I think that a hugely important part of the Christian faith is learning how to live it out in your day to day life. We have probably all heard the phrase "be in the world but not of the world". But what exactly does that mean, and how does that look on a day to day basis? Hopefully we can learn from each other here, by sharing our experiences and what we have learned from them. One of the most wonderful things about Christianity is that it is not something that we are meant to do alone, it is supposed to be a journey that we do with others who share our belief. We have a worldwide family of brothers and sisters in Christ who we are meant to lean on.

One thing before we get started. If you are going to participate here, please talk personally about things, and not in general.

So my first discussion starter is this:

We are called in the Bible to care for the poor, so when it comes to homeless people how should we approach them? Should we just hand them money, or should we not give them money ever? What do you think and why?

by the way, I will do my best to post one of these a week. If you have any ideas for topics please pm them to me

This post was edited by DoomOnYou on Mar 16 2010 02:26pm

We cant just give away money. This may sound nasty, but they are poor for a reason. If we give them more money, tey are going to spend it foolishly. That is why people host soup kitchens, have homeless shelters and other ways to help out the poor. If you even think about it, look at many famous basketball stars, even Mike Tyson is a great example of what people can do foolishly/stupidly with money. Almost 60% of athletes in basketball and football go bankrupt after their careers or during their careers. They buy a few items here there, remember a dollar doesnt go as far as it did back in the day.

Another example of this is my neighbors. I come from a relatively upper class neighborhood (both my parents make six figures). My neighbors, the husband was the Producer of a channel (will remain anonymous). However him and his wife were crazily stupid when it came to spending money. They bought a second house (the house next door to us they only live in for a couple months out of the year, had a pool in the back, when it was open they heater was always running and they NEVER werein the pool. Same with the heat in the house. It would be on 12 months ayear and they were only home for about 2 months tops.) They bought time shares, expensive steaks and when they would come home they would go out to eat, just extremly foolish stuff and waste money. So you guys ar eprobably asking how does this relate to the poor. Well first off, its just another add on to what I was saying above about the stupid spending. If they cant differentiate the value of a dollar, how do you expect people who dont even work for a dollar to.

Now on top of that, the eople who hired them hand to give them a 50% pay cut. However they still tried to live at the same standards. They are now filing for bankruptcy and foreclosing on both houses.
What does this mean? If these people went through college, had all the people telling them how to manage money, and still spend it that dumb, how do you expect for people with no knowledge of finance whatsoevr to be able to manage money that we openly give to them.

tl;dr version/general opinion:
Am I saying that all homeless will be like this? No. Im saying that I believe we should donate our money to charities who would be more responsible to it (soup kitchens, homeless shelters, churches etc.)

That's a very negative outlook and you're assuming all homeless people are like that.

I was visiting my girlfriend, and before I got to her house, I had to stop and get gas for my car. A gentleman approached me, and asked me if I could help him out, and he said he had been living out of his car for the past few months, and asked if I could spare a few bucks so that he could get something to eat. I gave him some money, and proceeded to watch him go into the Gas Station. I figured he'd buy some cigs or liquor, but no, he came out with a sandwich and said thank you to me.

Not all people fit what you say, and it is sad that I have to agree that the majority do. However, we can't as Christians look at all in the negative aspect. We need to look at them in a positive light, hoping that they change their ways with a bit of encouragement.

Now, one thing I feel as Christians we can do to help the poor that we may see while walking on the streets, rather then giving them money if that makes you uncomfortable. Offer to buy them lunch and sit and talk with them.

That's my two cents.

I pretty much agree. Usually if someone approaches me the first thing I will ask them is what they need it for. If they say food then I will offer to buy them food. If they say something else then I will usually ask them a few more questions about whatever it is to see if they are telling the truth or not. If it seems so, then I will give them money for it.

Giving money to the needy should never be contingent on how they spend it . It's about small comforts in time of great need and not their fiscal responsibility .

My girlfriend will sit and eat with anyone, something that i admire in her. In the summertime i carry around bottles of water and hand them out to the homeless on the corner of roads and whatnot.

Thats really awesome to hear, I was homeless for quite a while a few years ago...it can be hard to find people that genuinely care when life is at its worst for you, sometimes you just need that little ray of sunshine to show that God is still there with you through thick and thin.

wow, thats a really powerful little sentence..

my relationship with god has never been great ( or even existent at times) but helping people in need or that you are more fortunate than should happen much more often than it does.

Its a negative outlook because of societies views on the homeless. Most people I feel on the inside think "Oh there homeless, they are alcoholics, druggies and if I give them money, then they will spend it on drugs or booze". Nobody can argue thats societies views on them an yes, it is a disapoiting outlook but its a true outlook. I have no problem however for you example about giving a homeless person a few bucks for a meal. You had the same negative outlook as I did. You thought he was going to by a cig or some booze.
If someone had came up to me I would have no problem giving them a few bucks, providing I AM SEEING what they spend it on. I would have no problem spending 8$ to get a homeless person a 5$ footlong, a drink, chips and a 50c tip for the guy making it. All I have to know is thats what its really giong towards.

Heres another example for you:
Would you give random people your forum gold in a "donation" if they say oh I really need it to get this item.

Edit for another response:


See, if I knew you in person and was a friend of you, I would have NO problem whatsoever giving/lending you money in your time of need because I would know that its going towards the right cause.
For example,
I lifeguard and teach how to swim at a YMCA. Over the summer we do summer camp for kids aged from 3-15 or so. One of the kisd I absolutely loved, one of my favorite kids of all times, I taught him over the summer the previous years, I taught him how to swim duringt he fall and then noticed he wasnt there anymore. One day the kid showed up with his parents, we start talking to his parents and the conversation of summer camp comes up. The parents bring me to the side and say that the kid doesnt know yet but they have to move to another area, and cant afford the camp due to financial reasons.
The money I earned during summer camp basically went to two things that summer:
A) The car accident I had gotten into a few weeks b4 summer camp started
B ) Paying for the kids summer camp bill.

For this situation, I had no problem making a kids summer what it should be for a person less fortunate. Providing I know what the money is going for.

This post was edited by impulse155 on Mar 16 2010 11:15pm

Just because I felt / feel the same way, doesn't mean it prevents me of trusting what God tells us to do. It took me a while to get into that mentality of although I don't trust that person, its still something I should be doing.

As for the forum gold, that is completely different. Though I have been known to donate to people randomly.