Gods_girl111 Posted May 13, 2011 Group: Members Followers: 1 Topic Count: 6 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 50 Content Per Day: 0.01 Reputation: 0 Days Won: 0 Joined: 04/19/2011 Status: Offline Birthday: 10/19/1989 Share Posted May 13, 2011 a friend on facebook who used to be one of my best friends posted this.. 'If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit we just don't want to do it' -Stephen Colber i dont completely understand the last part and i want to say something to it, but i dont know what to say. any suggestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smalcald Posted May 13, 2011 Group: Royal Member Followers: 0 Topic Count: 32 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 5,258 Content Per Day: 0.76 Reputation: 42 Days Won: 3 Joined: 06/16/2005 Status: Offline Birthday: 07/22/1960 Share Posted May 13, 2011 Hi Gods Girl, Yes we should help the poor. It is the reason that the largest charities in the US helping the poor by far are all Christian. Christians give more to charity to help the poor than any other group of people. So we certainly do want to and we are helping the poor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyoka Posted May 14, 2011 Group: Junior Member Followers: 3 Topic Count: 0 Topics Per Day: 0 Content Count: 89 Content Per Day: 0.02 Reputation: 16 Days Won: 1 Joined: 03/04/2008 Status: Offline Birthday: 01/25/1963 Share Posted May 14, 2011 (edited) a friend on facebook who used to be one of my best friends posted this.. 'If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit we just don't want to do it' -Stephen Colber i dont completely understand the last part and i want to say something to it, but i dont know what to say. any suggestions? What he is saying in this post is if we are truly Christians then we will do as Jesus said and feed the poor and serve the needy without expecting any payment for it. Then he goes on to say that as a Christian we have two choices: 1) we believe that Jesus wants us to serve the poor and needy without expecting anything back 2) we believe that Jesus did not want us to feed the poor and serve the needy and therefore, selfishly, don't do anything for them. These are our choices but as Christians we should be following what Jesus said and taking care of the poor and needy. Hope this helps Edited May 14, 2011 by Nyoka Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aleksander Posted May 16, 2011 Group: Advanced Member Followers: 1 Topic Count: 16 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 147 Content Per Day: 0.02 Reputation: 2 Days Won: 0 Joined: 03/18/2007 Status: Offline Birthday: 07/19/1983 Share Posted May 16, 2011 a friend on facebook who used to be one of my best friends posted this.. 'If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit we just don't want to do it' -Stephen Colber i dont completely understand the last part and i want to say something to it, but i dont know what to say. any suggestions? hm, let me see if i can explain it(and i hope i get him right) If America continues being a nation that does not help the poor, then either we a)have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are or b) knowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition while admitting to ourselves and others that we just do not want to do what He said in other words, America needs to start to love the poor and serve the needy without condition, or continue in not serving and not obeying His commandment but not without first either a)pretending that Jesus was just as selfish as we are or b)admit that He indeed commanded us to serve but we just don't want to do it because if we continue not doing it, but continue talking about it, then the unbeliever will see this as hypocrisy that we will then have to somehow explain to them as being a)normal things, that Jesus was as selfish as we are and we are thus not being hypocrites, just following His example(and in this making Him look like a hypocrite) or b)He did say it and do it, but we are the hypocrites who say we do His will while not admitting to ourselves that we are not doing it when we are not serving simply put, be hypocrites if we want, must, but admit to it so as to detach ourselves from the message of "care for the poor" that we are preaching. because if we do not detach our hypocritical selves from it, then His name is slandered, and if we detach ourselves from Him and the message, then maybe the unbeliever who hears the message elsewhere(or even from us but knows that we are not doing it ourselves and admit that we are not doing it) he or she will be free to look at Jesus as Jesus is, not as we portray Him. we can't, by preaching it [the message], strap ourselves to the the message of serving the poor if we are not going to be going what we are preaching and in it [in doing so, in not serving], hindering and slandering the message and God and Jesus with our hypocritical way. either preach and do, or preach but say you will not do and are only preaching for the sake of preaching. eh, i think that's what it means. does that sound about right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jodetoad Posted May 16, 2011 Group: Junior Member Followers: 1 Topic Count: 8 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 86 Content Per Day: 0.02 Reputation: 4 Days Won: 0 Joined: 05/14/2011 Status: Offline Birthday: 02/06/1953 Share Posted May 16, 2011 It is illogical. "If this is going to be a Christian nation" - the US as a nation has no religion. The US is NOT a Christian nation. We have freedom of religion. If the US were a Christian theocracy, the rest of the comment might make some sense. If you buy into the "Christian nation" thing, then it might follow that the US should take the taxes of citizens to assist the poor. There are a lot of problems with that, we could talk all day about that. One very obvious problem is imposing this on atheists, Hindus, Muslims, etc. etc. Another is that if we are all hypocrites, as the comment suggests, why is it right for the government to force us hypocrites to be less selfish if we don't want to be less selfish? Does it sound like a democracy to you? Taking my money by force of law is not going to make me less of a hypocritical cheap jerk. Since the government has helped the poor all these years, can they show that the poor have benefited in any way? It boils down to the government imposing a morality on me, and taking my money to do so. It is completely different than me freely choosing as a Christian to assist the poor in whatever way seems best to me. Some of the poor need things money will buy, but many of the poor have problems that can't be solved by throwing money at them. I find it irritating when people want to feel holy by pushing a loss of freedom on an entire nation in ways that cost them nothing. Let Mr. Colbert go help the poor if he wants to, nobody is stopping him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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