Elsewhere, we have been discussing economics and taxation. Poverty relief is one of our duties as Christians.
It is disheartening to read on so many threads the most vicious contempt leveled at the poor. That is to be expected of pagans and seculars, but Christians should know better.
Sometimes we forget ourselves, but this thread has been revived to remind us that poverty relief was the purpose of the largest of the taxes God imposed on ancient Israel, and it is a commandment to Christians from Jesus Christ.
Seculars will always be hateful towards anything that costs money and does not seem to benefit them, but they love and serve money, not God.
Christians should be reminded of God's views on poverty, and the best place to start with that is Scripture.
Invoking Scripture is a minefield, as disputes immediately arise over which translation, which canon, etc. As, to my knowledge, I am the only Catholic posting on this site, and all of the self-professed Christians are Protestants (many with an unveiled contempt for Catholicism), I will use Protestant sources. As A K A Stone has taken me to task for my use of a particular Protestant translation in the past (the Concordant Translation), and has insisted that the King James Version is the most reliable, I shall limit myself to the KJV.
One advantage of doing so, besides the fact that all Protestant conservatives will accept its authority, is that all of the greatest word study and categorization tools, such as Strong's Concordance and numbering system, were devised for the KJV.
A study of two words: the word "Poor" and the word "Rich" in the Holy Bible, KJV translation, is very revealing, and should serve to bring erring Christians back to their senses.
The word "poor" appears 205 times in the KJV, 170 times in the Old Testament (OT), and 35 times in the NT.
Of the 170 times that "poor" is referenced in the OT, 12 of them do not refer to human material poverty, but refer to the state of something, such as 'cattle of poor appearance', or is used in a neutral way, such as 'both rich and poor'.
152 times the word is used to refer to poor people, and presents them or their state in a sympathetic light.
Only 6 times are the poor presented in an unsympathetic light, and these occurrences are all in proverbs, describing the fact that neighbors find the poor burdensome and hate them, or in two or three instances, a description of character weaknesses that lead to poverty (such as drinking to excess). However, even in proverbs the (true) observations of some of the weaknesses that lead to proverbs does not suggest that there is a "worthy" poor and unworthy poor. Quite the opposite: the poor are the poor, and some get that way through personal errors, but the poor are to be pitied and helped.
In the New Testament, the situation is even starker. Jesus uses the word 16 times. 15 times the reference to the poor is in a sympathetic or very sympathetic light. 1 time there is a neutral reference.
The other 18 occurrences of the "poor" in the NT are all sympathetic or, in one case, neutral.
There is never a pejorative reference to the poor in the New Testament at all, There are 152 sympathetic references to the poor in the Old Testament, and even the handful of critical usages in Proverbs refer only to how some poor become poor. There is never one reference that suggests anything other than compassion and assistance for the poor. The Bible is overwhelmingly sympathetic to the plight of the poor, and is filled with nearly two hundred instances of commands and strong guidance to care for them as a duty, of Jew and Christians alike.
One will search in vain for any support for condemnation and refusal to help the poor because of "their own fault" in the Bible. The Bible commands the opposite. And Christians who think otherwise are in serious error (consider the repetitive nature of the commands in their regard, and quasi-total sympathetic reference to them - and negative references to those who spurn them).
So now let's look at the word "rich". Again, many seculars and pagans rise urgently to the defense of the rich "against the mob", or against any who would criticize them.
Christians do not have the luxury of following the logic of secular conservatism to that dark place.
For the word "Rich" also occurs in the Bible 41 times in the Old Testament, and 39 times in the New. Of the 41 usages in the Old Testament, 14 are neutral, such as in references to things that happen to "rich and poor". 17 uses are downright pejorative, harshly calling out and criticizing the rich, generally for their lack of compassion for or behavior towards the poor (the very reason that I am posting this word study: these sentiments against the poor are not new under the Sun, and God has been rejecting them for 4000 years - Christians need to realize that and change course if they are in error.) There are 10 positive references to the rich in the Old Testament, with several of them being cases where God rewarded a person, such as Abraham, for his loyalty.
In the New Testament, Jesus uses the word 16 times. 13 of those uses are highly condemnatory. Jesus warns the rich of damnation, preaches woe to them, calls on them to repent. He uses "rich" in a neutral sense one time. His two positive uses of the word "rich" are both in Revelation, and he is referring to those rich in spirit, not rich in material goods. Indeed, in one instance he refers to a church that is poor materially as being rich, because of its spiritual gifts. So, Jesus is utterly negative in this use of the word "rich", repeatedly, and urges them to repent and use their money to aid the poor.
When "rich" is used the other 23 times in the New Testament, 14 uses of that word are pejorative, and 3 are neutral. All of the remaining positive uses refer to being rich in spirit. The only positive reference to a rich person is a statement of fact about Joseph of Arimathea: that he was rich.
The God of the KJV is not balanced: being rich is presented as being highly problematic, and his Son is downright condemnatory: why have you amassed wealth for yourself when the poor are crying out all around you.
A handful of the proverbs do indeed describe the weaknesses that lead to poverty, and they are true. But nowhere does God or his Son ever suggest that that makes any difference. Yes, the poor are sometimes responsible, at least in part, for their own condition. And no, it is not for you to judge, Christian: it is for you to help, with money.
In the use of these words, the Bible is utterly lopsided. God's view is very clear. And if you're a Christian and are speaking harsh judgments towards the poor, you do so in ignorance and are standing against God's word, and his opinion made manifest throughout Scripture by every use of the word, in all contexts.
I thought it was important for you all to see this, so that if you are erring, you stop and come back to God.
