Posted on 11/23/2015 2:27:02 PM PST by NYer
Ping!
The spirit of anti-Christ has been in the world since Adam, “the” man.
Yes... the poor will “always be with us.”
The problem is “poor” is being defined upwards. Practically everyone in the USA is above world median income; our “poverty line” is 85th percentile. We can’t have a meaningful discussion about what constitutes “poor” until we have an objective definition and accept that in some areas there are no poor.
I’m all for helping the poor (and do), but if you’ve got full availability of 1500 calories a day + nutrients, 65°F shelter, >100 sq ft personal space, running hot drinking water, flush toilet, a few other incidentals, and a nearby free library & school, it’s gonna be hard to include you in “the poor among us”.
My mother pointed out that poor was a state of mind. I had asked her if we were poor. She said, “We have very little money, but we’re not poor. I buy hamburger and potatoes. The poor would buy beer and cigarettes. Poor people will always be poor. If you give them money they will fritter it away, not save it or spend it on things that will improve their lot.”
Yes.
Anymore, “poor” means the bottom fifth of society.
It sure doesn’t mean lower living standards than
most of the rest of the world. And inasmuch as
there will always be a bottom fifth, the poor will
always be with us. Brother Dave Gardner put it this way...
“Don’t take poverty away from poor folks.
Good lord man, it’s all they have!”
There needs to be pro-poverty advocacy. Here’s the logic:
1) Not everyone has the same priorities in life. There are many people who are “content with their lot”, but more so, who are willing to work for what *they* want, *not* what other people think they should want.
2) Many people shun doing what it takes to not be poor. They neither want an education, nor do they want a job, in the traditional sense of the word. Often they also shun all the trappings of wealth, such as being a “public person” with an ID card, a Social Security card, credit cards, a license to drive, a fixed address, etc., etc., etc. They see such things as chains, not advantages.
3) Many of the homeless are deeply distrustful of government of any kind. Likewise they disdain larger NGOs, much preferring local ad-hoc charity done by a church with no demands or expectations put with it. The two exceptions are the Salvation Army and free prepared food given by some of the off-brand religions.
So all told, if a place provides opportunity to rise out of poverty, this is good enough. Fretting that they chose what you would not have chosen just means you are a busybody.
Mom was right. Mothers are always right.
Right now, the people “poor” in the USA live a middle class (European) lifestyle.
Ya gotta define the term.
Jesus knew how the universe works in relation to man and so He was stating a truth: the poor will always be with you.
Some people will take what God gives them and flourish and some take what God gives them and buries it in a hole. For a zillion reasons some people do not let themselves flourish as individuals or a group.
I think Christians are supposed to help those who want to help themselves get out of the hole. We are to help those about to fall into holes, too.
Which explains a good part of the “culture war.” Liberals spend their lives digging holes and pushing people into them so they can get power through mining the sin of coveting.
As long as some communities crank out 7,700 feral children for every 10,000, then, yes, some communities will always be poor.
I also believe we will always have "the poor". So I will help when I can.
But I know "the poor" definition gets abused.
Of course they will. People want to be rich. You cannot be rich if you have no poor people.
Agreed as so said The Lord.
. . . and the bottom quintile is loaded with young people just starting out, who aren’t going to stay in that quintile. So even they are not necessarily to be pitied.
“”
Libtards like poverty. They can get elected by making promises to get big government to help the poor.So the more poor, the more they get elected. Of course, because of their hatred and distrust of capitalism,their policies create even more poverty, so their vicious circle never ends and there will always be poverty.
Yes. Just as a staircase will always have a top and bottom step.
Poor just means relatively less well off than others. There will always be a bottom group who is not as financially well off as others.
Most of today’s “poor people” have poor habits
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