The poor don't have it so bad.

Absolutely.

I've seen it too many times.

(I deleted your personal insult for you. I'm sure you didn't mean it.)

 

Be careful Carpro, many of Christ's teachings are centered around the poor...see Luke 6:20-25

 

Yes, the truly poor. Even Paul commanded that the family was to be the first resort, and that there should be investigation to see if those who claimed to be needy, were indeed needy. Just because someone claims to be poor does not make it so.

We have a family in our church that constantly complains that they are poor, they need money for gas and to pay bills, yet the problem is that they mis-spend money. They have two or three dogs, two cats, two big screen TV's, several laptops, drive a Cadillac (!- granted, not a new one) yet they constantly complain of being "poor".

 

Ann, without a doubt, many people in Central and South America live impoverished. However, I live in one of the most impoverished counties anywhere in the U.S. One third of the children in Tulare County live in poverty. Poverty and hunger go hand in hand. People here do not have adequate food or the money to buy adequate food. The vast majority of people in need of food here are children or elderly.

The majority of children in Tulare County, almost 50,000 of them, are elementary-school-age, between 6-11 years old. Say a third of these children are going hungry, this means nearly 17,000 children in school are experiencing preventable hunger-related difficulties. It is said that the 'children are our future' so I think all of us need to be concerned about their productivity in school.

 

Funniest thing about statistics are the ones that are left out.

For instance:

Tulare County has a much higher than average incidence of smokers. Does this suggest that some "poor" people may be buying cigarettes instead of food?

Among childhood hunger indicators such as weight, Tulare county has a much lower percentage of children who are underweight than the rest of California.
By the same token, they have a much higher rate of childhood obesity than the rest of California

Sounds like they're eating. Maybe not the right foods, but they're not doing without.

The truth is that almost no child in Tulare is going hungry, below the poverty level or not. Between free school lunches, daycare meal assistance and food stamps, the children of Tulare county are being fed.

Last, over 20% of the population in Tulare County are foreign born and most likely illegal immigrants. If it's so bad, why don't they go home? The reason is that almost none of them are gioing hungry in Tulare county, but many would be malnourished if they went back where they came from.

details ...details...

 

Are you for real? Rather than deal with the real governmental definition of poverty you want to stretch out to the worst case scenario as if that is all to consider. A little more honesty is in order.

 

Answer....Im talking about the poor & not maintaining American lifestyle for some loosers living off the dole. that is when you are commanded to have empathy for them when they're really destitute....then the poor are the blessed ones.

 

Still, in that case and as I stated before, the family has the responsibility to take care before the church or government has to step in. And that does not negate anything that Mr. Paul said. The "so-called" poor here in America are not truly destitute although they may be "poor' in comparison with you or me.

And Jesus said the "Poor in spirit" shall be blessed- i.e. the meek ones, not the "poor" in material means.

 

And so as good Christians, we proceed to marginalize them because we know they are really those scruffy "illegal aliens" who are using our tax dollars to buy twinkies & cigarettes! Understandable if I'm operating in this world but as I said before we are Bible Believing, scripture touting Christians who are supposed to answer to a higher authority..."be children of your Father in heaven, for he causes his sun to rise on the bad & the good & sends down rain to fall on the upright & the wicked alike" (Matt 5:45)

Now if our father in Heaven shows compassion for everyone alike, who are you to do different.

 

Y'know I'm getting a little tired of hearing how Americans (and especially Christians) should be bled dry to support the rest of the world.

Go to Mexico, Ukraine or anywhere else in the world than the USA with that message and see how far you get. We do MORE for people than anyone else in the world, yet the leeches cry "give, give".

I have always managed to have a job and support my family. It may not have been what I WANTED to do, but it was a job. I started out cleaning toilets. My wife's last job prior to her current one was cleaning toilets. I have worked as a janitor, in warehouses, as a shoe salesman, as a cabinet-maker, as a missionary, and now I am a bi-vocational pastor. But if I had to go back to cleaning toilets to support my family tomorrow I would do it- gladly.

Robbing the "rich" to pay the poor is not Biblical. It is a perversion of Biblical principles.

Maybe it's time for folks to follow the admonition of Paul: Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Ephesians 4:28

 

Oh, yes- speaking of "marginalization"- people tend to "marginalize" THEMSELVES by poor and sinful choices.

 

Just who or where exactly are this "VAST MAJORITY" of the poor, who are overweight, and have a car or two cars, and computer, and aren't working? (And keep in mind, this subject was started by a conservative statement this time, not any poor or liberal asking for anything! Paul was responding to Conway and then just cut into that, and the discussion was really on BP. I don't think Conway had even mentioned the poor).

Welfare was even reformed over a decade ago, so that they had to work to get the check. (The only ones able to get around this are mostly those with disabled children).
Yet people are still complaining about this vast "horde" of people getting all the money, and without working, but no one can point them out, except for occasionally throwing up some statistic figure that does not even prove any "vast horde".

(And BTW, there is stuff like child prostitution to raise money for food, sometimes also stuff like crackers, etc. in this country as well. And a lot of people with internet access are using the library; having no computer of their own. I know some who are not particularly poor who do this for whatever reason).

I find all of this talk funny coming from a mostly middle class, always complaining of taxes and everything else the government is doing. A so-called "angry middle class".

On top of that, I have even heard of six-figure income people crying "poverty". So yes; it is "relative"; isn't it. Yet those kinds conservatives always defend as unfairly deprived, along with even seven-figure people as well.

So you're telling "the poor" in this country they have nothing to complain about compared to those in other countries and "stop whining", yet you don't compare with the poor either in this country or in the other countries as well! Yet many seem to be complaining louder than any poor, or even the liberals claiming to advocate them. You as much as they, apparently are unhappy with what you have, and think you should have more, and want some politician to rise up and give it to you. (i.e. by cutting programs and taxes).

Truth is, the majority of us do work hard, yet the economy is tight. That's what I'm annoyed about. I see this as a land of abundance, but then we enter these financial crunches, and it seems almost like a land of scarcity where we have to struggle to make ends meet, and whatever material we do have is then said to be frivolous, and someone can always say we misspent our money.
Where the poor might blame the rich for their plight, I see the rich and middle class just as much blaming the poor for theirs, and that I think is more ludicrous. I just don't see the poor (thanks to the liberals) being where all this abundance is being concentrated, even if they are better off than other countries, where there truly is scarcity.

Hence, why others have a better point looking at world economics, and I see a clear divide and conquer game ogoing on, where everyone is made to blame each other as the problem goes on unchecked, and no matter which politician gets in office.

 

then the poor are the blessed ones

What a horrible misapplication of scripture. No where does it say that the poor are blessed. Now it does say "blessed are the poor in spirit," which has nothing to do with physical poverty. There will be a lot of folks who are poor physically but in no way see themselves as being spiritually bankrupt and will bust hell wide open along with the rich man up the road who wouldn't even so much as toss them a piece of left over bread.

 

Nice switch, but the real point of my post was all the info you left out that tells a different story than the one you wanted us to hear.

Regardless of where they came from, the children of Tulare county are being fed. You grossly misrepresented the problem.

 

I just answered it biblically brother. If Lori could find some "Really Starving Kids" then would you support them?

 

Again in a false attempt to build sympathy only the extreme examples are wanting to be used by the libbies totally ignoring the fact that the threshold for what is poverty is raised to new heights on a regular basis. Most of what is considered poverty is not going without food or necessities.

 

And in telling it "biblically" you believe lying about the problem is OK?

Please, spare us.

 

You need to read Luke 6:20 this time....I don't see any mention of spirit in Luke.

you might even like to go further & read the Lords pronouncement of those who are Rich. Sorry no rich in spirit with Luke. Just tellin it like it is.

 

That passage is speaking of spiritual things not material things. If you take it the way you are imposing on that passage then the cross is unnecessary all you need is to be poor. It is talking about those who hunger and thirst after God, righteousness, salvation. So if you are going to tell it like it is you need to know what your talking about first.