M
Michaeljc4
Guest
JosephDavid, when faced with poverty, our first response as Christians needs to be personal. Mother Teresa was once asked how someone could help her in her work. She said, go find a person who thinks that they are totally alone and convince them that they are not. If you see poverty in the place where you live, do something about it! You, personally. If that’s not enough, join with other like minded folks (a church is a great place to do that!) and help. If that’s not enough, petition your state government to set up programs to help. And if that’s not enough, turn to the federal government.
Each piece of the chain I’ve just described is important, but I fear that since Roosevelt and Johnson, the order has become reversed: people look to Washington first, their state second, voluntary organizations third…and themselves last. We as Christians are called to–personally–help the poor. Jesus tells us that he will judge us on how well we treat ‘the least of these.’ Merely advocating for the government to do something is not sufficient, and quite frankly, puts a very comfortable distance between the individual (you or I) and the person in need. It’s all too easy to advocate for the rich to pay more taxes while ignoring the people in your own community who need help.
Likewise, the results of many social programs have been–at best–mixed. We have spent, quite literally, hundres of billions of dollars on programs of social assistance, and we still have a great number of people living in poverty. Clearly something different needs to happen.
This is just my opinion, but I think the Faith Based Initiative is wonderful: the power of the government used to help those who, by virtue of their faith, are making direct contact with those in need to help them. That’s a government program I am happy to pay for.
Each piece of the chain I’ve just described is important, but I fear that since Roosevelt and Johnson, the order has become reversed: people look to Washington first, their state second, voluntary organizations third…and themselves last. We as Christians are called to–personally–help the poor. Jesus tells us that he will judge us on how well we treat ‘the least of these.’ Merely advocating for the government to do something is not sufficient, and quite frankly, puts a very comfortable distance between the individual (you or I) and the person in need. It’s all too easy to advocate for the rich to pay more taxes while ignoring the people in your own community who need help.
Likewise, the results of many social programs have been–at best–mixed. We have spent, quite literally, hundres of billions of dollars on programs of social assistance, and we still have a great number of people living in poverty. Clearly something different needs to happen.
This is just my opinion, but I think the Faith Based Initiative is wonderful: the power of the government used to help those who, by virtue of their faith, are making direct contact with those in need to help them. That’s a government program I am happy to pay for.