MDG #1 - Cut in half the proportion of people (starting at the 1990
proportion) whose income amounts to less than a dollar a day, and who
suffer from hunger.
Matthew 25: "I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you
gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me."
Leviticus 9:9-10 - "When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall
not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of
your harvest. You shall not strip your vineyard bare, or gather the
fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and
the alien: I am the Lord your God."
Psalm 146:5-7 - "Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord their God, who made heaven and earth, the
sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith for ever; who executes
justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry."
Isaiah 58:6-7 - "Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the
bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the
oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your
bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from
your own kin?"
Galatians 2:10 - "They asked only one thing, that we remember the
poor, which was actually what I was eager to do."
MDG #2 - All children - both girls and boys - should be able to
complete a full course of primary schooling everywhere in the world.
Proverbs 22:6 - "Train children in the right way, and when old, they
will not stray."
MDG #3 - Eliminate gender disparities in primary and secondary
education at all levels.
Galatians 3:28 "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer
slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are
one in Christ Jesus."
MDG #4 - Reduce the deaths of children under five years old by two-
thirds.
Mark 10:14 - "Jesus said to them, 'Let the little children come to
me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of
God belongs."
MDG #5 Reduce maternal mortality by three-quarters, so women need not
fear childbirth.
Exodus 20:12 - " Honor your father and your mother, so that your days
may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you."
Ephesians 6:2-3 - "'Honour your father and mother'-this is the first
commandment with a promise: 'so that it may be well with you and you
may live long on the earth.'"
MDG #6 - Halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS and the
incidence of malaria and other major diseases.
Matthew 4:23 - " Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their
synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing
every disease and every sickness among the people."
Matthew 8:16-17 - "That evening they brought to him many who were
possessed by demons; and he cast out the spirits with a word, and
cured all who were sick. This was to fulfill what had been spoken
through the prophet Isaiah, 'He took our infirmities and bore our
diseases.'"
Psalm 103:2-3 - "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all his
benefits- who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases."
Act 9:32-34 - " Now as Peter went here and there among all the
believers, he came down also to the saints living in Lydda. There he
found a man named Aeneas, who had been bedridden for eight years, for
he was paralysed. Peter said to him, 'Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you;
get up and make your bed!' And immediately he got up."
MDG #7 - Make drinking water safer and improve the lives of 100
million slum dwellers, while reversing the loss of environmental
resources. Integrate the principles of sustainable development into
country policies and programs and reverse the loss of environmental
resources.
Matthew 25:35 - "I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink."
Mark 9:41 - "For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to
drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the
reward."
MDG #8 - Enable donors, governments, corporations, faith-based
groups, non-governmental organizations, and individuals to work
together to achieve these goals.
Psalm 133:1 - "How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live
together in unity!"
John 10:16 - "I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I
must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice."
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 - "Two are better than one, because they have a
good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up the
other; but woe to one who is alone and falls and does not have
another to help. Again, if two lie together, they keep warm; but how
can one keep warm alone? And though one might prevail against
another, two will withstand one. A threefold cord is not quickly
broken."
Adapted from "The MDGs: Straight from Scripture".
Ann Fontaine
