Charity is all we need?

[notsocommon]

I won't take these people seriously till, at the very least, food pantries are overloaded with good, quality food and never run out- or even low.

When THAT happens- and it never will- then it is only a first small step in the right direction of thinking the 'church' can care for ALL the needy.

[BravaAmica]

Earlier in the year the Barna Group did a survey of religions to see if they were able and willing to take over all of the general welfare needs of America's poor population, housing, food, medical care, interventions for those that would benefit etc. Aside from their lack of infrastructure and the unwillingness of some to network across faiths, the study discovered that they couldn't raise a fraction of the money needed for such work. Nor did they have the skilled and educationally qualified individuals to staff such a monolith. IIRCC some of the groups claimed they would need to short change their missionary work in order to care for America's poor.

God forbid they help the poor in their own town-and actually get their hands dirty- instead of holding lovely fundraisers and parties to fund missionaries who will do the work for you, far far away where you don't have to see it. I know missionaries feel they are doing important work but I think it's just so much self-congratulatory bullshit, "Look at us, helping the unfortunate brown people!" I'm a "clean your own front porch before taking on someone else's."

[Baudelaire]

Thing that gets me about Christians is if I go and say that well, it's in the Bible that you have to give to the poor and take care of widows and orphans etc. and all of the warnings about the rich and material possessions and storing up your treasures on earth and so on, they ALWAYS say, "God gave us free will!" Which is basically like saying, "I don't care what God said, He may have told me to do that but I don't want to and I have free will so I won't!"

How does that thinking even make sense when one professes to believe in God at all? Ignore what God says because He gave you the option to? Is THAT what being Christian is about? Live whatever way you want and then pretend to be sorry as if you're putting one over on HIM?

Well God, you SAID I could do what I want, and I didn't want to do what you said but I still get to go to Heaven because I'm a GOOD PERSON.

I even brought up the bit in the Bible that says if you have material possessions and do not take pity on someone who is poor, you don't have the love of God in you. My friend who is Republican/Christian said that she does pity them but she's not going to give them any of her material possessions.

It is attitudes like this and the utter greed in the churches which I have personally witnessed that have left me floundering for faith at all.