How much money do you think panhandlers make?

miamited said:

Hi bobber,
Let me explain what I said a little bit more. Yes, I fully understand that God has established the nations. That he has determined their appointed times and boundaries. That all authorities upon the earth were established by Him. My question is whether or not that then means that God sees one boundaried body of people as better than another?

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Well let's make sure as Christians we define "better than another" not as that all people everywhere don't need to receive Jesus and become a new creature in Christ...ALL DO, BUT....are some body of groups better than another in the sense of their willingness to receive spiritual things? Yes some are better in that regard. I'm speaking of generally speaking not when you come down to an individual level. Consider, Acts 17:11 states the Berean Jews were more noble than those of Thessalonia and Paul states in Titus 1:12 that Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons" Does that mean every single one without exception? No probably not.

miamited said:

Or, does God, who established the boundaries of all the nations see all the people contained within each respective boundary as a living soul worthy of His love just as much as someone contained within some other nation boundary?

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Sure God loves them all the same. And love isn't based on how good they are or bad they are. God is love.

miamited said:

Does God look down from heaven and see that a Mexican person has crossed over that imaginary line of His establishing and decry that that person is out of his given area?

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Well let me put it this way to you. We're talking here about illegal immigration right? So you're asking me would God decry that individual doing their own thing willingly breaking the established law of which they're going? Well how about you answer that. If such an individual prayed is it your will that I go against laws that you have established through them, well what do you think God would say?

miamited said:

So, I didn't mean to infer or claim that God hasn't done exactly what His word tells us that He has done. My question is whether or not there are certain nation boundaries, outside of Israel, that He is against people crossing or that are especially seen by Him as more holy to Him than the people of other nations.?

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But why are you saying outside Israel? You I think have already agreed God established boundaries and times for other nations as well. Well for God to establish those boundaries he'd have to establish their legal systems as well.

Southernscotty said:

I have thought a lot about this since I wonder if I did right?

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It's important to be able to recognize a deceiver when you are confronted by one.

Never give a beggar money. If you want to help, drop off a bundle of diapers.

Shek said:

It's important to be able to recognize a deceiver when you are confronted by one.

Never give a beggar money. If you want to help, drop off a bundle of diapers.

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This is the first time that I have ever had that strong of a desire not to stop and help. It was a gut wrenching feeling and that is really strange for me because usually I give them help somehow.

Southernscotty said:

This is the first time that I have ever had that strong of a desire not to stop and help. It was a gut wrenching feeling and that is really strange for me because usually I give them help somehow.

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That was your wake-up call....

It's tough, no denying it...to seemingly just walk away from a beggar.

It's even more difficult to offer your assistance by inviting them to join you for lunch. So most people take the easiest way out and just hand them money and pat themselves on the back.

Money is not a sacrifice no matter who tells you otherwise. Your time and effort is valuable, so if you want to give....offer the best of what you have; your time, your effort, your help.

Keep your money, God has no need for it.

When I was homeless, a lot of folks handed me bags of food, which I gladly accepted. I ate whatever I was not allergic to. Some folks offered to go get me lunch from a fast food restaurant and asked me what I wanted. I told them and, bless them, they came back to me with it and handed it to me.

I did not own a pair of sunglasses then. I did not harass anyone. If someone chose to give me something, anything, I said "God bless you." to them. If not, I said nothing to them.

As to how much I made, I only made enough to get a cheap motel room and some food. Nothing more! As soon as I had that, I went to the motel and rested. Usually it took me about 6 hours to get that. The motel room was $33.00 per night and the food was usually raman noodles. I had a toaster oven I made those in. It was portable, obviously!

I panhandled in hurricanes, rain, freezing weather and super hot humid and muggy weather too. I tried to stay in the shade, that was my only blessing, when it came to locale, weather and such.

As soon as I got the help I needed from other sources, I quit panhandling. Not every panhandler is a scam artist. Some really are in need. Just sayin'.

SpiritSong said:

The motel room was $33.00 per night and the food was usually raman noodles.

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Just going to make a valid point (for others reading), so please don't read my response negatively. I have nothing but pity for anyone caught in a terrible position such as homelessness. While I haven't ever lived on the street myself, I've come VERY close on a number of occasions. Most recently being the 2007/8 economic crisis.

$40/day = $280/7 day week = $10/hr full time (5 day week) for the working class minus income taxes.

People that live on the street by choice and actively harass people for money probably make 10 times more (including donated food & other items) and it's why panhandling can be an attractive career choice.

Being a panhandler was not a choice for me. I had no other choice that I could see at that time. I had gone to the homeless shelter, but they had required that I get a job in a week, or leave there. I could not get a job in that week, so I had to leave. Churches did help me a bit, but they did not do all that was needed. I am grateful for the help they did give to me.

I think here, when a person is faced with a homeless person, and that person is not harassing them, they should pray about what to do. The Holy Spirit, I am sure, will in some way let them know what they should do. That is my opinion.

SpiritSong said:

I had gone to the homeless shelter, but they had required that I get a job in a week, or leave there.

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Sadly....that's the reality of a shelter. The same is required for prisoners being released into halfway houses. Gotta get work in immediate fashion or be prepared to live on the street. Prisoners actually get more help than the homeless though and are generally prepared in advance on what is expected of them before their release. They also have jobs already set-up for them based on their determined skills.

SpiritSong said:

I think here, when a person is faced with a homeless person, and that person is not harassing them, they should pray about what to do.

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Most people are just afraid of being mugged or robbed at knife-point, which is actually a legitimate fear in densely populated cities and peeps need to be cautious (rural areas not so much). The hardest thing that a stranger can do is to take action and still protect themselves from harm, which is why some people opt for a food offering or asking how they can help you.

The peeps that offer direct assistance are the angels in disguise. Those are the ones that will get you back on the right path and hopefully find the help that you need the most.

There was a recent instance, maybe a few months back, of a homeless veteran that went viral....lemme see if I can find the uplifting story.

Here it is...

Homeless Samaritan Buys House With GoFundMe Donations

A gesture that did not go unnoticed.

Click here to support Paying it Forward organized by Kate McClure

(You can read the whole story on Kate's GoFundMe page. It has 25 updates added to it...which I'm now also catching up on.)

That money was then secured and disbursed by a lawyer and investment adviser. So Kate planned all of it very well so that he wouldn't just blow the cash and have a field day.

John bought a house and invited all of his other homeless buddies to live with him.

It's stories like these that need a following, sure would be interesting to read about John and friends a year later.

One thing that the church I belong to now does is to buy a gift card to the local super market for homeless people. My pastor said they usually give them a $50 one. The super market has a hot food bar, so they can get a hot meal if they like.

miamited said:

Hi skywriting,
That may well be true, but...
God doesn't convict us of the sin of others unless we are somehow the one to lead them into that sin,
which does make us as guilty as they.

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No it doesn't.
God looks into our heart and ignores
the view people have of what we "do".

7 But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

Mountainmanbob said:

Shek -- is that your baby picture in your avatar ?
MB

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Eh-eh...it's my generalized personality.

My very first thought when I found it was....Daddy let a raunchy one and I got a big whiff of it!

I live in a town of about 1800 people and our chief of police has said that there are at least 20 homeless folks in our town, probably more. My mathematical abilities are not great, so I don't know what percentage are homeless. I wonder how many homeless folks, percentage wise, there are in the whole of the U.S.A.? Also, what charity does 100% work for the homeless? I wonder if there is one on a large scale. I know that the Salvation helps somewhat. Churches do too, of course.

SpiritSong said:

I live in a town of about 1800 people and our chief of police has said that there are at least 20 homeless folks in our town, probably more. My mathematical abilities are not great, so I don't know what percentage are homeless. I wonder how many homeless folks, percentage wise, there are in the whole of the U.S.A.? Also, what charity does 100% work for the homeless? I wonder if there is one on a large scale. I know that the Salvation helps somewhat. Churches do too, of course.

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Your town is equal to the national average which is slightly over 1% of the population.

This is the earliest map that I could find.



On average.....the percentage of the causes for homelessness might surprise some of you.

48% from substance abuse.

44% from mental illness.

The remaining 8% includes...

Lack of affordable housing.

Unemployment & low-paying jobs

Access to services (rural areas would be difficult)

Family disputes

Yes, when I was homeless the Salvation Army did help me with a soup kitchen I went to every day. They also were one of the partners in running the homeless shelter that would not let me stay due to my not having found a job in that week I was there.

Yes, I am mentally ill. I have PTSD and Bipolar. These have made it very hard for me to keep jobs, but since I have had a lot of treatment and medications, I have been able to keep the same job for a year now. Miracles do happen for the homeless sometimes.

One thing of importance though. Someone handed me a booklet about Jesus and a dollar. That booklet changed my life! I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior that day! So I would not change anything about that happened to me. God saved me in 2 ways from that way of life. One physically and one spiritually.

PS. I have never had a substance abuse problem, thankfully.

SpiritSong said:

Yes, when I was homeless the Salvation Army did help me with a soup kitchen I went to every day. They also were one of the partners in running the homeless shelter that would not let me stay due to my not having found a job in that week I was there.

Yes, I am mentally ill. I have PTSD and Bipolar. These have made it very hard for me to keep jobs, but since I have had a lot of treatment and medications, I have been able to keep the same job for a year now. Miracles do happen for the homeless sometimes.

One thing of importance though. Someone handed me a booklet about Jesus and a dollar. That booklet changed my life! I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior that day! So I would not change anything about that happened to me. God saved me in 2 ways from that way of life. One physically and one spiritually.

PS. I have never had a substance abuse problem, thankfully.

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Thank you for sharing your precious testimony, dear sister. God is GOOD!!! Praying for you and your job, for God to grant you favor there and for Him to bless you mightily SpiritSong. Father may it be so, in Jesus name, amen (((hug)))

Hi spiritsong,

You gave your testimony:

SpiritSong said:

One thing of importance though. Someone handed me a booklet about Jesus and a dollar. That booklet changed my life! I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior that day! So I would not change anything about that happened to me. God saved me in 2 ways from that way of life. One physically and one spiritually.

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Praise God for that person who helped you both financially for your immediate needs and spiritually for your eternal need. That's the way I like to do it, although I'm not always successful at it. Sometimes you're just sitting at a stoplight and don't have time to share the words to go along with the financial help. I am also encouraged by your testimony of the time of your homelessness and God's grace to bring you through it.

God bless,
In Christ, ted