Are we doing enough to help the poor? Poverty Stats

[Southernscotty]

I have skimmed through here and this is something that I am so compassionate about. I am always saying love is doing, Not feeling and this holds true here.
Before I started preaching, I attended a church that had a food bank and also a Wed dinner for anyone in our area that was hungry.
It was a great success as many many came however one day they dropped both of them cold turkey",
I was heart broken and I ask why? They said, No one would volunteer to hand out food anymore and or cook etc: and people were taking advantage of the service week after week
Also many people were coming in for groceries that were claiming their pets as family members to get more food. [ One guy admitted to this after it was over, "laughing" that he counted three gold fish as dependants. I could have punched him]
There will always be people who take advantage however that doesn't mean that we should stop.
I know that I am taken advantage of often but I refuse to let that stop me from helping those who are really needy.
If I get ask for help by a lady with kiddos and I show up with a truckload of groceries for them and see the boyfriend sitting on the couch playing video games and drinking beer, then I will call him outside and he will get a harsh talking too.
I have also made these same guys get up out of bed at 7 am in freezing weather and make them help me skin a deer, Teaching them how too so they can further feed their families.
[All of those quit talking too and asking me for food after this, So I guess it worked lol]

 

[Root of Jesse]

This depends, if you send money to an organization, there is no proof that is will help anyone, and most of us can not visit other counties to help. So this would depend on their communities all the same.

I give money through my Church which I trust to get to the right place, because we work with such small overhead.

 

[brinny]

Keep up the good work.

LOL! you dodged that like a champ, amigo.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

Not true. I've worked in downtown areas and seen a man begging on the street. I surreptitiously watched one man for a while, from a distance. He wasn't getting chump-change. The guy wastaking in $20/hour, plus donations of food, which is higher than minimum wage here.
Most corporations do charitable work, at least finanacially.
Homeless struggle because they don't want the responsibility of having a home. Not all but most. I have also been in position to offer jobs-good paying jobs at market rate-which those same people wouldn't take. Why? Because they make more off the books on the street than on the books off the street. I've asked, many times.

My daughter, who is now 41, smart, talented, and pretty, has chosen poverty as her lifestyle. Many of her counter-culture friends have as well.

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

It's the educational system, and the healthcare system, that ensures malnourishment, not the Congress. The dirty secret about so-called malnourishment is that most people, including the poor, eat too much. By insisting on the fallacious 2000 calorie per day diet for everyone, including the elderly, the sedentary, and most others who weigh less than 150 pounds, the 'shepherds' of our health ensure that we won't be.

As noted on some websites I saw in the last year, congress had it in its power, IF it chose to, to stop the deception perpetrated by so much of the health care and dietary industries, etc.... But they get too much money from those industries, and depend on it.

Too much food is bad, and also a lot of malnourishment is from lack of minerals, vitamins, enzymes, and other nutrients killed off in the seeds, soils, and food supply .... people might eat the right amount, but get no life from it .... yes, it is a long time problem, not easy to overcome , especially when the truth is called a lie, and the lie is called truth, all over the world, as written in Scripture.....

 

[OldWiseGuy]

I give money through my Church which I trust to get to the right place, because we work with such small overhead.

Checking my list of charities I see that I support "Feed The Children", but that's the only food charity on my list. I suppose I could divert funds from "Doctors Without Borders" or other such charities and provide more food.

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

Checking my list of charities I see that I support "Feed The Children", but that's the only food charity on my list. I suppose I could divert funds from "Doctors Without Borders" or other such charities and provide more food.

On various people's standards, not everyone's of course,
both of those have been exposed for long time on going fraud or other deceptions .....
Most that are "in the news" (on tv) have been....

 

[OldWiseGuy]

As noted on some websites I saw in the last year, congress had it in its power, IF it chose to, to stop the deception perpetrated by so much of the health care and dietary industries, etc.... But they get too much money from those industries, and depend on it.

Agreed.

Too much food is bad, and also a lot of malnourishment is from lack of minerals, vitamins, enzymes, and other nutrients killed off in the seeds, soils, and food supply .... people might eat the right amount, but get no life from it .... yes, it is a long time problem, not easy to overcome , especially when the truth is called a lie, and the lie is called truth, all over the world, as written in Scripture.....

Perhaps in the third world, but not so much in the West.

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

Agreed.
sub quote:yeshuaslavejeff said: ↑
Too much food is bad, and also a lot of malnourishment is from lack of minerals, vitamins, enzymes, and other nutrients killed off in the seeds, soils, and food supply .... people might eat the right amount, but get no life from it .... yes, it is a long time problem, not easy to overcome , especially when the truth is called a lie, and the lie is called truth, all over the world, as written in Scripture.....
/ subquote
Perhaps in the third world, but not so much in the West.

Yes, very very much in the untied states. way way more than is ever admitted by those authorities or corporations in charge....

 

[Sparagmos]

Healthy diet = false sense of security = increased birthrate = eventual poverty all over again. The math is simple. Fewer people means a greater share of their meager resources. Of course their main problem is tribalism. If they can just outnumber the other tribe they can take control and prosper.

How does that explain the working poor in the U.S.? And do you think everyone who is malnourished is part of a tribe?

 

[Sparagmos]

Wrong. If we eliminated their poverty in the short term they would quickly find ways to return to it, mainly by immediately increasing their birth rates to unsustainable levels.

Hardly. Lifting people out of poverty means better access to birth control.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

Yes, very very much in the untied states. way way more than is ever admitted by those authorities or corporations in charge....

There is no excuse for anyone to be malnourished in America.

 

[Sparagmos]

A wise man loves criticism, and Ekklesia DO accept the responsibility on themselves. Religions of men on earth sometimes seem to do even better than God's People do !
Yes, God expects everyone who calls on His Name to DO what HE Says.
Those who don't, who HEAR the WORD, but are not doers of the WORD are not justified (Romans 2).
Failing to DO His WORD and falling under His judgment is a fearful thing !

It is even worse for those who think they are doing well, who think they have it made in the shade, humanly speaking,
and refuse to HEAR God's Voice , and find out on judgment day they didn't make it.

So how many homeless folks are living in your home?

 

[OldWiseGuy]

How does that explain the working poor in the U.S.? And do you think everyone who is malnourished is part of a tribe?

Why anyone in America is malnourished is a mystery.

I was referring to tribal Africa.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

Hardly. Lifting people out of poverty means better access to birth control.

The topic is feeding the hungry, not lifting them out of poverty.

 

[Sparagmos]

True, and it's up to the individual to do so.

I thought you said that was what SNAP and WIC are for?

 

[Sparagmos]

Lifting some out of poverty means they can continue the lifestyle that put them there in the first place.

Oh I see. You think poverty is the impoverished person’s fault. And that people with access to birth control that could vastly improve their lives won’t use it, even though it seems to work in first world countries to control population.

How do you reconcile your view of the poor with christ’s many istructives to care for the poor?

 

[OldWiseGuy]

I thought you said that was what SNAP and WIC are for?

SNAP and WIC aren't international programs.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

Oh I see. You think poverty is the impoverished person’s fault. And that people with access to birth control that could vastly improve their lives won’t use it, even though it seems to work in first world countries to control population.

How do you reconcile your view of the poor with christ’s many istructives to care for the poor?

Christ, speaking through Paul said, "If a man won't work...he shouldn't eat". Many of the poor won't lift a finger to help themselves. That said most of the poor are the working poor, and with the programs available to them there is no excuse for hunger.

The real background studies of poverty in America have never been released to the public. We need this information.

For example there are and will be more, people who will be in poverty in their retirement because of untimely downturns in the stock market. So we need to know this: Why were they in the stock market in the first place?

Many will lose everything and wind up on the street because of unnecessary addiction to drugs. So we need to know: Why did they take those drugs in the first place?

Many will be handicapped and unable to provide for themselves because of foolish accidents. We need to know: Why did they place themselves at such risk in the first place?

Before we can address poverty we need to know the details.

 

[abysmul]

It's odd to see so many grand cathedrals, massive ornate church buildings, and sprawling mega-churches around the world, and yet still have such hunger and poverty. I wonder how this would look to say visitors from another world? The heart/leaders of charitable institutions enthroned in their palace like churches of gilded wealth...