Posted on 11/13/2018 6:33:38 AM PST by Red Badger
At least the food regs. there are clearly written in black and white.
bingo
No shit?!?
White privilege.
In Spanish; too!
I think we've gone WAY over and above just FEEDING them in this country!
A return to the Poor House is WAY over due!!
With proper 'regulation' of course.
WHAT??!!??
Who gives a crap what they were using it FOR; the fools are PROPOSELY speeding our planet into a hellish, hothouse of HUGE hoards of homeless; caused by coastal cities being flooded from melted..
2 Thessalonians 3:10 (ESV) For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.
This is a command. The sad thing anymore about food banks is that one doesn't really know who are the truly needy. My wife's uncle use to go to the food banks to get some of his groceries and/or a meal. He lived in terrible, filthy conditions and looked like he didn't have two cents to rub together. Yet he had $300K squirreled away. While I know that this is anecdotal there are plenty of these situations, more than enough that people should be a bit suspicious.
But it makes us feel good.
What would Jesus do? He had this same experience and called the people out on it:
6:26-27 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”
I agree.
Handouts just cause entitlement mentality and offer no incentive to do something about their problems.
It is true that those who refuse to work are not to eat, and to refuse to provide for one's ow house is to deny the faith. (1 Tim. 5:8) But as far as enforcement, this can be applied in a church community in which souls are accountable to each other,. confessing their sins to each other and praying for each other etc., under the watchful eye of shepherds.
Yet while the principal is sound, this not all-ways practical or necessarily applicable for those without, and is contrary to the general benevolence of God, who makes the sun shine and the rain fall on both the just and the unjust, and said we are to do the same, and bless out enemies.
The Lord fed the lost, even those who were carnal, and which charity is an incentive to pursue the spiritual, and had they become disciples then they would be required to be productive, so that they could support the work of the ministry and those dedicated to it. (And the idea of fund raising, eve appealing t the lost in order to gain support for the work of the Lord is wrong, as is criminalizes the copying of ministry works for free distribution.)
6:26-27 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”
He refused to become as a vending machine for those who simply wanted the carnal and were not in real need. Also, the idea that such a one has a right to charity, to demand grace, to have benefit others obtained by lawful labor/merit, is from Hell.
Thus showing mercy and grace in general is sound, to the end that such may respond to such grace and surrender to the Lord Jesus in service to Him, to His glory, who MUST be the driving purpose behind it.
How long this is to continue, and as a ministry to a changing populace, is btwn you and the Lord. For it is not to reward indolence and iniquity, and foster a welfare system that does. If you think that is what we are doing, then it presupposes the recipients are those who refuse to work, as able, including as mothers in child rearing and house-keeping. And from what know this is not the case. And some who often wait for hours, even in the cold, for about a couple dozen items, most at or near their expiration dates.
And we do have rules. I feel bad because last week I refused to give a thin old lady with bad teeth a left-over red pepper that she really wanted, since she already went thru and got her stuff (and because she tried to do this aforetime, and I do not want this to become a practice, and the left-over food in good condition almost always gets distributed, and some that is not ends up in my compost). Next time in such a case I will not be so hard.
There is also the aspect of surplus food, the wasting of which is itself sin. (John 6:12; cf. Proverbs 18:9) In our case that is what is distributed weekly, in a low income area (about 20,000 per square mile, with average apartment rent being over $1700 for a studio, and over $2,000 for one bedroom) but in which most work from what i can see, and to a varying group of people, mostly women. All of whom get gospel tracts, thanks be to God.
We did not ask man to do this distribution, but it was offered to us, and it has been and is my prayer that the recipients respond to this grace with gratitude and by coming to the Lord Jesus in obedience faith. Which is basically my prayer before them before I start rationing what has arrived that week.
And we never know how much will come, or even that it will, and I have prayed that this work will only continue if it can be to the glory of God. And it does adorn the gospel, in contradiction to the propaganda of the Left that they are The Benevolent, and can help build community toward faith in Christ.
But if the food were not surplus then we would not be giving it out, and rather than let it go to waste I would give it to anyone if it comes to us, though my preference is toward the working or severely disabled (who automatically are first in line).
So while this brook can dry up (and it almost has and easily could), as long as it continues i seek to have it used to make positive changes in people for time and for eternity, to the glory of God. And pray it continues to that end, though it is only one aspect and a a few hours of ministry, thanks be to God for all.
I could go on and on but there is an excellent (on-line) book on this called, "When Helping Hurts".
We can make all sorts of excuses but I sincerely doubt if we make people, even in our own church, work for anything. At least I've never seen that happen. And yet we are command to do so. (BTW-I never heard a sermon on this text.)
As far as our Lord Jesus feeding of the lost, He fed the 5,000 and they still wanted more. They missed the point that they should seek after the food of God (Jesus). Today when we give out food in our food shelter, back packs to the children, or have the homeless come in out of the cold, we are not even allowed to discuss Christ with them. So what exactly is the point? WHY are we doing this? Because we THINK we are doing something good for here and eternity????
Here is what a church that I attended WISELY did. A town in Nigeria was in desperate need of drinking water. Our church was in contact with a faithful church in the area. We collected enough money and had 8 wells dug on their church property. Next to the wells the Nigerian church posted a simple message, “Come to the Living Water”. Every time the town's people would come to get fresh water at the church, it would be a reminder of God supplying them with their need and the church was there to FREELY witness to them. We purposely DID NOT give the Nigerian town the money to dig the well. It was entrusted to faithful men.
We are commanded to be wise stewards. Are you led to spend $1700 on someone’s rent or would you rather spend $1700 on a radio ministry broadcasting God's message? Either case may be right but how you would respond determines if you are influence by a social gospel.
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