Its clear to me that there is a biblical mandate to care for the poor. I am convinced that this is part of the call of my faith... of that I have no doubt. But, what this looks like on a practical level is not always easy to translate. And, even once translated, its not always easy to swallow.
Let's say I'm passing someone on the street who is asking for money. We've all been told we shouldn't give such people cash because they may go spend it on alcohol or drugs. And, I've heard some helpful alternatives such as: ask them if you can go buy them some food/coffee, give them bus passes, or help direct them to the nearest shelter or aid center. But, I can't help but wonder if this is complete. Where in the Bible does it say, "But when thou doest give, be sure to only give to people who will assuredly use what you give for good." I just looked -- can't find it. But, here is what it DOES say...
1 John 3:17-18 If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
Proverbs 19:17 He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward him for what he has done.
Luke 6:38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
It seems to me that God requires us to give, and do so freely. And, while I can say that with full assurance; again, I bring up the practical difficulties of such an awareness...
There is a woman who lives in my neighborhood who often approaches me asking for money. I've noticed that her story is always changing, and have figured that most times I am getting the run-around. But, as a general rule, I try to get at the root of her need and meet it when possible (I've given her everything from bus passes to tampons over the last year or so). Here is an ACTUAL conversation that I had with her on probably our 10th encounter (though she always approaches me as a stranger... with no memory of our previous meetings):
Woman: Hello, miss. I was wondering if you could spare me a few dollars. I need to catch a bus to Monroeville. I have no way to get home and Im stranded here, so if you could please help me!
Me: Absolutely! I have a few extra bus passes I would be happy to spare... you'll probably need two for the long haul out to Monroeville.
Woman: Oh. Bus passes? Well... ok. The truth is I'd really just like some cash so I can get some cigarettes and something to eat.
Me: Oh! Well, lets walk down to the Shell station. Its a block away and I'll get you some food and a pack of cigarettes if thats what you really need. [This was a stretch for me -- buying someone cigarettes was not my first choice. But, I figured it might give me a chance to talk to her while we walked.]
Woman: Listen. You seem really nice. Can I be honest? I'm really just trying to score some weed. I haven't had it in a long time, but I had a really bad day. Could you please just throw me a few dollars?
Me: Um, no. I'm sorry. I really don't feel comfortable with that... and, I don't have any cash anyway.
And, I walked away feeling so defeated. Cause, here I was trying to be generous... but the need was something I simply couldn't support. And figuring out what the RIGHT thing to do in that kind of situation seems easy (I mean, God couldn't possibly want me to give her money for weed, right?)... but it doesn't always feel so right.
And, I say all this ONLY to point out that the world is not full of simple solutions. I think the times when we feel we have "RIGHT"and "WRONG" figured out 100%, we are pobably the latter. And figuring out how to live out your faith and participate in Christ's redemption of the world is a really complicated thing. Again -- we may be able to see the problem... but can we come up with a RIGHT solution?
My mind is churning all this over because of an NPR article I read yesterday. The whole thing was about "economic psychology" and how to motivate humans to do the RIGHT thing. One program they referenced really shocked me, and clearly still has me revelling a bit...
"In the city of Greensboro, N.C., there's a program designed for teenage mothers. To prevent these teens from having another child, the city offers each of them $1 a day for every day they are not pregnant. It turns out that the psychological power of that small daily payment is huge. A single dollar a day is enough to push the rate of teen pregnancy down, saving all the incredible costs — human and financial — that go with teen parenting."
Does it strike anyone else that this may be the WRONG means to the RIGHT end? My first (albeit irrational and skeptical) responcive thought was, "There has got to be at least one girl out there getting pregnant for the first time so she can start collecting her $365 a year." But, my musings aside -- this is bizarre. Of course, I'm all for having less pregnant and single-mom teens -- I was beginning to wonder if the Juno craze would start some bad trends -- but are government sponsored cash incentives the way to go?Then again, who am I to judge? There is no simple solution to lowering teen pregnancy rates. The problem is a complicated cocktail of an over-sexed society, absent/unattentive parents, faulty sex education, the ever-raging teen hormones, and probably a number of factors that I could never identify.
But I guess the point that I am trying to make with this VERY long rambling thought-jumble is... Just because a visible problem does not have a visible solution, does NOT mean we should stop talking about, working on, and caring about the problem itself. We should, as human beings (and certainly as Christians), be shedding light on brokenness when we see it. It needs to be named... analyzed... not forgotten. And, we need to retain hope that as we labor towards redeeming this world, the solution WILL show itself.
Just a thought.
If you are interested in reading more about the teen pregnancy project or "economic psychology", visit NPR's article.
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