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Bluethread -> RE: How to help the Homeless population (6/29/2008 5:25:04 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Covaan_Meshuga
Last time I asked a homeless to go into a McD's so I could buy him some food, it was bone-chilling cold, and he wouldn't go in. He told me he had been told not to come in the McD's ever again. He had to take his hot food outside.
That's because McDonald's does not consider them part of their community. This is a common problem in a secular society.
quote:
Blue, I am not sure what your biblical precedent is for this, if you are basing what you wrote upon one. It is true that we are to take care of those in our communities in Y'shua first, then reach outside of them, but I don't think there is a biblical precedent set for giving to those who are not of the household of faith or outside of our worldly communities. Hey, I could be wrong, because I certainly am not a Bible scholar, but I don't think so in this case. All through the Apostolic Writings, people reached out with help for others.
1. We are not to coddle the poor, but treat them the same as the rich.
Le 19:15 "'Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.
2. We are to provide opportunities to the poor.
Le 23:22 "'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.'" to gather and prepare themselves.
Le 25:35 "'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." There are other commandments that speak of hospitality to the alien.
De 15:11"There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land."
3. We are required to care for our relatives.
Le 25:25 "'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."
4. Adopt those who have no family.
De 26:12 "When you have finished setting aside a tenth of all your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, you shall give it to the Levite, the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied."
5. An honest days wage for an honest days work.
Le 25:39 "'If one of your countrymen becomes poor among you and sells himself to you, do not make him work as a slave."
De 24:12 If the man is poor, do not go to sleep with his pledge in your possession.
De 24:14 Do not take advantage of a hired man who is poor and needy, whether he is a brother Israelite or an alien living in one of your towns.
De 24:15 Pay him his wages each day before sunset, because he is poor and is counting on it. Otherwise he may cry to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin.
Now, I am sure we can come up with some circumstance in which these principles will not work. However, if we were to adopt these principles in our communities, the majority of the problems with the poor would be resolved. The rest would probably be solved by building real communities that take responsibility for those among them and required the poor to accept responsibility for themselves to as great a degree as possible.
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