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To: GunRunner
So the Christian is exhorted by God's Word, the Bible, in so many verses like Psalm 41, to care for the truly poor and the sick.

So is it possible for non-Christians to be charitable as well?


Unbelievers frequently do what could be described as charitable acts in the secular sense.

Or is everyone who doesn't think like you just doing it for selfish, a-holish reasons?

First, regarding "think like me"; these ideas are not mine, they're from the Bible. So I take it you mean "those who think like me" to be believers and those who don't to be unbelievers.

So, are unbelievers only doing charitable acts for selfish reasons ? Some are doing this, however but many unbelievers do charitable acts with their best intentions.

Those not well versed in the Bible frequently don't understand charity from a Biblical perspective. A fundamental part of the gospel message is that salvation rests in "by the Grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ"; the believer's tithe does not merit them anything towards their salvation, that is, escaping damnation.

Once the believer believes, what comes with that is Jesus' command to follow God's Law, thus to conform our image to Christ's.

God's Law includes the tithe, so the believer tithes, out of their faith comes love of and obedience to Christ and God's Law.

But the tithe, or charity, is not viewed Biblically as imputing righteousness to the person giving. True believers do not believe that their tithing "makes them better" than anyone else. If you go back carefully and review my posts, you'll see that I was never claiming that Christians were better, or good, or righteous because of charity. I was responding to your posts where you asserted a definition of morality which included taking care of your family and helping people who suffer, and I was trying to get you to see how low the bar is set with such a definition, as compared to the whole counsel of God, the Bible.

Mark 8

"36 For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

37 Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

38 Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."

Psalm 9

"1 I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works.
2 I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most High.
3 When mine enemies are turned back, they shall fall and perish at thy presence.
4 For thou hast maintained my right and my cause; thou satest in the throne judging right.
5 Thou hast rebuked the heathen, thou hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their name for ever and ever.
6 O thou enemy, destructions are come to a perpetual end: and thou hast destroyed cities; their memorial is perished with them.
7 But the Lord shall endure for ever: he hath prepared his throne for judgment.
8 And he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness.
9 The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.
10 And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.
11 Sing praises to the Lord, which dwelleth in Zion: declare among the people his doings.
12 When he maketh inquisition for blood, he remembereth them: he forgetteth not the cry of the humble.
13 Have mercy upon me, O Lord; consider my trouble which I suffer of them that hate me, thou that liftest me up from the gates of death:
14 That I may shew forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion: I will rejoice in thy salvation.
15 The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made: in the net which they hid is their own foot taken.
16 The Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah.
17 The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God. For the needy shall not always be forgotten: the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever.
19 Arise, O Lord; let not man prevail: let the heathen be judged in thy sight.
20 Put them in fear, O Lord: that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah."
575 posted on 06/06/2014 12:05:07 AM PDT by PieterCasparzen (We have to fix things ourselves)
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To: PieterCasparzen
Unbelievers frequently do what could be described as charitable acts in the secular sense.

Ok, at least you're making sense now.

The disconnect remains that being compelled to help someone by supernatural decree is morally neutral outside the realm of theism, even if the act itself is moral.

577 posted on 06/06/2014 5:34:13 AM PDT by GunRunner
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