I Disagree

A local preacher wrote:
"Here is the primary issue as I see it. Poverty is a spiritual problem. It is not a financial problem. To make any inroads towards solutions, we must address the problem holistically. Sin brought poverty into this world. I am not saying that anyone and everyone who is in poverty or is poor is there because of his or her sin. Indeed, their circumstances may show how truly evil poverty is. Perhaps, some find themselves in poverty because of the sin of someone else. But someone sinned. After all, poverty did not exist in the Garden of Eden.

How do you address sin? You address sin through grace and accountability. How do you address the problem of the poor? To truly make a difference with the poor, you offer grace and accountability.

You give out the grace that God has given you. You give out of love. But you do not give and give and give, in order to sustain a lifestyle that is counter to the way God has created us. You do not sustain and subsidize a lifestyle that is counter to the way a person was created. As painful as it is, if the situation demands it, love calls for you to say “no.” This is what lies behind Paul's statement to the Thessalonians in second Thessalonians 3:10, "If a man will not work, he shall not eat.""

I'm sorry, but my Bible consistently states that it is the rich who are the problem. Those of us whose hearts are hardened by our striving for more and better; those of us who would abuse and impoverish others by our actions and our choices for the sake of our comfort; those of us who build bigger walls in the name of security! As the followers of a penniless, homeless, unemployed carpenter our mission is to BE Christ to the world; to express the love of the Almighty to EVERYONE.

Is there a time to say, "No"? Of course, but its not when we judge someone and find them and their lifestyle to be unworthy. In my opinion, one should say "No" when we have nothing left to give or when the gift would be made in a grudging, superior attitude which would further harden OUR heart and damage our relationship with each other.

Do you remember how Jesus responded when asked by his wrong-thinking disciples, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" John 9 contains the story. At the end of that encounter, the blind man received grace at the hand of God, he becomes a witnessing believer in the Son of Man, and the more religious folk are judged, "For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind."

"Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear." The world is watching!