1 Salvation
The Bible clearly teaches that we are all born in sin. We read in Romans 3:23, “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” We face the penalty of death because of our sins, for the Bible also says that the soul that sins shall die. We need to be saved—granted pardon from that death sentence and delivered from the power of Satan.
Salvation is not just joining a church, accepting Christ, or turning over a new leaf and deciding to do better. To be born again is to be saved from our sins, forgiven, and made a new creature in Christ Jesus. When this happens, we are changed in a moment. This definite transformation is likened in the Bible to a new birth.
In John 3 we read an account of Jesus’ conversation with a man named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. Christ told him, “Ye must be born again.” Nicodemus asked, “How can a man be born when he is old?” He didn’t understand what Jesus was talking about, but Jesus explained that He was not referring to physical birth. He meant that man, because of the sin in his heart, needs to have a spiritual rebirth.
“Spiritual rebirth” and “born again” are other phrases that mean salvation. This salvation is possible for us because of the sacrifice Jesus Christ made on Calvary. He took the death penalty for our sins and died so that we might be free.
We receive the pardon He purchased for us when we repent and turn away from our sins. We come before a holy God and say, “Have mercy on me. Forgive me for the wrongs I have done. I turn my back on them.” God forgives those who wholeheartedly desire to turn away from any actions that would displease Him and who are willing to submit to His direction and will for their lives.
God is not a respecter of persons. He says, “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37). It doesn’t matter what your background has been, what church you have been in, or what kind of life you have lived, salvation is available to everyone.
How will you know you are saved? The Bible tells us, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). God’s Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, letting us know that we have been converted. We have a desire and purpose to live differently. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
If you are a child of God, you have been freed from the clutches of the devil. You have power to go and sin no more. Thank God for His forgiveness and for the salvation He has made available!
2 Sanctification
When we believe on Jesus Christ and become born-again Christians, the sins that we have committed are forgiven. That is the experience of salvation. However, the nature of sin is twofold. The second aspect of sin is the carnal nature inherited from Adam and Eve. Because they transgressed God’s commandment, they became sinners possessing a depraved nature, and that nature of sin was passed on to the whole human race. This can only be removed by sanctification.
Sanctification makes us pure—holy of heart—by removing the inherited inward tendency to sin. We are saved because Jesus Christ died on Calvary. Our sanctification, as well as our salvation, is available because Jesus, “that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate” (Hebrews 13:12). Holiness of heart comes about because God, through Christ’s sacrifice on a hill outside of Jerusalem, made a way that we can be freed from the depravity of human nature. We must not disregard or minimize this doctrine of sanctification, because it is essential in our Christian lives.
We are not claiming that sanctification makes us humanly perfect. We are not saying everything we do is exactly right from that point on. No, we are still human and thus subject to human error. We forget. We make mistakes in judgment. However, God gives us a holy purpose and purity of motive.
Sanctification is a dual process—our part and God’s part. The word sanctify means “to set apart or dedicate to a holy cause.” When our Portland church building was dedicated, we had a dedication service, praying that God might bless the building. That’s what might be called sanctifying the place, dedicating it for a holy purpose. In the same manner, we as individuals dedicate ourselves for a holy purpose. We humbly ask God to accept the offering of our lives and our service. We separate ourselves from the world, determining to shun every appearance of evil. We set ourselves to serve God and say, “O God, sanctify me.”
Then the second part of the sanctification process takes place as God does a spiritual cleansing of our inner man by purging us from the nature of sin. The glory of God fills our souls when we are sanctified, causing us to know that the work is done. Paul referred to this part of sanctification when he wrote to the Thessalonians, “The very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:23).
The doctrine of holiness is vital. We want to be sure that we are saved and sure that we are sanctified.
3 The Baptism of the Holy Ghost
God’s Word is definite about the importance of the baptism of the Holy Ghost. This is a different work from salvation or sanctification, and it is given for a different reason. Salvation is to justify. Sanctification is to cleanse. The baptism of the Holy Ghost is to empower, and the outward witness of that experience is the speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gives utterance.
Jesus’ last words to His disciples were a command that they should wait in Jerusalem until they received the Holy Spirit. His followers obeyed. We read in Acts 2:1, “When the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.” Read that verse carefully in the King James Version of the Bible. Note especially the words, “one accord.” Jesus had prayed that His disciples would be sanctified. And here we find that they were all in one accord. In other words, they had been sanctified.
The Spirit of God came down, because those who were praying had prepared their hearts to receive. “And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:2-4).
Some people teach that the baptism of the Holy Ghost was given only for the establishment of the Early Church. However, on the Day of Pentecost, Peter told the thousands who heard him preach that the promise was to them, and to their children, and to all who were afar off, “even as many as the Lord our God shall call” (Acts 2:39). That includes believers of our day.
God’s Word teaches us that the Holy Spirit is given to comfort and to counsel us. He will guide us into all truth and give us power and ability to be effective witnesses for Christ. He will bring to our memory the things that Jesus taught. He will direct our steps, give us hope and spiritual protection, help our infirmities, and bear us up in our weaknesses.
Are you saved? Are you sanctified? Have you received the baptism of the Holy Ghost? If not, seek God for these experiences.
sábado, 7 de junho de 2008
3 Steps
FOCUS ON FAITH
Focus on Faith
Is your faith on a sure foundation? Someday it will be tested!
All of us enjoy giving a gift that the recipient will really like. As I was growing up, and it was my father’s birthday or some other occasion when we planned to give him a present, I often looked for something made of genuine leather or stainless steel. It was a sure thing that a gift from either of those categories would be a success. My dad would look at it and say, “Genuine leather!” or, “This will last a long time; it’s stainless steel.” We could be sure he really appreciated that gift.
There is something the Lord really appreciates, and that is faith. In fact, we cannot please Him without it. In Hebrews 11:6 we read, “Without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Faith is a precious commodity in the sight of the Lord, and the wonderful thing is that God gives each of us a measure of faith—the very thing we need to please Him.
Put faith to work
The amount of faith we have is not as important as how much we are using the measure of faith given to us. You have enough faith, and I have enough faith, but we must exercise it—we must put it to work.
There is a formula in Scripture that lets us know how we can activate our faith. We find in Hebrews 4:2 that we must mix our faith with the Word of God. That is not difficult! As we read the Word of God, we find that there is something for us to do, and as we obey what the Word says, we get the desired results. It is that simple. It does not matter if we are young or if we have been serving the Lord for seventy years. This formula works.
In the Book of Exodus, we read about a mother who exercised her faith in God. Her name was Jochebed, and she was the mother of Moses. This woman lived at a time when the Israelites were in bondage to the Egyptians. Because the Israelites were multiplying rapidly, the ruler of Egypt decreed that when an Israelite woman gave birth to a male child, the child was to be thrown into the river. When Moses was born, Jochebed knew that his life was in danger. Her faith in God was tested. I am sure she communed with God, agonized in prayer, and pled with Him for the deliverance of her child. Her faith reached out and anchored in something besides her own reasoning or what she could do about the situation. She touched God in faith with her request for her infant son.
The day came when she realized she could not safely keep her son in their home any longer. I do not know how God gave her the plan, but she set about making a little basket out of bulrushes. We read that she pitched it within and without, and placed her baby inside. Then she carried the basket out to the Nile River—the very river where they were drowning the young male babies—and placed it among the bulrushes. She instructed Miriam, the child’s older sister, to stay at a distance and to watch that little basket. You can see the trial of her faith here. Would her child live or die?
Then came the reward of her faith. Pharaoh’s daughter came to bathe in the river and noticed the basket among the bulrushes. She had it brought to her and found that it contained one of the Hebrew babies. When the baby wept, her heart was touched, and she determined to keep the baby for her own. Then Miriam ran out and said, “Would you like me to get a nurse for the baby?” When the princess agreed, Miriam went and found Moses’ own mother to nurse and nurture that little child. What a reward for Jochebed’s faith!
Each of us must have a foundation for our faith and a trial of our faith. And someday, if we hold on, we will receive a reward for our faith.
The faith of a child
Faith is not difficult. We know this because little children have faith. One day, when my daughter, Robin, was very young, my wife was sick. Robin did not understand why her mother was not up and about. When I explained that Mom was sick, she told me very firmly that Jesus could make Mom better. I said, “That’s true. We could pray for your mom and Jesus could make her better.” Well, she wanted to pray right then. She said, “Let’s pray,” so we got down by her mom’s bed and prayed. Her prayer was just a few words long, and when she was done, she jumped up and said to her mother, “Get up!” Her mother got up, and the Lord healed her right there.
The starting point is a sure foundation for our faith. Many people have been raised in homes where it was customary to attend church. That is good and important, but it takes more than a church background to provide a solid foundation. Someday it will need to be your faith that reaches out, not Mom’s or Dad’s. Someday it will need to be your own prayer that God answers, not the prayers of the minister of your church. When that day comes, you need a firm foundation underneath you.
In 1 Corinthians 3:8-14, we read that the foundation of our faith is Jesus Christ. He is the One we must build upon, if our faith is to hold steady. There are all kinds of materials out there for us to build with, but we must build on the right foundation, because the day is coming when our faith will be tried. We do not know what we are made of until we have been tested.
In the building industry, when they pour concrete for big bridges and other structures, the construction engineers must be very precise regarding the ingredients, because that will determine how much the concrete can withstand. Inspectors test the concrete periodically as it goes down into the forms, performing what is called a slump test. They put the concrete in the form and then pull off the sleeve and do some calculations to see if the concrete holds its shape. It must measure up to the specifications so it will have the needed stability when the building is completed.
A test of faith
We all will be tested. Just as the faith that had been planted in Jochebed’s heart was tried, ours will be also. God wants us to stand the test. The beautiful thing is that we can do so, by the grace and help of God. There are all kinds of promises in God’s Word that will work for us when our faith is tested. We can take hold of one, and no matter how difficult the trial may be, we can exercise our faith and hold on.
I will never forget when my trial of faith came. It was in October of 1980, when a doctor’s diagnosis changed my life. I walked out to a waiting room where my wife sat, and I told her, “They think I have cancer.” I was just a young man, and I had three small children. What was ahead for me and my family?
The people of our churches around the United States began to pray for me. I believed God would heal me, but the tumor in my body grew to the size of a large grapefruit. Eventually, the cancer began spreading throughout my body, up my back and into my lungs. Many nights I rolled on the floor in pain, praying that God would give me strength and help me to hold on to Him.
There is one important thing to remember about trials and tribulation: they are only for a certain period. There is a time frame for every test, and God knows exactly how much we can take. He knows whether you can take ten seconds, ten minutes, or ten days, and He will not permit it to extend beyond what you can bear. He knows His business.
In His own time, the Lord healed me. The tissue became non-cancerous, but the specialist who told me so also said that all the praying in the world would not remove the tumor that remained. Today, however, that tumor is gone!
The reward of faith
We know that Jochebed held on. She triumphed in the trial of her faith, and God rewarded her. Her little son, Moses, one day became the promised deliverer of the Children of Israel. If we hold true, one day our faith, too, will have a reward. In the Book of Revelation, we read that the church at Smyrna was told, “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give you a crown of life.” In Revelation 22:12, it says, “And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” Are you looking for that reward for your faith in eternity? Make sure you are built on the right foundation, and hold on through every test. Someday it will be worth it all!
Is your faith on a sure foundation? Someday it will be tested!
All of us enjoy giving a gift that the recipient will really like. As I was growing up, and it was my father’s birthday or some other occasion when we planned to give him a present, I often looked for something made of genuine leather or stainless steel. It was a sure thing that a gift from either of those categories would be a success. My dad would look at it and say, “Genuine leather!” or, “This will last a long time; it’s stainless steel.” We could be sure he really appreciated that gift.
There is something the Lord really appreciates, and that is faith. In fact, we cannot please Him without it. In Hebrews 11:6 we read, “Without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Faith is a precious commodity in the sight of the Lord, and the wonderful thing is that God gives each of us a measure of faith—the very thing we need to please Him.
Put faith to work
The amount of faith we have is not as important as how much we are using the measure of faith given to us. You have enough faith, and I have enough faith, but we must exercise it—we must put it to work.
There is a formula in Scripture that lets us know how we can activate our faith. We find in Hebrews 4:2 that we must mix our faith with the Word of God. That is not difficult! As we read the Word of God, we find that there is something for us to do, and as we obey what the Word says, we get the desired results. It is that simple. It does not matter if we are young or if we have been serving the Lord for seventy years. This formula works.
In the Book of Exodus, we read about a mother who exercised her faith in God. Her name was Jochebed, and she was the mother of Moses. This woman lived at a time when the Israelites were in bondage to the Egyptians. Because the Israelites were multiplying rapidly, the ruler of Egypt decreed that when an Israelite woman gave birth to a male child, the child was to be thrown into the river. When Moses was born, Jochebed knew that his life was in danger. Her faith in God was tested. I am sure she communed with God, agonized in prayer, and pled with Him for the deliverance of her child. Her faith reached out and anchored in something besides her own reasoning or what she could do about the situation. She touched God in faith with her request for her infant son.
The day came when she realized she could not safely keep her son in their home any longer. I do not know how God gave her the plan, but she set about making a little basket out of bulrushes. We read that she pitched it within and without, and placed her baby inside. Then she carried the basket out to the Nile River—the very river where they were drowning the young male babies—and placed it among the bulrushes. She instructed Miriam, the child’s older sister, to stay at a distance and to watch that little basket. You can see the trial of her faith here. Would her child live or die?
Then came the reward of her faith. Pharaoh’s daughter came to bathe in the river and noticed the basket among the bulrushes. She had it brought to her and found that it contained one of the Hebrew babies. When the baby wept, her heart was touched, and she determined to keep the baby for her own. Then Miriam ran out and said, “Would you like me to get a nurse for the baby?” When the princess agreed, Miriam went and found Moses’ own mother to nurse and nurture that little child. What a reward for Jochebed’s faith!
Each of us must have a foundation for our faith and a trial of our faith. And someday, if we hold on, we will receive a reward for our faith.
The faith of a child
Faith is not difficult. We know this because little children have faith. One day, when my daughter, Robin, was very young, my wife was sick. Robin did not understand why her mother was not up and about. When I explained that Mom was sick, she told me very firmly that Jesus could make Mom better. I said, “That’s true. We could pray for your mom and Jesus could make her better.” Well, she wanted to pray right then. She said, “Let’s pray,” so we got down by her mom’s bed and prayed. Her prayer was just a few words long, and when she was done, she jumped up and said to her mother, “Get up!” Her mother got up, and the Lord healed her right there.
The starting point is a sure foundation for our faith. Many people have been raised in homes where it was customary to attend church. That is good and important, but it takes more than a church background to provide a solid foundation. Someday it will need to be your faith that reaches out, not Mom’s or Dad’s. Someday it will need to be your own prayer that God answers, not the prayers of the minister of your church. When that day comes, you need a firm foundation underneath you.
In 1 Corinthians 3:8-14, we read that the foundation of our faith is Jesus Christ. He is the One we must build upon, if our faith is to hold steady. There are all kinds of materials out there for us to build with, but we must build on the right foundation, because the day is coming when our faith will be tried. We do not know what we are made of until we have been tested.
In the building industry, when they pour concrete for big bridges and other structures, the construction engineers must be very precise regarding the ingredients, because that will determine how much the concrete can withstand. Inspectors test the concrete periodically as it goes down into the forms, performing what is called a slump test. They put the concrete in the form and then pull off the sleeve and do some calculations to see if the concrete holds its shape. It must measure up to the specifications so it will have the needed stability when the building is completed.
A test of faith
We all will be tested. Just as the faith that had been planted in Jochebed’s heart was tried, ours will be also. God wants us to stand the test. The beautiful thing is that we can do so, by the grace and help of God. There are all kinds of promises in God’s Word that will work for us when our faith is tested. We can take hold of one, and no matter how difficult the trial may be, we can exercise our faith and hold on.
I will never forget when my trial of faith came. It was in October of 1980, when a doctor’s diagnosis changed my life. I walked out to a waiting room where my wife sat, and I told her, “They think I have cancer.” I was just a young man, and I had three small children. What was ahead for me and my family?
The people of our churches around the United States began to pray for me. I believed God would heal me, but the tumor in my body grew to the size of a large grapefruit. Eventually, the cancer began spreading throughout my body, up my back and into my lungs. Many nights I rolled on the floor in pain, praying that God would give me strength and help me to hold on to Him.
There is one important thing to remember about trials and tribulation: they are only for a certain period. There is a time frame for every test, and God knows exactly how much we can take. He knows whether you can take ten seconds, ten minutes, or ten days, and He will not permit it to extend beyond what you can bear. He knows His business.
In His own time, the Lord healed me. The tissue became non-cancerous, but the specialist who told me so also said that all the praying in the world would not remove the tumor that remained. Today, however, that tumor is gone!
The reward of faith
We know that Jochebed held on. She triumphed in the trial of her faith, and God rewarded her. Her little son, Moses, one day became the promised deliverer of the Children of Israel. If we hold true, one day our faith, too, will have a reward. In the Book of Revelation, we read that the church at Smyrna was told, “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give you a crown of life.” In Revelation 22:12, it says, “And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” Are you looking for that reward for your faith in eternity? Make sure you are built on the right foundation, and hold on through every test. Someday it will be worth it all!
God’s Love
The stark realities of the world food crisis have made hunger a priority item on the agenda of American churches. With television bringing the hollow faces of starving children into our living rooms, it has become impossible for the community of faith to remain silent or unresponsive. It is tragic that millions must die before the crisis will capture the attention of the more prosperous peoples of the world; it will be doubly tragic if the church’s response remains at the superficial level of self-righteous charity.
The congregation that fasts, contributes money and studies hunger during Lent may feel that it has discharged its obligation of concern, but the meaning of the church as the people of God is much more intimately tied to the welfare of the hungry, the poor, the needy and the oppressed. What is demanded is no less than a renewed understanding of the church’s biblical and theological resources so that we might be in the vanguard of the movement to reorder values and priorities in a suffering world. As we respond to the crisis, we must also challenge the biblical and theological assumptions which have allowed the church to participate uncritically in structures that contribute to the root causes of global hunger and poverty. Only then will the church be free to join the attack on those underlying causes as it ministers to the immediate victims.
The biblical word on the relation of the community of faith to hunger and poverty is clear and unambiguous. It is therefore all the more surprising that in calling upon local churches to respond to hunger issues so little recourse has been made to biblical materials. What imperatives for concern with hunger and poverty are given to the community of faith in the biblical witness? What understandings from biblical theology should inform our acting out of that concern?
God’s Love for the Poor
Hunger and poverty cannot be separated in analyzing the biblical material. Hunger accompanies poverty. Famine can strike an entire land, rich and poor alike, but it is still the poor who go hungry while the well-to-do buy food from other lands (cf. Gen. 12:10; 42:1-2). In both the Old and New Testaments hunger is linked with other terms describing those who have been forced by societal conditions into a marginal existence -- the poor, the needy, the widow, the orphan, the oppressed.
God especially loves and cares for the poor: "‘Because the poor are despoiled, because the needy groan, I will now arise,’ says the Lord; ‘I will place him in the safety for which he longs’" (Ps. 12:5). "The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord and the poor among men shall exult in the Holy One of Israel" (Isa. 29:19). "For thou hast been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress" (Isa. 25:4). God will not forget or forsake the poor or the needy (Ps. 9:12, 17-18, 10:12; Isa. 41:17).
It is important to note that God’s love for the poor does not imply an acceptance of their condition. He loves them in order to deliver them from poverty. It is regarded as an evil (Prov. 15: 15), and God’s response is to deliver his people from it. God promises not merely to love the poor and the hungry but to be active in their behalf: "I will satisfy her poor with bread" (Ps. 132:15).
The congregation that fasts, contributes money and studies hunger during Lent may feel that it has discharged its obligation of concern, but the meaning of the church as the people of God is much more intimately tied to the welfare of the hungry, the poor, the needy and the oppressed. What is demanded is no less than a renewed understanding of the church’s biblical and theological resources so that we might be in the vanguard of the movement to reorder values and priorities in a suffering world. As we respond to the crisis, we must also challenge the biblical and theological assumptions which have allowed the church to participate uncritically in structures that contribute to the root causes of global hunger and poverty. Only then will the church be free to join the attack on those underlying causes as it ministers to the immediate victims.
The biblical word on the relation of the community of faith to hunger and poverty is clear and unambiguous. It is therefore all the more surprising that in calling upon local churches to respond to hunger issues so little recourse has been made to biblical materials. What imperatives for concern with hunger and poverty are given to the community of faith in the biblical witness? What understandings from biblical theology should inform our acting out of that concern?
God’s Love for the Poor
Hunger and poverty cannot be separated in analyzing the biblical material. Hunger accompanies poverty. Famine can strike an entire land, rich and poor alike, but it is still the poor who go hungry while the well-to-do buy food from other lands (cf. Gen. 12:10; 42:1-2). In both the Old and New Testaments hunger is linked with other terms describing those who have been forced by societal conditions into a marginal existence -- the poor, the needy, the widow, the orphan, the oppressed.
God especially loves and cares for the poor: "‘Because the poor are despoiled, because the needy groan, I will now arise,’ says the Lord; ‘I will place him in the safety for which he longs’" (Ps. 12:5). "The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord and the poor among men shall exult in the Holy One of Israel" (Isa. 29:19). "For thou hast been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress" (Isa. 25:4). God will not forget or forsake the poor or the needy (Ps. 9:12, 17-18, 10:12; Isa. 41:17).
It is important to note that God’s love for the poor does not imply an acceptance of their condition. He loves them in order to deliver them from poverty. It is regarded as an evil (Prov. 15: 15), and God’s response is to deliver his people from it. God promises not merely to love the poor and the hungry but to be active in their behalf: "I will satisfy her poor with bread" (Ps. 132:15).
Let's Help the Poor Out of Poverty
In the last few decades, some progress has been made in helping poor people overcome poverty across the world. However, hundreds of millions still remain trapped in poverty.
we live in a special moment in history. There are real reasons for optimism. Economic growth is fairly high, technological progress and the spread of new technologies around the world is rapid.
Meanwhile, market efficiencies are improving, democracy and freedoms are reaching an ever-larger number of people — and measurable progress has been made toward ending global poverty.
In one very possible future, we could virtually end extreme poverty in the next quarter century. But a different and far worse future is also all too possible. We could still lose the struggle to end global poverty. This is a time of dramatic change — and social and economic patterns have not become set.
In the developing world, instead of gaining new rights and freedoms, the poor could find themselves subjected to wider abuses and denial of basic rights. Hundreds of millions of people could sink further into hunger and disease, with large regions of the world trapped in poverty indefinitely.
Elites in the developing world, aided negligently by global business, could view globalization as an opportunity to exploit the poor more effectively.
we live in a special moment in history. There are real reasons for optimism. Economic growth is fairly high, technological progress and the spread of new technologies around the world is rapid.
Meanwhile, market efficiencies are improving, democracy and freedoms are reaching an ever-larger number of people — and measurable progress has been made toward ending global poverty.
In one very possible future, we could virtually end extreme poverty in the next quarter century. But a different and far worse future is also all too possible. We could still lose the struggle to end global poverty. This is a time of dramatic change — and social and economic patterns have not become set.
In the developing world, instead of gaining new rights and freedoms, the poor could find themselves subjected to wider abuses and denial of basic rights. Hundreds of millions of people could sink further into hunger and disease, with large regions of the world trapped in poverty indefinitely.
Elites in the developing world, aided negligently by global business, could view globalization as an opportunity to exploit the poor more effectively.
Jurema Suburb
CHILDREN-BRAZIL: Hunger, Poverty Create Breeding-Ground for Social Ills
In Brazil, Latin America's giant, 32 million children and adolescents live in families with incomes of less than 40 dollars a month.
In this country of 178 million, poverty pushes school-age children into the world of work and creates a breeding-ground for social ills like malnutrition, sexual exploitation, and violence against children.
Although there are no reliable statistics on child labour in Brazil, an estimated three million children under 14 work, 40 percent of them in agriculture, where the worst conditions are found and where work is generally incompatible with school attendance.
According to statistics from the National Confederation of Agricultural Workers, minors working on plantations cut an average of 2.3 tons of sugar cane a day, doing arduous work at an age at which their bone and muscle systems are not yet fully developed.
As adults they often suffer irreversible limb and joint problems and are at risk of cardiac and respiratory ailments. An International Labour Organisation (ILO) report released last week found that Brazil has the third largest number of minors working in domestic service -- a total of 559,000 -- surpassed only by South Africa and Indonesia. Most of them are girls who are kept by their employers as signs of social status. Very few of the domestics are able to attend school, and they frequently receive no remuneration, but merely room and board and minimal clothing, which relieves the pressure on their impoverished families by reducing the number of mouths to feed.
Sexual exploitation is another problem to which poor children in Brazil are vulnerable. But legislation promoted by various administrations.Violence is another serious problem facing minors in certain sectors of society. Every day, an average of four children and adolescents in Brazil are killed by the police, other minors, or common criminals. In addition, juvenile delinquents are subjected to harsh punishment when they are captured. Government reform schools inspire such fear that adolescents frequently try to pass themselves off as old enough to be sent to prison instead.
A report presented by non-governmental organisations in Brazil to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child on Jun. 11 cites the progress made in the fight against malnutrition and in expanding primary school coverage in Brazil, but states that the country still has a long way to go towards ensuring respect for the rights of children who run into problems with the law.
In Brazil, Latin America's giant, 32 million children and adolescents live in families with incomes of less than 40 dollars a month.
In this country of 178 million, poverty pushes school-age children into the world of work and creates a breeding-ground for social ills like malnutrition, sexual exploitation, and violence against children.
Although there are no reliable statistics on child labour in Brazil, an estimated three million children under 14 work, 40 percent of them in agriculture, where the worst conditions are found and where work is generally incompatible with school attendance.
According to statistics from the National Confederation of Agricultural Workers, minors working on plantations cut an average of 2.3 tons of sugar cane a day, doing arduous work at an age at which their bone and muscle systems are not yet fully developed.
As adults they often suffer irreversible limb and joint problems and are at risk of cardiac and respiratory ailments. An International Labour Organisation (ILO) report released last week found that Brazil has the third largest number of minors working in domestic service -- a total of 559,000 -- surpassed only by South Africa and Indonesia. Most of them are girls who are kept by their employers as signs of social status. Very few of the domestics are able to attend school, and they frequently receive no remuneration, but merely room and board and minimal clothing, which relieves the pressure on their impoverished families by reducing the number of mouths to feed.
Sexual exploitation is another problem to which poor children in Brazil are vulnerable. But legislation promoted by various administrations.Violence is another serious problem facing minors in certain sectors of society. Every day, an average of four children and adolescents in Brazil are killed by the police, other minors, or common criminals. In addition, juvenile delinquents are subjected to harsh punishment when they are captured. Government reform schools inspire such fear that adolescents frequently try to pass themselves off as old enough to be sent to prison instead.
A report presented by non-governmental organisations in Brazil to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child on Jun. 11 cites the progress made in the fight against malnutrition and in expanding primary school coverage in Brazil, but states that the country still has a long way to go towards ensuring respect for the rights of children who run into problems with the law.
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