for the person losing their employment is more useful than blaming the market. Blaming the market is like blaming the football game for a football injury. If someone has sinned or done evil, they should be exposed and encouraged to repent. Christians with the spirit of wisdom and a prophetic edge should be really effective at exposing these evils. However, if the person is suffering was the result of a risky choice that went wrong, looking for someone to blame will not help. It is more helpful to give them some assistance.

God understood that economic uncertainty would result in some people ending in poverty through no fault of their own. In both the Old and New Testaments, he put in place methods for caring for the poor. The New Testament gives this responsibility to the church. This is what we are called to do. The church is responsible for the poor. If people are suffering on the street, the church is not doing its job.

This full article can be found here.