Is Helping Strangers, the Poor and the Needy Just an Old Testament Thing?

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newton3003

Senior Member
Feb 4, 2017
437
42
28
#1
Under God, help is given to strangers and to the poor and needy.

At the foot of the Statue of Liberty is a poem called ‘The New Colossus’ by Emma Lazarus. Within that poem are these words: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” The Statue of Liberty is found in, of all places, the U.S.

Is the U.S. in this day and age deserving of such a statue? Consider those who have looked upon “the huddled masses” with disdain. Instead of looking for ways to help them here, they work on doing away with laws that have protected many of them and have given them sanctuary from the lands that they, and/or prior generations have come from.

Many of those who look upon them with disdain, claim to be God-fearing. Oh, they have worked hard to keep abortion at bay, because under God abortion is murder. They have worked hard to keep homosexuality at bay because the Bible categorically says that homosexuality is an abomination.

But all of them ignore the parts of the Bible that says to welcome the huddled masses who’ve been oppressed or have been wanting in the countries they came from. They ignore the parts of the Bible that says to help the poor. And as regard to helping the poor and needy, when you show them that the Bible says to help the poor and needy, they say, ‘Oh that’s what I pay taxes for.’ But the irony is that today there are many in government who have been voted in precisely because they promised not to spend tax dollars on the poor and needy!

If there is any doubt that the Bible says to help strangers and the poor and needy, submitted for your approval is the following: Leviticus 19:33-34 says, “When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, FOR YOU WERE STRANGERS IN THE LAND OF EGYPT: I am the LORD your God.” Yes, the House of Jacob were strangers in Egypt, and they prospered there, before those of Moses generation left there.

Now if some were shown this passage, they might say ‘Oh, but that is part of the old Law, the Law that Jesus fulfilled and therefore relieved us of the responsibility of abiding by. We go by the New Testament, not by what is said in the Old Testament.’ Fair enough. So, from the New Testament is this passage which contains a caveat of sorts: Hebrews 13:2 which says, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” What does this passage reference? It references Genesis 19:1-3, which says the following: “The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face to the earth and said, ‘My lords, please turn aside to your servant's house and spend the night and wash your feet. Then you may rise up early and go on your way.’ They said, ‘No; we will spend the night in the town square.’ But he pressed them strongly; so they turned aside to him and entered his house. And he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.”

Lot, who was related to Abraham, did not know that the strangers he welcomed into his house were angels. Consequently, we don’t know which of the strangers that some try to wall off or kick out have been blessed by God and at least are of God in their hearts. Some of those building a wall against some of them and rounding up the troops against others, may say, “So what? Who or what are they to me?” And the people they voted for, ask the same questions on their behalf. Those of us who are familiar with Sodom and its destruction by God may respond that Ezekiel 16:49 says, “Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, BUT DID NOT AID THE POOR AND NEEDY.” Your listener might respond, ‘But that’s in the Old Testament. I don’t concern myself with the Old Testament, I believe in Jesus.”

Really? Where do you think Jesus’ teachings came from? When he was in Nazareth, he said the following, as written in Luke 4:18- “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” You think Jesus just made that up? Well, look at what Isaiah 61 says: “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound…” (Sound familiar? Re-read the passage from Emma Lazarus’ poem above!)

If we are to believe in Jesus, then to the extent of our capabilities we must act in a manner that Jesus would have acted, in the way we lead our lives. Did Jesus reject strangers? Did Jesus tell the poor and needy to get lost?

Now there may be some among those who reject strangers who might say, ‘We have nothing against strangers coming into our country, but how can we control them?’

Let me offer you up a parable of sorts, from my own experience. Make it two parables. Here is the first: We have a neighbor who has a boy who thinks nothing of coming into our house unannounced to visit, for the purpose of seeing a puppy that the neighbor gave us. My wife told me she doesn’t mind him visiting, but she would rather he knock on the door first, so she knows that he’s around. It’s a sensible request, no? My wife is not looking to kick him out, but she’d like that he comply with a sensible rule that respects her privacy. She didn’t ask me to BUILD A WALL around the house so he can’t come in. She didn’t call out the troops or kick him out once he was in, since she didn’t have to. Eventually he leaves on his own. Who loses there?

Here is the second parable which might get some to thinking, I don’t know…My daughter gave birth to a boy, and she and the boy live in our house. In a certain respect, that boy is a stranger in the context of a stranger coming into our land, is he not? How is he different from strangers who were born elsewhere? He and they could both benefit under God from Jeremiah 29:11 as the rest of us benefit. In Jeremiah 29:11, it is written “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Who are we to thwart God’s Plans for others?

Oh, but some who are against strangers and the poor and needy might say, ‘There you go again, quoting from the Old Testament that Jesus liberated us from!” Really? Did not Jesus say that the second commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself? Doesn’t Leviticus 19:33-34 pretty much say the same thing?

So, if someone tells you they believe in Jesus but they don’t want strangers coming into our country, and that they have no obligation in helping the poor and needy, you should ask them, ‘What do you really believe in?’
 
Sep 4, 2012
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#2
Are you willing to let those strangers come live in your house?
 

newton3003

Senior Member
Feb 4, 2017
437
42
28
#3
Are you willing to let those strangers come live in your house?
Egypt allowed the House of Jacob to live there. If my own house were big enough, I would. To give you some perspective, if you think the U.S. isn't big enough, the fact is that the world's entire population could fit in the state of Texas alone with room to spare.
 

trofimus

Senior Member
Aug 17, 2015
10,684
794
113
#4
Egypt allowed the House of Jacob to live there.
It did not turn well. Neither for Jews, nor for Egypt.

I think there is a certain amount of strangers and different cultures the majority can absorb. After that, it goes bad.

The amount can differ depending on how compatible majority and minority are. European country can have quite a high level of Asian population and everything is OK. On the other hand, just a low level of African or muslim people is enough for problems to arise.
 
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Sep 3, 2016
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#5
By Rev. Dr. Mark Achtemeier

A great many people, religious and otherwise, affirm the fundamental goodness of helping people in need. But how far does this obligation to show compassion extend? When Donald Trump put in place his ban on refugees from predominantly Muslim countries, his action left many Christians wondering whether there is any religious duty to provide sanctuary and compassion to adherents of a foreign faith. Some Christian political and religious leaders have voiced support for Trump’s ban, suggesting that the Christian duty to care for the needy does not apply in this particular situation.

The Gospel of Luke recounts an episode where Jesus himself addresses this very same question about the limits of compassion. In Luke’s account, Jesus and a conversation partner, who is an expert in religious law, both quickly agree that loving our neighbors is a bedrock principle of religious faithfulness. But after agreeing on the duty to love our neighbors, the legal expert asks Jesus the very question that the president’s ban raises for American Christians: “But who is my neighbor?” How far does this obligation to show compassion extend?

Jesus responds to the lawyer’s question by telling a story, which we have since come to know as the Parable of the Good Samaritan. At the center of Jesus’ tale is a man who has been the victim of a violent attack: A band of robbers has stripped a traveler of his clothes and possessions, beaten him senseless, and left him lying half dead on the side of the road.

In Jesus’ story the first person to happen upon the unfortunate traveler is a respected religious leader—a priest—who sees the man lying in the ditch but chooses not to get involved. The same thing happens a bit later when a Levite—another respected religious leader—happens upon the suffering stranger. In describing how these religious leaders pass by on the other side of the road, it almost seems as if Jesus was looking ahead in his story to our own time, when respected religious leaders would also be telling us to ignore the plight of refugees and victims of violence from today’s war-torn countries!

The story does not end on such a grim note, however. Jesus goes on to describe the actions of a Samaritan man who, coming across the robbery victim, acts with great compassion towards him.

The Samaritan binds up the man’s wounds, places him on his horse and carries him to an inn, where he pays for the inn keeper to look after him while here covers. The Good Samaritan stands as a shining example across the centuriesof the care and compassion that Jesus teaches his followers to practice.

The parable of the Good Samaritan is not just a tale of a man who shows exemplary kindness, however. A deeper dimension of Jesus’ story comes to light when we understand who the Samaritans actually were. In the eyes of Jesus’fellow citizens, the Samaritans were a tribe of hated foreigners who practiced a rival, heretical faith.

Jesus’ outrageous decision to lift up a despised Samaritan infidel as the moral hero of his story leaves no doubt that the love of neighbor Jesus has in mindis one that reaches out to people of foreign nations and foreign religions. Jesus’ type of neighbor-love does not stop at national or religious borders,and for this reason Jesus’ teaching stands in sharp opposition to the closed door and the clenched fist that characterize our president’s current policy.

Of course many Americans who support the immigration ban are not thinking so much about religious faithfulness; their support is more the product of simple fear. We live in a dangerous world, and people want to feel safe. Slamming thedoor on our Muslim neighbors may seem like a viable way to reduce the anxiety we live with from day to day, but practicing the kind of far-reaching neighbor-love which Jesus teaches may actually do a better job of helping usfeel more secure.

Not many of us, it seems, are finding that the president’s ban makes us feelless anxious. A recent Reuters/Ipsos
poll foundthat less than one third of Americans feel the least bit safer as a result ofthe president’s action. The New Testament draws on Jesus’ teaching to suggest avery different remedy for our anxiety: “Perfect love casts out fear” is how Jesus’ disciple John puts it.

It is a question we Americans would do well to ponder: Does it really make usfeel safer to hide behind walls and bans, to turn our backs on suffering and struggling peoples, to reject and despise those whose origins and beliefs aredifferent from our own? Does turning our back on compassion really give us agreater sense of security?

Or is the path to a greater peace found in the kind of neighbor-love that reaches across dividing lines, that provides help to the refugee and the victimof violence, that binds up the wounds of the suffering and works to build an encompassing community of compassion and mutual help? Building friendship and community and common ties with people seems a better way of preventing them from harming us than does with holding compassion and erecting walls and bans against them.

No strategy will ever be fool proof, of course. Perfect safety is an illusion that no nation can ever guarantee to its citizens, and reasonable people may disagree over the proper balance to strike between freedom and generosity on the one hand, and security and safety on the other. For those of us who aspire to follow Jesus, however, we dare not let the present situation tempt us away from the expansive type of neighbor-love to which he calls us. We simply have to lift our voices and join the marches and protest to our representatives in opposition to the president’s immigration ban.

 
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Studyman

Senior Member
Oct 11, 2017
3,570
516
113
#6
Egypt allowed the House of Jacob to live there. If my own house were big enough, I would. To give you some perspective, if you think the U.S. isn't big enough, the fact is that the world's entire population could fit in the state of Texas alone with room to spare.
Jacob's son had been sold into slavery and was a prisoner for a long time. It was only by doing something that helped his captors that he was let out of prison. It was only by showing how Egypt could be saved from certain destruction did he gain favor by his captors. It was for this reason that Jacob was allowed to live there.

These seem relevant to your statement regarding Jacob and Egypt..
 
Sep 4, 2012
14,424
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#7
Egypt allowed the House of Jacob to live there. If my own house were big enough, I would. To give you some perspective, if you think the U.S. isn't big enough, the fact is that the world's entire population could fit in the state of Texas alone with room to spare.
If the US can't keep it's native population fully employed, why should others be allowed in to take what jobs there are for lower wages?
 
Sep 3, 2016
6,337
527
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#8
By Rev. Dr. Mark Achtemeier

A great many people, religious and otherwise, affirm the fundamental goodness of helping people in need. But how far does this obligation to show compassion extend? When Donald Trump put in place his ban on refugees from predominantly Muslim countries, his action left many Christians wondering whether there is any religious duty to provide sanctuary and compassion to adherents of a foreign faith. Some Christian political and religious leaders have voiced support for Trump’s ban, suggesting that the Christian duty to care for the needy does not apply in this particular situation.

The Gospel of Luke recounts an episode where Jesus himself addresses this very same question about the limits of compassion. In Luke’s account, Jesus and a conversation partner, who is an expert in religious law, both quickly agree that loving our neighbors is a bedrock principle of religious faithfulness. But after agreeing on the duty to love our neighbors, the legal expert asks Jesus the very question that the president’s ban raises for American Christians: “But who is my neighbor?” How far does this obligation to show compassion extend?

Jesus responds to the lawyer’s question by telling a story, which we have since come to know as the Parable of the Good Samaritan. At the center of Jesus’ tale is a man who has been the victim of a violent attack: A band of robbers has stripped a traveler of his clothes and possessions, beaten him senseless, and left him lying half dead on the side of the road.

In Jesus’ story the first person to happen upon the unfortunate traveler is a respected religious leader—a priest—who sees the man lying in the ditch but chooses not to get involved. The same thing happens a bit later when a Levite—another respected religious leader—happens upon the suffering stranger. In describing how these religious leaders pass by on the other side of the road, it almost seems as if Jesus was looking ahead in his story to our own time, when respected religious leaders would also be telling us to ignore the plight of refugees and victims of violence from today’s war-torn countries!

The story does not end on such a grim note, however. Jesus goes on to describe the actions of a Samaritan man who, coming across the robbery victim, acts with great compassion towards him.

The Samaritan binds up the man’s wounds, places him on his horse and carries him to an inn, where he pays for the inn keeper to look after him while here recovers. The Good Samaritan stands as a shining example across the centuries of the care and compassion that Jesus teaches his followers to practice.

The parable of the Good Samaritan is not just a tale of a man who shows exemplary kindness, however. A deeper dimension of Jesus’ story comes to light when we understand who the Samaritans actually were. In the eyes of Jesus’ fellow citizens, the Samaritans were a tribe of hated foreigners who practiced a rival, heretical faith.

Jesus’ outrageous decision to lift up a despised Samaritan infidel as the moral hero of his story leaves no doubt that the love of neighbor Jesus has in mind is one that reaches out to people of foreign nations and foreign religions. Jesus’ type of neighbor-love does not stop at national or religious borders,and for this reason Jesus’ teaching stands in sharp opposition to the closed door and the clenched fist that characterize our president’s current policy.

Of course many Americans who support the immigration ban are not thinking so much about religious faithfulness; their support is more the product of simple fear. We live in a dangerous world, and people want to feel safe. Slamming the door on our Muslim neighbors may seem like a viable way to reduce the anxiety we live with from day to day, but practicing the kind of far-reaching neighbor-love which Jesus teaches may actually do a better job of helping usfeel more secure.

Not many of us, it seems, are finding that the president’s ban makes us feel less anxious. A recent Reuters/Ipsos
poll found that less than one third of Americans feel the least bit safer as a result ofthe president’s action. The New Testament draws on Jesus’ teaching to suggest avery different remedy for our anxiety: “Perfect love casts out fear” is how Jesus’ disciple John puts it.

It is a question we Americans would do well to ponder: Does it really make usfeel safer to hide behind walls and bans, to turn our backs on suffering and struggling peoples, to reject and despise those whose origins and beliefs are different from our own? Does turning our back on compassion really give us a greater sense of security?

Or is the path to a greater peace found in the kind of neighbor-love that reaches across dividing lines, that provides help to the refugee and the victimof violence, that binds up the wounds of the suffering and works to build an encompassing community of compassion and mutual help? Building friendship and community and common ties with people seems a better way of preventing them from harming us than does with holding compassion and erecting walls and bans against them.

No strategy will ever be fool proof, of course. Perfect safety is an illusion that no nation can ever guarantee to its citizens, and reasonable people may disagree over the proper balance to strike between freedom and generosity on the one hand, and security and safety on the other. For those of us who aspire to follow Jesus, however, we dare not let the present situation tempt us away from the expansive type of neighbor-love to which he calls us. We simply have to lift our voices and join the marches and protest to our representatives in opposition to the president’s immigration ban.

FAQ about 9/11 - Fifteen of the 19 terrorists were from Saudi Arabia. Two were from the United Arab Emirates, one was from Lebanon, and one was from Egypt.

Saudi Arabia — Muslim 100%, United Arab Emirates — Muslim 96%; Why did President Trump give these countries a free pass to enter the country? Is it because he does business in these countries? The CIA, FBI, NSA, MI6, said Russia hacked the USA elections. Why does Russia get a free pass (Exxon)? President Trump has not paid taxes for 20 years. Why does he get a free pass?

Revelation 18:23 says it like this, "Satan has deceived and led astray every nation by sorcery and black magic."
 
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Shamah

Senior Member
Jan 6, 2018
2,735
692
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#9
love is according to EVERYTHING that YHWH SAYS IT IS, not a single aspect nor ignoring any single aspect.

I pose an idea or question...

The needy.

who is the needy in this case;

a single mom who asks for money to feed herself and her child?

or

a drug addict who asks for money to fuel their habit?

would love not be helping the single mother with food, finances and shelter and helping the drug addict with drug rehibilitation?
 

craigb9876

Junior Member
Sep 4, 2016
30
5
8
#10
I believe truly that there is no limits to compassion to the poor. Remeber jesus said anyone who has 2 shirts should share one with who has none and i believe this is what we should do. I would rather live on a floor with 30 other people jammed in a house then by myself when their are poor people living on the street
 

Didymous

Senior Member
Feb 22, 2018
5,047
2,099
113
#11
Even before Christianity, the original inhabitants of this country were kind to the pilgrims who came here first, and even kept them alive so they wouldn't die. Because of that, most of us have been treated poorly ever since. Kindness was something we had before Jesus.
 
Sep 3, 2016
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#12
FAQ about 9/11 - Fifteen of the 19 terrorists were from Saudi Arabia. Two were from the United Arab Emirates, one was from Lebanon, and one was from Egypt.

Saudi Arabia — Muslim 100%, United Arab Emirates — Muslim 96%; Why did President Trump give these countries a free pass to enter the country? Is it because he does business in these countries? The CIA, FBI, NSA, MI6, said Russia hacked the USA elections. Why does Russia get a free pass (Exxon)? President Trump has not paid taxes for 20 years. Why does he get a free pass?

Revelation 18:23 says it like this, "Satan has deceived and led astray every nation by sorcery and black magic."
My position is as a Believer is to support legal immigration and not someone sneaking into the country illegally. The scripture says, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's (Matthew 12:17)." Partiality is sin.
 

tourist

Senior Member
Mar 13, 2014
41,243
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Tennessee
#13
Do you believe that it is strictly an OT thing?

In the bible it says that there will always be the poor.

I don't particularly want strangers coming into my country either, especially terrorist and drug smugglers, rapist and thieves etc. Anyone allowed in this country for potential citizenship should be required to learn English too.

There are a lot of ways to help the poor and needy but there is also such a thing as enabling.

Just because a person believes in Jesus does not mean that this person is perfect. A US citizen that has serous doubts about letting in even more people does not mean that this person does not care about the poor and needy.

This country is bankrupt as it is by being overly generous to not only the poor and needy but to those that are able-bodied and refuse to work.
 

posthuman

Senior Member
Jul 31, 2013
36,530
13,094
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#14
I believe truly that there is no limits to compassion to the poor. Remeber jesus said anyone who has 2 shirts should share one with who has none and i believe this is what we should do. I would rather live on a floor with 30 other people jammed in a house then by myself when their are poor people living on the street
it was John the baptizer that said that, actually ((not that it makes it any less true)) - Luke 3:7-14.
 

tourist

Senior Member
Mar 13, 2014
41,243
16,252
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Tennessee
#15
I believe truly that there is no limits to compassion to the poor. Remeber jesus said anyone who has 2 shirts should share one with who has none and i believe this is what we should do. I would rather live on a floor with 30 other people jammed in a house then by myself when their are poor people living on the street
There is no way that I would allow one stranger to live in my home let alone 30 strangers. I'm sorry that there are poor people living in the street but perhaps a donation to a local shelter and a food bank would be more appropriate.
 

tourist

Senior Member
Mar 13, 2014
41,243
16,252
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Tennessee
#16
Egypt allowed the House of Jacob to live there. If my own house were big enough, I would. To give you some perspective, if you think the U.S. isn't big enough, the fact is that the world's entire population could fit in the state of Texas alone with room to spare.
That may be true but it would be standing room only. Texas is nowhere near large enough to feed and house the population of the world. Eventually, the population of the world would die of starvation if they didn't kill each other first.
 

newton3003

Senior Member
Feb 4, 2017
437
42
28
#17
If the US can't keep it's native population fully employed, why should others be allowed in to take what jobs there are for lower wages?
The unemployment rate in the U.S. is the lowest it practically has ever been. Plus, there are many who would shun the type of work that aliens would only be too happy to do.
[h=3]2 Timothy 2:15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.[/h]
 

Johnny_B

Senior Member
Mar 18, 2017
1,954
64
48
#18
Egypt allowed the House of Jacob to live there. If my own house were big enough, I would. To give you some perspective, if you think the U.S. isn't big enough, the fact is that the world's entire population could fit in the state of Texas alone with room to spare.
You do not need to take them all just two or three. As far as stangers, the needy and the poor you have taken the Bible out of context and at the same time saying that the U.S. should be under the Bible's laws.

Strangers were people that came to Israel to live with the Jews and they were under the same laws as the Jews. Leviticus 18:26-28 “You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations, either any of your own nation or any stranger who dwells among you 27(for all these abominations the men of the land have done, who were before you, and thus the land is defiled), 28lest the land vomit you out also when you defile it, as it vomited out the nations that were before you.”

Leviticus 19:9-10 “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. 10And you shall not glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather every grape of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I am the Lord your God.”

The reason they were not to harvest everything is because if you were not Jewish you could not own land, because they land was given to the 12 tribes of Israel so if you were not of a tribe there was no land for you. This is why the Lord set it up this way. The poor were Jew that could not handle their money right and the Lord set up a program for that as well, you could become a slave for 7 years and the master would pay off their debt or buy them and after seven years he would be set you free.

Exodus 21:1-6 “Now these are the rules that you shall set before them. 2When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing. 3If he comes in single, he shall go out single; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him. 4If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out alone. 5But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ 6then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever.”

Leviticus 19:33-34 “And if a stranger dwells with you in your land, you shall not mistreat him. 34The stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”

Now in the New Testament we are to help those that are of the household of the faith. James 2:14-17 brings it to the Church. “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

Notice James says brother or sister he does not say a stranger or the poor in general. We have ministries asking for money to feed the poor and people in there Churches are going without. Look at the book of Acts, those that sold everything gave it to the Church and they feed those widows in the body of Christ. Acts 6:1 “Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.”

Here is what James says about true religion, James 1:27 “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”

The word "visit" in the Greek is "episkeptomai" here's what it means "to look upon, care for, exercise oversight, signifies (a) to visit with help, of the act of God" Vine's Expository Dictionary.

These orphans and widows are of the household of faith or brothers and sisters. So to try and make the Bible say that we need to take care of everyone in the world and the U.S. is the means by which the Bible wants to fullfil it, is way off.


 
Sep 4, 2012
14,424
689
113
#19
I believe truly that there is no limits to compassion to the poor. Remeber jesus said anyone who has 2 shirts should share one with who has none and i believe this is what we should do. I would rather live on a floor with 30 other people jammed in a house then by myself when their are poor people living on the street
Then why don't you do it?
 

Didymous

Senior Member
Feb 22, 2018
5,047
2,099
113
#20
If the US can't keep it's native population fully employed, why should others be allowed in to take what jobs there are for lower wages?
If illegals weren't constantly coming into this country to work in the farm industry, not only would food be too expensive for all but the wealthiest to afford, but even they would be starving, because the average "legal" American won't do such hard work for such low wages.
Having worked with illegals, I know they're some of the hardest working people in the world, and that the work they do is brutal and severely underpaid.