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The poor you have always with you


JavaJane
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What do they think about adopting less fortunate kids. I know from experience hearing someone in the way speak badly about a cousin or something adopting some kids that would be "trouble". What a bad decision that would be. I was thinking..... to myself....... Isn't that what it means to be Christian and isn't that what God did with us? Adopt us as sons? Would it be just this person......... or is this a Way thing?

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Bikerbabe,

Long time no see. (I was off the net for about six years after moving to my hometown.) I'm sorry to hear you are reduced to this state. It sounds like you are alone on your own. If so, I'm sorry it didn't work out with that cop fellow. He was the only person I ever met who was able to make a sensible explanation of the trinity.

You are in my prayers.

I too am disabled living off VA disability and needing a scooter to get around. I get half again more than you and am barely able to survive, I don't know how you can do it. :cryhug_1_:

Several years ago, I went to the local food give away at the fairgrounds. The ad (to this day) said it was open to anybody which I thought was odd. Wasn't this supposed to be for the poor? They threw boxes of preloaded goods in on me and when I said I would not use half of it , they could give it to someone else, they said take it or leave it.

I did throw half away. It all was non appealling nondescript bland stuff that mostly was at the end of it's life cycle.

On the other hand, last spring when my brother found himself on the Social Security side of life and suddenly poor. He went to the food give-away and got two huge watermelons, a ten pound bag of huge magnificent baker potatoes, and five bags of Vanilla Hazelnut Coffee BEANS. Plus a box of junk food he eventually threw away.

The watermelon was delicious, the potatoes were superb, and fortunately I own a coffeegrinder, Westill make his coffee on special occasions.

By the way,... :blush:

Jim had to wait in line three hours because ofthis current minor downturn in our economy.

As far as I'm concerned the food give-aways are mainly a source for getting rid of old food and poor sellers, and of course are a tax write off too for those corporations. I find it very interesting that all over the country it is being run the same way. Is some mega gov/corp behind all this.

Sorry, more to say but too tired. :wave:

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If anyone wants to put some "feet" to their prayers for Biker Babe, she has instant message. She said she "doesn't get on internet" so much anymore, so you could also email me and I'll send you her address (she said it would be ok). Her situation is even more dire than she lets on, above.

Again, Biker Babe is one of the mistreated precious ones I believe vp and his gang of thieves and robbers will be accountabie for when they meet/met the Lord. As noted other places on this thread and elsewhere, God's set up is the family atmosphere of the home fellowship, where people take care of one another and when vp distorted that godly concept for his own gain he caused far reaching effects of "shutting up bowels of compassion" and the loss of dignity that goes along with that selfishness.

When people help their friends they receive an accompanying dignity and grace because their heart beats through the other as well. God made us to give and we understand His concepts when we do as He prefers.

(Sorry. I don't mean to tirade, but there are so many "ex-twiers" who suffer because of the curses we had laid upon us in that place.)

And, again, Thanks Pawtucket et al, for making this place available so we could know about and be able to help people such as Biker Babe know they are truly no alone, that others do love and pray for them.

God have mercy.

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Thanks dabobbada and Twinky.

It seems like a lot of Americans have trouble helping their own neighbor down the street. Maybe others do elsewhere too, I live here so this is what I know and I am most familiar with local stuff. I think it's human nature - a person sees a person of limited means asking for help and doesn't know what they're going to do with what they get. How does 20 dollars now fit into everything else in their life, will it just be wasted on something that doesn't do any good for the person.

Yet, people will donate money and time and travel to other countries to help destitute people somewhere else and work for a week or a month and leave and feel good about what they've done. It's may be part of a managed effort but there's still no telling what good it will do "in the long run", down the line. It does good now though and that's good enough it seems in those situations. There may be opposition from government there even trying to stop the efforts, the language isn't understood by those individuals but the effort is part of a specific coordinated effort where there's some context and goals that are clear.

But in the example of the "good samaritan" the guy doing the helping doesn't know anything about what's going to happen, it isn't explained whether the victim is a good man, a person who believes God or beats his dog or does or doesn't observe religious services or anything else like that. Those kinds of requirements aren't part of the illustration - it's simply a person who clearly is in desperate need and a stranger who helps them for no other reason than they need help and they happen to be there.

There's no follow up other than to promise to pick up any additional tab later, likely long after the guy's gone. There's no "payoff", no now-you-have-to-do-this. And this is an illustration of how to live according to one of the "two great" commandments, certainly universal one-size fits all rules of life and godliness that all the others roll up into.

It's a curious thing Jesus proposed.

Years ago when I was a teenager in high school I dated a Jewish girl for awhile. It was an infatuation, one of those things kids get into. Her parents took extreme exception to her dating a non-Jewish boy and frankly I'm not even sure why we did now, we didn't have much in common other than we were very different which may have been part of the interest. I actually made an appointment to go down to one of the large synagogues in our city - one which her family were part of although I didn't know that till later - and sat with a Rabbi there and asked him about why this was such a big deal, I didn't get it. I was raised Catholic - I didn't care, why did they? I was very honest with him and he with me - can't imagine what he thought but he did call her father and spoke to him about it. This is true and actually what happened. Needless to say that didn't end well or last long after that. Several of our mutual friends were Jewish and a couple heard about it through their families - ! - and they were sympathetic to my plight of a broken heart :cryhug_1_: which mended quickly as I recall. But I asked one of the guys what the real deal with being Jewish was, as even being Catholic the religion seemed to be very different to me.

He was very thoughtful as I remember it and sat down with me and - told me a story...it went - couple years before his family had taken a trip across several states to visit relatives in the midwest. They drove, this was in the mid-sixties. A couple days into the drive their car broke down and they made it to the nearest town and pulled into a gas station late in the evening, everything around closed, some small town. He said his father went to the phone booth and started going through the phone listings to find someone with their own last name, don't recall what it was now, but he continued looking for basically a Jewish looking name of someone. He made a couple calls and indeed found a local Jewish family. He said his father explained why he called them and their plight, apologized profusely for calling at such a late hour but he had nowhere else to turn and didn't know what to do - could this person he called recommend where they could stay the night and an honest auto mechanic who could do their repairs?

This guy told me the family they called insisted they come out to meet them. He said they came out, brought friends and took all their family and stuff back to their house so they could rest. They made a huge meal, invited all their friends and family over - "these people are from California and God has brought them to us!" something to that effect and they ate and talked and discussed the entire trip and their plans and everything with each other. They insisted they stay with them, gave them their beds and rooms and the next day furnished breakfast and the guy took them personally to the shop and got their car in and worked out "a good price". He said his father called them when they were ready to leave and the family came out to see them off, and finally off they went. He told me they exchanged letters still and were still in touch.

That sank in for a minute and he finished by saying "That's what it means to be Jewish".

I got it. Later when I read the record of that "good Samaritan" it came back to me. It's not that distant or foreign a concept really.

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...But in the example of the "good samaritan" the guy doing the helping doesn't know anything about what's going to happen, it isn't explained whether the victim is a good man, a person who believes God or beats his dog or does or doesn't observe religious services or anything else like that. Those kinds of requirements aren't part of the illustration - it's simply a person who clearly is in desperate need and a stranger who helps them for no other reason than they need help and they happen to be there.

There's no follow up other than to promise to pick up any additional tab later, likely long after the guy's gone. There's no "payoff", no now-you-have-to-do-this. And this is an illustration of how to live according to one of the "two great" commandments, certainly universal one-size fits all rules of life and godliness that all the others roll up into.

It's a curious thing Jesus proposed.

Years ago when I was a teenager in high school I dated a Jewish girl for awhile. It was an infatuation, one of those things kids get into. Her parents took extreme exception to her dating a non-Jewish boy and frankly I'm not even sure why we did now, we didn't have much in common other than we were very different which may have been part of the interest. I actually made an appointment to go down to one of the large synagogues in our city - one which her family were part of although I didn't know that till later - and sat with a Rabbi there and asked him about why this was such a big deal, I didn't get it. I was raised Catholic - I didn't care, why did they? I was very honest with him and he with me - can't imagine what he thought but he did call her father and spoke to him about it. This is true and actually what happened. Needless to say that didn't end well or last long after that. Several of our mutual friends were Jewish and a couple heard about it through their families - ! - and they were sympathetic to my plight of a broken heart :cryhug_1_: which mended quickly as I recall. But I asked one of the guys what the real deal with being Jewish was, as even being Catholic the religion seemed to be very different to me.

He was very thoughtful as I remember it and sat down with me and - told me a story...it went - couple years before his family had taken a trip across several states to visit relatives in the midwest. They drove, this was in the mid-sixties. A couple days into the drive their car broke down and they made it to the nearest town and pulled into a gas station late in the evening, everything around closed, some small town. He said his father went to the phone booth and started going through the phone listings to find someone with their own last name, don't recall what it was now, but he continued looking for basically a Jewish looking name of someone. He made a couple calls and indeed found a local Jewish family. He said his father explained why he called them and their plight, apologized profusely for calling at such a late hour but he had nowhere else to turn and didn't know what to do - could this person he called recommend where they could stay the night and an honest auto mechanic who could do their repairs?

This guy told me the family they called insisted they come out to meet them. He said they came out, brought friends and took all their family and stuff back to their house so they could rest. They made a huge meal, invited all their friends and family over - "these people are from California and God has brought them to us!" something to that effect and they ate and talked and discussed the entire trip and their plans and everything with each other. They insisted they stay with them, gave them their beds and rooms and the next day furnished breakfast and the guy took them personally to the shop and got their car in and worked out "a good price". He said his father called them when they were ready to leave and the family came out to see them off, and finally off they went. He told me they exchanged letters still and were still in touch.

That sank in for a minute and he finished by saying "That's what it means to be Jewish".

I got it. Later when I read the record of that "good Samaritan" it came back to me. It's not that distant or foreign a concept really.

I had personal experiences of this kind kind of hospitality and mom and dad would help out others giving thema place to stay, etc. When I got into twi I figured that that's what twi was all about. I thought it was a dream come true; however, unfortunately, it turned out to be more of a nightmare.

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This is just plain neighborliness. It shouldn't come as a surprise. My Mum told me of a time when my Dad's motorcycle broke down - rainy night, miles from anywhere - people in the only house gladly provided help and shelter. The walking club I used to go out with got stopped by a swollen stream - our transport couldn't cross it - a farmer kindly lent his sheephands' place and about 20 people crammed into it. Two who went for rescue (in shorts, in the snow and rain - I forget all the details of why now) - were rescued by total strangers who let them sleep in their house overnight till the storm stopped.

I have both rescued strangers in need and invited them into my home; and been rescued when I've had a need.

Of course - one has to "walk" with care!!!

Always be ready to lend a hand. For no thought of reward beyond meeting a need. In such a manner, we are told, some have entertained angels unaware. WoW!!!!!!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I think more groups than just TWI have hard hearts toward the poor, even in this economy. The darkside of the Prosperity doctrine--if one does not have health and wealth, they must be doing something wrong, a secret sin etc. In TWI they were slothful(even if they worked two jobs) or hitchhikers, the weak link that brought the whole household down. The view that the poor--even the recent poor who were working class or middle class just a few years ago-- are fraudulent and lazy seems pretty pervasive in some groups.

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