Caring for the poor

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Lemuel said:
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Xanthippe_Voorhees:
Right now, you are doing nothing.
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No I’m still raising my children. In a sense. And I am doing something. On Monday I’m taking a vacation day at work and contributing it to a needy family in terms of time, money and labor. A group of us will be doing significant improvements to a house for a family who can’t afford it. My wife and three of our kids will be there. It will be a long hard day. All without the help of mommy government. You can say that’s nothing if you choose. It doesn’t hurt my feelings. But I think it’s better than voting. To me there’s a big difference between praying for the poor and actually digging into your pocket and giving to the poor. A vote is a prayer. Service is where the rubber hits the road.
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It is nothing.

Doing things for your own family is part of life and being a halfway decent human being. Believe me, I’ve helped my family move enough for many life times. I have 3 brothers and my husband has 2 sisters. Plus we have a dozen family like friends. Those are long, hard days and its part of life.

Again, you are against a system you won’t contribute to.

A vote is not a prayer. The selectman who goes to my church and has pushed out PP in favor of the crisis pregnancy center didn’t get elected by prayers. She got elected because she is good at what she does, which is pro-life, pro-family work.
 
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Lemuel said:
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Xanthippe_Voorhees:
It is nothing.
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I’m sure the mother with three kids in a dilapidated home would disagree but that’s okay. I’m happy to do nothing for her.
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To the world, yeah, it kinda is. You do for family. Wozza. That’s not what God asks of us. Not at all. That’s even Biblical. God wants us to be out doing things for family AND for others. You’re not raising your children, you are doing someone a favor. Not everyone has a family…
 
And what did I say about doing things for my own family? Just curious why you worded it that way.
 
It’s been answered. Jesus commands us to give to Caesar. What Caesar does with that money is up to Caesar. If Caesar has even an ounce of Christian morality, he will seek to help the poor.
 
That has nothing to do with my question. But thanks anyway. There’s a few here who get it.
 
Lemuel said:
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Xanthippe_Voorhees:
That’s not what God asks of us. Not at all.
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God doesn’t ask us to help the poor and needy? Gosh I must have been imagining it I guess. I have a lot to learn.
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Of course, God wants us to help the poor and needy. But that means strangers and not living off the laurels of your children and simply taking care of “your own”. Taking care of those near and dear is all good, but does not come near to satisfying the call to help the poor. Droping a check off dosn’t either.
 
Sadly, the Bible says very little about caring for the poor… 😎

Do not take advantage of a widow or an orphan." Exodus 22:22
“Do not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits.” Exodus 23:6
“During the seventh year, let the land lie unplowed and unused. Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what they leave. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.” Exodus 23:11
“Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God.” Leviticus 19:10
“Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.” Leviticus 19:15
“When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God.” Leviticus 23:22
“If one of your countrymen becomes poor and sells some of his property, his nearest relative is to come and redeem what his countryman has sold. . . . If one of your countrymen becomes poor and is unable to support himself among you, help him as you would an alien or a temporary resident, so he can continue to live among you. . . . If one of your countrymen becomes poor among you and sells himself to you, do not make him work as a slave.” Leviticus 25:25, 35, 39
“If an alien or a temporary resident among you becomes rich and one of your countrymen becomes poor and sells himself to the alien living among you or to a member of the alien’s clan, he retains the right of redemption.” Leviticus 25:47-48
“He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing.” Deuteronomy 10:18
“At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year’s produce and store it in your towns, so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied.” Deuteronomy 14
 
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Lemuel said:
Sorry but I fail to see in that scripture Jesus telling me that I should compel my brother to give his money to the poor.
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The instruction is that you should pay for whatever the Govt wants to do, it’s not specific to the poor.
 
Respectfully, I think its you who don’t get our answers. Caesar helps the poor with the money he lawfully collects. You’re not compelling anyone to care for the poor.
 
Foreign aid has perplexed me for a long time. Money and food aid can easily be funneled into the local strongman’s influence and corruption network. Even when it doesn’t, it has profound effects on the local economy that can make things worse in the future. How would you like to be a farmer when free food shows up in the local economy depressing the prices you can get for your labor and possibly making in impossible to finance next year’s crop? In the same way if you are a local cobbler, clothing maker, factory owner, etc. The biggest problem is that we “think” we know what an impoverished community needs. How would you like it if a Billionaire decided you needed a ski hill a trench coat factory in your neighborhood or was proselytizing to you in exchange for food or aid?

I think the basic thing is to buy from local businesses (this not as good as foreign companies setting up factories as the means of production are at whim and control of foreign companies). The other is to partner directly with the people to figure out what works for them, not you. The biggest mistake Westerners make is to think that these people are in want and agony and that some how we as a shinning light come to save them from their misery. From a couple of mission trips to Haiti and business/pleasure trips to Africa; these people are happier than many Americans in my opinion without much of the junk we feel is worth stressing over.
 
I think you have a lot of good points for long term aid. However, there will always be cases of need that require an exception, that is, food, water, etc., where the immediate saving of lives will be more important that damage to local merchants, though I think, if priority was given to buying from them, both goals could be met.
 
Lemuel said:
Where in the scriptures, anywhere, did Jesus teach us to force our neighbor to care for the poor and needy?
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I haven’t kept up with all of the answers, but I don’t believe that the concept of taxation is based on Scripture, reason, or tradition. A lot of our policies are not, but that doesn’t necessarily make them bad or anti-Christian.

That said, there’s no Biblical case against taxation, either.
 
pnewton said:
However, there will always be cases of need that require an exception, that is, food, water, etc., where the immediate saving of lives will be more important that damage to local merchants, though I think, if priority was given to buying from them, both goals could be met.
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Yes, but not considering the long term effects tends to cause or promote the emergencies. Even natural disasters are included for the simple reason that a weakened society has less of a chance to respond by itself. The good Samaritan is certainly something that can guide our lives; but considering what we might have done to allow him to prevent his injury in the first place is more important. We have used developing countries to our gain from colonial to modern times. We need to recognize this and figure out how to center their needs, not ours.
 
Ah, I see where the OP is coming from now,
WE, the Church as a Body is supposed to
help the Poor, and this isn’t for everyone to do,
God has CHOSEN the Poor(James 2:5) and
asks us, the Church to defend and protect them,
they are the LEAST of Christ’s brothers and
sisters(Mt. 25:40) and we will be judged by how
we treat them. In fact we NEED the Poor(Mt. 5:3;
11:5) to be RICH in Faith(James 2:5) and to
INHERIT the Kingdom of God, so both the
Church AND the Poor are in a mutually beneficial
relationship!! (See 2 Cor. 9:6-15).
 
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pnewton said:
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Pup7:
Better ditch your yard sale copy of the Declaration.
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I have to say that was a lulu! I guess the grammar war is on, now that the opening salvo has been fired.
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Not really. As I said, in/un was a clash also between Adams and Jefferson.

Much ado about nothing. The keys are next to each other. Not a massive deal, though someone felt the need to make one out of it.
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What I don’t understand is, if I understand correctly:
(1) The OP understands the moral obligation to pay taxes, and is generally fine with that
but (2) Thinks welfare is immoral or that our taxes should not be used to help poor people.

I’m confused. OP, is this your view?
If so, shouldn’t helping the poor be the ONE thing we as Christians should ALL agree the government should assist in? Out of all the things, shouldn’t we as Christians agree that our taxes should at least help the poor?
 
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