Posted on 02/24/2016 5:06:23 AM PST by tired&retired
Robert Lupton's book is ruffling some feathers.
In Toxic Charity: How Churches and Charities Hurt Those They Help (And How to Reverse It) (HarperOne), the 40-year veteran urban minister "takes the gloves off" and argues that much of Americans' charitable giving "is either wasted or actually harms the people it is targeted to help.
"Years of charitable giving at home and abroad, Lupton contends, have made barely a dent in reducing poverty and often encourage dependency.
Toxic Charity offers some statistics, but more stories, as evidence that both our philosophy and practice of charity are frequently misguided. Lupton grieves that "our free food and clothing distribution encourages ever-growing handout lines, diminishing the dignity of the poor while increasing their dependency."
Lupton does offer some ideas for improvement. He proposes a new "Oath for Compassionate Service" for the charity industry to adopt, much as the medical community has adopted the Hippocratic Oath.
Lupton's Oath offers six key guidelines:
(1) Never do for the poor what they can do for themselves; (Create opportunity not dependency)
(2) Limit one-way giving to emergencies;
(3) Empower the poor through employment, lending, and investing, using grants sparingly to reinforce achievements; (Motivate them to do for themselves)
(4) Subordinate self-interest to the needs of those being served;
(5) Listen closely to those you seek to help; (Listen to understand, not to necessarily meet their desires)
(6) Above all, do no harm.
(Excerpt) Read more at christianitytoday.com ...
It explains that when you give someone a gift:
The first time the recipient offers appreciation.
The second time they begin to expect it.
The third time they feel entitled to it.
The fourth time they are addicted to it and depend upon it.
This is a "Must Read" book for all conservatives.
Here is another article on this book:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/12/robert-lupton-toxic-charity_n_1007751.html
bmp
Give a man a fish...................
There is speech on the Internet by an African diplomat that BEGS the West to quit giving money, etc. to Africa. He laid out all the problems it was causing (one tribe gets all the money and uses it to kill off another tribe, for instance). He really made sense, but was booed off stage. I even think he was assassinated later.
I would add :
Go it personally, not through institutions.
Always test the situation, never take their word for anything.
The last time they hate you for helping them
In other words, “Don’t Feed The Bears”.
And if you give them everything you have, they still hate you. Watch the videos from the riots in London a few years back. One ‘teen’ who is rioting/looting is asked why she is doing what she is doing......looting a store in her own neighborhood. She says ‘why does he (the store owner) have all this, he doesn’t deserve it’. I doubt the store owner reopened after his store was destroyed. No logic, just agitated emotion. It’s how the Left operates, using naive/ignorant/easily manipulated ‘yutes’ to destroy the fabric of society.
“I am for doing good to the poor,
but...I think the best way of doing good to the poor,
is not making them easy in poverty,
but leading or driving them out of it.”
“I observed...
that the more public provisions were made for the poor,
the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer.
And, on the contrary, the less was done for them,
the more they did for themselves, and became richer.”
Benjamin Franklin
To really know what the people need and how you can really be of the most help, you have to get proximate to them and spend time with them. For most people, it’s just easier to drop off clothes and food at the shelter or pantry.
Re-colonize.
I like to call the bums begging at the local highway off ramp
altruism facilitators, or guilt assuagement specialists. People give them money to make themselves feel good.
In other words, “Don’t Feed The Bearsâ€.
Excellent analogy...
“To really know what the people need and how you can really be of the most help, you have to get proximate to them and spend time with them. For most people, it’s just easier to drop off clothes and food at the shelter or pantry.”
I agree. I’ve been really poor growing up... outhouse and carry water from the spring... chop wood and fire the cookstove in the kitchen to heat and cook... Washtub on the cookstove for hot water to wash up.... No heat in the house except around the stove... But we were a happy family.
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