Proverbs 14:23
Now here's a scripture that conservatives can get behind. There's no way to misinterpret it, or twist it around. After the fall of Adam and Eve, God told them that hard work would be part of the Curse of Original of Sin,"All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty."
"By the sweat of your brow you will eat yourIn the New Testament, we find a very similar verse that goes even further,
food until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are and to dust you
will return."~ Genesis 3:19
"He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need."~Ephesians 4:28This verse really brings home some other ideas about the nature of work. Work is not simply a method to fill your belly, it is what makes you a blessing to those around you. It is the way that you make the world a better place. You work, in order that you are not a burden to those around you, and so that you are able to help others, so they can become like you.
Work is meant to reproduce good in the world.
More and more, I suspect that charity based on the bible is meant to be spread like a virus. Each person is meant to work and in turn tithe to the church and take care of his family and friends, the church is meant to take care of the community at large, and the community at large is meant to be a blessing to the country, our country is meant to be a blessing to those in the world.
Instead, we have Christians that look to the government to take care of the poor and get annoyed when they hear the local pastor talk about money. Even if you don't believe in the tithe,(which I do), we can all agree that if we all gave a regular percentage of our income to the church, there would be less need for government programs that are so unwieldy they have a hard time being effective locally.
Thanks for reading,
AC
posted by AnonymousCog @ 10/03/2006
2 comments
2 Comments:
Wow. You really need to study the love and generosity taught by Jesus Christ and quit castigating the poor. One day, you may have more medical bills than you can ever pay and be hungry. On that day, would you want a person like you pointing fingers and going on a pedantic rant about "hard work." You should read your bible and worry about your own soul.
Wow, maybe you should read more than 1 entry in this blog before you label me. I've been poor, my parents have lost everything in bankruptcy.
The idea of this blog is going through each scripture about the poor to come to a balanced view about the poor. Not right, not left, not republican, not democrat-but I'm trying to find God's view. I can't very well cut this scripture out of the bible and only look at the ones that are about love and mercy. Nor can I ignore the ones about love either. They all have to be looked at.
There are some other blog entries that speak to the idea that we can't castigate the poor, and that oppressing them and not helping them is a big sin-here's some links.
http://povertypoliticsandfaith.blogspot.com/2005/02/proverbs-2216.html
http://povertypoliticsandfaith.blogspot.com/2008/12/prov-1431.html
Regardless-thanks for commenting.
AC
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