Recently I came across a poll someone from ORU posted asking, "should you give money to people that ask for it?" And I was expecting to open it and see like, 2 people saying "no." Wrong. 70% of people said no. I would say at least 90% of all the people that answered were from ORU (therefore, Christians).
I started reading comments on it and people were saying,
"Give them what they need, not what they ask for (food, clothes etc.)" And other were saying, "It's a case by case basis, you can't just give to everyone who asks since a lot of them use the money on drugs and such."
The consensus was, we should give them food and clothes and gift cards, but not cash. This is something I've been taught, too, that homeless people beg for money to use on "bad" things, so we need to be careful. I've also heard that homeless people make a lot of money, around $100 an hour.
I'm not stupid. I know you should use common sense and discernment when giving out your money to people. What concerns me is that Christians look no different than humanitarians, or "good people". Here's what I posted on the comments of that poll:
"Honestly, I'm surprised how many people said no! It's not really up to me to decide what a person's intentions are for my money. They obviously have a need that needs to be met. And even if they are lying, that is not my judgment to be made. That's between that person and God.
I think wanting to decide what that person should spend their money on reveals an inner control of our money, and how we can't just give it to someone, we have to give it with conditions."
Expounding on that, I think Christians are just selfish people who want to feel good about when they give, if we are so concerned about what they will do with our money. I'm not necessarily saying this is bad, because everyone is selfish and at least something is being given. What I am saying is that we are
judgmental. Who are we to decide the intentions of someone else with our money? If I do believe in the Bible and what Jesus says then it has profound implications in terms of this subject. In Luke it has that verse, the one that says "I was hungry, but no one fed me, I was naked but no one gave me clothes..." Etc. Continuing to say "Whatever you do for the least of these you do for me." If it really is like we are giving to Jesus, who would care of his
intention with the money that he wanted you to give Him?
I get it, there are dishonest people in the world.They may be living in a mansion and cheating you out of your money. But this is not for us to decide, you are dishonest too. Christians are no better than them, or better than any "good person".
What we are saying when we don't give them money is "I know your life better than you do," regardless if those are the words we put to it. What message does it send to our kids when we drive by and see a homeless person and we say, "Not today, sweetie." In my experience, almost all kids want to give money to homeless people. Weather they have a few coins or a few dollars, it's always, "mommy, let's give that person my money." Because children recognize the need without the rose shaded glasses. They recognize, "I have money and they don't." And a lot of the reason we don't give money is because they look "skechy". So what are we teaching our kids?
We shouldn't ever give if we think that we know the best way for our gift to be used. So what if they spend it on drugs? That sucks, but that's not up to us to decide. You really think that's the issue, go talk to him and quit acting so stuck up. Christians should be praying with them, clothing them, feeding them despite the cost.
If Christians truly believe that we should "Go into all nations and preach the Gospel," it's time to stop saying that we are much better than them because we have money. Because that is what you're saying. Or, we can just accept we like to give them "what they need, not what they ask for" (and we decided we know better than them what they need) and be content in being a good humanitarian, like most people in the world.
This should apply to all of our giving from a Christian standpoint, because we have to accept at some point we may be no better than the world at giving, and in my opinion, we should be.
