Would it be a sin to help the homeless when there are services already available?

[Ceallaigh]

Nope!
The exercise is left to the reader.
Perhaps not plaintiffs, but everyone is potentially a witness.

42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

It just occurred to me that Jesus did not include handing out money.

There are many who will grift for money and put it to ill use.

Whereas it's unlikely someone would do that regarding being given food, drink, clothing, shelter and being looked after while sick and in prison.

 

[The Liturgist]

I am examining if I have been tempted by greed.

I have been doing research on the homeless issue, there is a side that debates that by helping the homeless we enable them to not work, and there are already services for them that they are not choosing to help themselves.

That if we pay taxes we are already helping the homeless if we know it or not. And that if we focus on careers we end up paying more taxes therefore helping others too.

Did I get something wrong?

Find an elderly homeless person who is dependent on a younger relative also facing homelessness in your community and help them. There are very few places for such people to go.

 

[ViaCrucis]

I am examining if I have been tempted by greed.

I have been doing research on the homeless issue, there is a side that debates that by helping the homeless we enable them to not work, and there are already services for them that they are not choosing to help themselves.

That if we pay taxes we are already helping the homeless if we know it or not. And that if we focus on careers we end up paying more taxes therefore helping others too.

Did I get something wrong?

Yesterday I was contemplating how common it has been for me, among other Christians, to hear a rather confused mixed message about Christian charity.

There seems to be a lot of cognitive dissonance on this subject in the (at least American) Church.

Programs do exist to help. But your neighbor is right there in front of you, love them.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Ceallaigh]

I think the only area in helping the poor that should be questioned is panhandling. There are plenty of people who panhandle just to get extra cash. Meaning it's not that they don't have any money, they just want more. And often want extra money to get illegal street drugs.

Last night I went over to a nearby convenience store a there was a woman asking me if I had a couple of dollars. Which I didn't have, but I thought about giving her a couple of dollars after I got some change. When I came out, she was caught up chatting with a couple of people who seemed to be acquaintances, and I didn't know what to think so I moved on.

That's why I feel more comfortable donating to the Gospel Mission that supplies shelter, clothing and meals, and Northwest Harvest and Volunteers of America. All of which are local organizations who proactively help the poor and needy in many ways.

 

[Fantine]

The shelter in my community has requirements for behavior. Able-bodied people need to be actively pursuing work. The shelter trains people to be cooks in their meals program. And that allows people who are completely unskilled to develop a skill. There are also rules against drugs and alcohol. Even the salvation army has behavioral rules for people who stay in their shelter. I am sure that most shelters are actively involved in rehabilitation not just warehousing

 

[FireDragon76]

From a Buddhist perspective, giving benefits you as much as it benefits the person who receives, and it is considered inherently virtuous. To this day, even in Japan, twice a month, monks will still go out, even in a modern city, and silently stand, holding an alms bowl as a religious practice, a remnant of a time when all monks were beggars (the sanskrit word bikshu, or monk, literally means beggar).

The Christian practice of almsgiving is considered part of asceticism as well, and is ancient. It only became prohibited to beg for alms in northern European countries and the US due to the influence of Protestantism, which wished to attacked all things Catholic. Early Franciscans and Dominican survived through begging and donations, they were prohibited from carrying money.

I believe begging for food or money is a human right. If rich CEO's can lobby Congress, surely poor people should be allowed to beg for their sustenance.

 

[ViaCrucis]

From a Buddhist perspective, giving benefits you as much as it benefits the person who receives, and it is considered inherently virtuous. To this day, even in Japan, twice a month, monks will still go out, even in a modern city, and silently stand, holding an alms bowl as a religious practice, a remnant of a time when all monks were beggars (the sanskrit word bikshu, or monk, literally means beggar).

The Christian practice of almsgiving is considered part of asceticism as well, and is ancient. It only became prohibited to beg for alms in northern European countries and the US due to the influence of Protestantism, which wished to attacked all things Catholic. Early Franciscans and Dominican survived through begging and donations, they were prohibited from carrying money.

I believe begging for food or money is a human right. If rich CEO's can lobby Congress, surely poor people should be allowed to beg for their sustenance.

This is something I regularly think about in a modern context.

The begging for alms, and the giving of alms, has been an innate aspect of Christianity for two millennia. "Pick yourself up by your own bootstraps" is, conceptually, an inherently un-Christian--and even anti-Christian--ethos.

-CryptoLutheran