Tag: Slavery

Freedom from the slavery of poverty

Freedom

Bangledeshi kids
Bangladeshi kids

The desire for freedom is one of the most basic human needs. Wars and civil wars have been fought to seek freedom. This article explains how extreme poverty, and relative poverty, can be expressed as a lack of basic freedom.

Slavery involves a total lack of freedom over every aspect of  life. A slave has no rights, no income and no hope of a better life. Extreme poverty means that in terms of freedom, people living under extreme poverty are virtual slaves to that poverty. They can no more set themselves free than a slave can, by self-effort, become a free man or woman. Even people living in relative poverty lack freedoms in various ways. Continue reading “Freedom from the slavery of poverty”

Will we always have the poor among us?

Poverty in Uganda
Poverty in Uganda

Is extreme poverty inevitable? Is it possible to eliminate it? Will we always have the poor among us or will people eventually say, “it is no longer acceptable to have others living this way”?

Jesus was in the home of Simon the leper. A woman came with a jar of expensive perfume and poured it over his head. Judas Iscariot objected and said the perfume, worth a years wages, could have been sold and the money given to the poor.

Jesus replied with a verse that is often misquoted, or quoted out of context.

“You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me”
(John 12 verse 8)   Continue reading “Will we always have the poor among us?”

Modern Slavery

Slavery has existed throughout human history and still exists in the world today in various forms. Estimates of people living in slavery vary, but it is probably between 12 million and 27 million. But in most countries of the world, slavery is illegal. So how come it is still tolerated? Continue reading “Modern Slavery”