Proverbs 6:6-11

"Go to the ant you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest. How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest-and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man." - Proverbs 6:6-11

Like so many issues, there are always two extremes in how people the view the poor in general. Sometimes it appears that there are some people on the left that almost seem to both exalt the poor as both inherently noble and yet too weak to do anything to help themselves. In some ways, it almost seems like some people that seek to help the poor, or other groups become extremely paternalistic, as if they and their plans are the only hope for these weak and ignorant, yet noble people. The worst kind of prejudice is that which assumes your limitations and decides it knows what's best for you.

Then on the other side of the ideological fence, you have the conservative, the right. While not all of them, but many conservatives are quick to quote these sort of scriptures when you start talking about the poor. They assume that everyone that is poor has some sort of character defect that got them to that station in life. I'm not sure I agree with that. What I do know is that the bible does not call being poor a sin. I also see in many places that the bible states there will always be people that are poor.

Another thing I want to point out about the conservative view that many of the poor are just a bunch of slackers is this: the assumption that there is nothing between the poor and the good life that a bic pen and a McDonald's application wouldn't fix is misguided at best and callously stupid at worst. There are social issues related to race, class, and social language that still divide our nation into groups of people that are able to make a good living much easier than others.

However, from this section of scripture and many others, we do see that there is an aspect of personal responsibility. This has always been the downside of our market-driven economy. Everybody can attain their dreams, but they can find their nightmares just as easy. There are people in poverty that are there because of their own actions. To deny this will hinder any kind of real change.

What does this mean in the bigger question of how to help the poor? Whether they got there by their own actions, or whether they are there because of something out of their control, such as a lay-off or plant closing, any help they receive needs to help them with more than just food stamps or a rent voucher. People need help getting out of the mindset that got them to this station in life.

Let me give you an example, my wife and I went to a seminar at our church that taught us how to budget our money and pay off debts. This really helped us, and we have more money for our bills than before because someone showed us how to change our spending habits and make our money work for us, and not the other way around.

The question I still have about the "sluggards" described in the bible is this: Do we just let them die of ignorance or what we percieve as stupidity or laziness? I'm serious here, what is the answer for people that have lost the will to try, or don't care how they live? It's obvious we should take care of the mentally ill and the disabled, but has anyone ever developed a real answer for the people that don't fall into those categories, but still struggle to make it?

I'm hoping I will find this answer somewhere else in the bible, I would love to hear what you guys have to say...

AC