ONCE AGAIN REPUBLICAN LAWMAKERS THROW THEIR NOSES IN THE AIR THE SUNDAY AFTER PASSING THROUGH DRASTIC CUTS TO THE NEEDYS MOST IMPORTANT FINANCIAL SUPPLEMENT PROGRAM; FOOD STAMPS In many of my posts here and on my webpages I have castigated Republicans for their selfish, thoughtless, and reckless behaviour against Americas needy and disadvantaged middle classes. I have spoken of and often wondered why or how a political party and those entrenched in their belief could on the one hand pretend to be so pious and then on the other be so cheap and hateful of others? Even to the point of disregarding Gods very own commands to tend to the poor and needy? The word of God tell us not to let our right hand know what our left hand is doing. Yet, we cannot pretend to brag about what we have done for others as a nation. When an entrenched political ideology embodied by men and women who pretend to stand for religious ideals empowered in this nations highest legislative institutions; looks face-to-face, day-by-day, at Americas poor and needy middle class. While, they deny these same citizens the meagre helpings from the fruitful harvest of one of the most wealthy and powerful nation on Earth. JRH-2013 NDMH John R Hernandez,Jr. The following long quote by Pastor Polheiser exemplifies one of Gods very own truths concerning giving and charitable works. That this congress sitting on Capital Hill would ignore the sacred edicts of our benevolent God is attrociously egotistical and an insult to the memory of the men and women who have helped to found this nation, those who have helped to protect it, and the hundreds of millions who tediously struggle every day to put whatever meager helpings they can on their dinner table. Our need to give to the poor Written by Rev. Ronald Rolheiser, OMI Friday, 09 August 2013 00:00. We need to give to the poor, not because they need it, though they do, but because we need to do that in order to be healthy. Thats an axiom which is grounded in Scripture where, time and again, we are taught that giving to the poor is something that we need to do for our own health.We see this truth expressed in many religions and cultures. For example, a number of indigenous North American people practiced something they called potlatch. This was a festival, sometimes attached to the celebration of a birth or wedding, at which a rich person gave away gifts to the community. Its primary purpose was to ensure a certain distribution of wealth but also to ensure that wealthy individuals stayed healthy by being solicitous in terms of not accumulating too much wealth. Too much excess, it was believed, left a person unhealthy. This has been a perennial belief in most cultures. In Christianity we have enshrined this in the challenge to be charitable to the poor and we have classically seen our giving to the poor as a virtue, rightly so. Charitable giving is a virtue — but, for a Christian, perhaps its more obligation than virtue. When we look at the Law of Moses in Scripture, we see that a certain amount of giving to the poor was prescribed by law. The idea was that giving to the poor was an obligation, not a negotiable moral option. Simply put, the Law of Moses obligated people, legally, to give to the poor. Scripture abounds with examples of this. Consider, for example, these precepts and laws:—First of all, the Law of Moses assumed that everything we have belongs to God and is not really ours. We are only its stewards and guardians. We may enjoy it at Gods pleasure, but ultimately its not ours. (Leviticus 25: 23). —Every seventh year, all slaves were to be set free and each was to take with him or her enough of the masters goods to be able to live an independent life. (Deuteronomy 15: 14). —Every seventh year all economic debts were to be cancelled (the original meaning of the statute of limitations).—Every seventh year ones land was to lie fallow and enjoy its own Sabbath. During that year, the lands owner not only didnt sow anything, he or she didnt reap anything either. The poor were to reap whatever the fields and vineyards produced that year. —And, at all times, landowners were forbidden to reap and harvest the corners of their fields, with the intent that these edges were to be reaped by the poor. —Finally, even more radically, every fiftieth year all lands were to be restored to the original tribe or household who had first owned them. Ones ownership of property had a certain time limit. Things werent yours forever. Moreover, doing all of this was not considered as virtue; these were laws, legal obligations.And there was a double intent behind these laws. On the one hand, they were intended for the health of the one who was giving something away to the poor. And at the same time, they were an attempt to ensure that the poor did not become so destitute so that they would have to steal what they needed in order to live. We have much to learn from this as a society. For the most part we are generous and charitable people. We give away some of our surplus and, despite warnings from professionals who work with street people that this isnt helpful, our hearts are still moved by those begging on our streets and we continue to slip them money(even as we dont believe their claim that they need money for food or bus fare). For the most part, our hearts are still at the right place.But we tend to see this as something we are doing purely for someone else without realizing that our own health is a vital part of the equation. Further, we tend to see this as virtue more than as obligation, as charity more than as justice. ... END OF QUOTED MATERIAL.
Posted on: Sun, 03 Nov 2013 19:59:28 +0000
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