The homeless folks, ( USA) i have dealt with will laugh and abuse your well meaning compassion.
Is this an ungodly thing to say?
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No you are not. No you do not need to apologize to them.
As you said, this is true .
I get there ARE folks out there that don't want to be homeless (met a homeless family last year that desperately wanted to get back on their feet)
The abusers of the folks believing they are doing good use up the resources from others who would/could truly benefit from some help.
When you hear complaints of how much, the hotel size free bottles of shampoo and lotion, are a pain you quickly get the idea efforts are not appreciated. Areas like Reno NV. have an abundance of the hotel size personal products .
Some outfit gives a homeless person a 'gift card' of $50.00 . Keeping the paperwork legal they divulge the actual value is 56, keeping the 6 for processing etc. listen to the complaints about not getting MY 6 dollars..
We are told not to cast our pearls before swine. I believe that is speaking of the Gospel but the over all lesson is also a good one.
This is not new... Family story from about 1951 , We lived in the back of the church dad the pastor. A guy knocks on the door , He is begging for a few dollars for gas and food for his family. Dad gives , mom says Jack i dont feel right about that guy. Dad heads down town sees the family in the car. Notices the bar goes across the street walks in take the cash off the bar . he bought some lunch type food for the wife and kids.
Remember the song King of the Road? I know every hand out in every town and every lock that aint locked when no ones around .
I too have known those who have "chosen" to be poor and he said to his wife in my presence, "We ought to go see pastor so and so, we haven't hit him up for a while".
Jas 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
2Th 3:8 Neither did we eat any man's bread for nought; but wrought with labour and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you:
2Th 3:9 Not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an ensample unto you to follow us.
2Th 3:10 For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.
2Th 3:8 Neither did we eat any man's bread for nought; but wrought with labour and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you:
2Th 3:9 Not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an ensample unto you to follow us.
2Th 3:10 For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.
It is my sincere hope that all who read this excerpt are aware it refers to the brethren, not unbelievers.
Brother Jaumej,
I have had a lot of interactions with homeless in a nearby city. Not all of it has been positive. Some of it has. I found that premade meals that are sealed, like MREs but better, good ways to share the gospel. A conversation over a cup of coffee and gospel witness can be concluded with a parting gift of food if one can afford to. I found it a way to share when you don't know if money would go to feed an addiction. The main thing is the salvation of their souls of course.
Our local food pantries only meet the food and clothing needs. I'm not against that, it's just a shame to see a mission field right here and not lead them to Christ.
It's a joy to see someone get saved. Then the rest of the great commission will help them to get them into a stronger position in their church and leading their families. A couple old friends came from rough backgrounds, but got saved and raised awesome children as I saw through church.
This account blesses me, so you must be over the top in blessing. May God continue to bless you in our Savior's care, amen.
Thank you brother!
Our Lord sure has blessed us.
Please pray for my local outreach ministry. I witness to everyone, but am focusing mostly on the forgotten elderly and convalescent in the assisted living/ nursing homes. They have less time to come to know Christ as Savior.
Our Lord gave a very motivating statement that I took to heart...
https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/John-4-33_4-36/
Well to a point some of it is that people today tend to make sweeping, generalized statements. So when you speak about some other people think "all". And, of course, that would be taken as offensive.
But, really, your experience (as in any person's, not yours specifically), is a limited view, and when speaking on large scale issues that tends to not go over well.
Chances are no matter how you word it, or what your meaning is, people will be offended. The key is are you willing to deal with it when people get upset with what you say, or not?
To me the issue of homeless needs to be dealt with in other ways. Mental health and addiction should be the first steps. By helping that first it should greatly reduce people wanting to stay homeless, making them more likely to get jobs, etc... to care for themselves.
happened to me this past sunday after church, getting gas.
guy walks up to me while pumping the gas, mumbles something about having some boxes of food locked up in the back of a truck, but can't get it out right now, needs food for today.
i gave him a dollar. he walked away cussing ( "all he give me was a &@%@ dollar", he said).
made me mad, but i let it go.
I understand your point. I would caution others to be aware that there are risks to helping others in need. If they are addicted to drugs / alcohol, the chances of desperation and reduced inhibitions is common. This seems true those besides the homeless too. For a class I taught, I kept track of police reports of violent crime reports and most occured after dark and near bars.
Here's a quick thought.
Acts chapter 3
A man who was crippled expected to receive some money. Instead something greater happened.....
He was healed of his life long infirmity.
Then that miracle was used to illustrate that Jesus is the reason for the man's healing and that was the one these Jews crucified as a criminal. They needed to repent of that misunderstanding and realize that He was indeed the Anointed One who gave His life for their sins.
"And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple;.
Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms.
And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us.
And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them.
Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk."
This shows me that as important as physical needs are, God is most concerned with people being shown that they must learn Who Jesus is and place their faith in Him.
This is my goal with those folks that are provided a blessing. Even at Aldi's where the shopping cart fee is just .25 that you get back when returning it. Someone comes along and needs it, we can say "Here you go, you can have this, but before I give it to you, do you know what else is free?". Then a brief gospel summary with a tract, (this helps), or a testimony and a smile. As long as it's short, about everyone seems to at least be positive about that. Sometimes they will want to engage in conversation. I've seen folks break down in tears immediately after doing that and ask me to pray for their family or someone dying in the hospital. You just never know. At that point I usually ask questions that aren't too personal. Then the gospel can be shared with more details and Scripture.
This all starts with a gift. In this case it's only a quarter, but God can take that and turn it into an opportunity to see someone receive everlasting life.
Acts chapter 3
A man who was crippled expected to receive some money. Instead something greater happened.....
He was healed of his life long infirmity.
Then that miracle was used to illustrate that Jesus is the reason for the man's healing and that was the one these Jews crucified as a criminal. They needed to repent of that misunderstanding and realize that He was indeed the Anointed One who gave His life for their sins.
"And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple;.
Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms.
And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us.
And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them.
Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk."
This shows me that as important as physical needs are, God is most concerned with people being shown that they must learn Who Jesus is and place their faith in Him.
This is my goal with those folks that are provided a blessing. Even at Aldi's where the shopping cart fee is just .25 that you get back when returning it. Someone comes along and needs it, we can say "Here you go, you can have this, but before I give it to you, do you know what else is free?". Then a brief gospel summary with a tract, (this helps), or a testimony and a smile. As long as it's short, about everyone seems to at least be positive about that. Sometimes they will want to engage in conversation. I've seen folks break down in tears immediately after doing that and ask me to pray for their family or someone dying in the hospital. You just never know. At that point I usually ask questions that aren't too personal. Then the gospel can be shared with more details and Scripture.
This all starts with a gift. In this case it's only a quarter, but God can take that and turn it into an opportunity to see someone receive everlasting life.
I was having a harder time dealing with people getting offended the other day. Pregnant and emotional over here. lol.
But, really, I was afraid I was missing something about myself...that maybe I was being too judgemental or harsh or unloving. Talked to my husband about it, too. Feeling better about it now. I think many just misunderstood what I was trying to say on that mom site.
Happened to me several times. Took some bags of food, once, to some homeless guys. I'd actually hidden about 10 bucks in the middle of the bag. They glanced at the bag, rolled their eyes, and tossed it to the side of their pile of "stuff". Totally didn't care.
Another time a guy asked for money and I told him that, unfortunately, I didn't carry cash but I just so happened to be taking a gallon ziplock bag of change to the bank and offered that to him. Same sort of disgust you experienced. He walked away without taking it which left me thinking he wasn't really in need.
But then, the family we met last year? The husband was desperate for a place for his family to live. They were living in their car and he'd lost his job because of Covid. We shared our lunch and told them about the local mission. Our mission gives food, clothes, and if you stay overnight there's Bible reading/study...the latter is why, I think, many homeless refuse to take their help. They don't want to be "preached at", get help for their drug addiction (one guy flat-out told our pastor he didn't want to go to the mission's shelter because he didn't want to give up the drugs), or be required to look for/get a job.
Anyway, I'm not sure where the family went after that but I think about them/pray for them often.
i know a guy ( for about 30 years!!) who chooses to be homeless. good guy, just wants to, for some strange reason.
I used to listen to that song ALL THE TIME as a teen! Even used it in HS to give a report!