{"id":2674,"date":"2012-11-10T00:05:13","date_gmt":"2012-11-10T08:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/?p=2674"},"modified":"2012-11-10T00:46:17","modified_gmt":"2012-11-10T08:46:17","slug":"caring-for-those-in-need","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/2012\/11\/10\/caring-for-those-in-need\/","title":{"rendered":"Caring for Those in Need"},"content":{"rendered":"

A lot of people, when they think of what it means to be righteous, start listing the things that they do not do. They will focus primarily on the things that they themselves don\u2019t do, the things that they are proud that they are not. They \u201cdo not smoke, they do not do and they do not run with girls who do.\u201d They are not murderers, rapists or thieves.<\/p>\n

\nTo some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: \u201cTwo men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: \u2018God, I thank you that I am not like other people\u2014robbers, evildoers, adulterers\u2014or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, \u2018God, have mercy on me, a sinner.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.\u201d (Luke 18:9-14)\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Then there are those who will look at the United States and believe that it must soon suffer the wrath of God because of rampant pornography, illicit sex, abortion, uppity women, tolerance of gays and the like. The criticism from the religious right and the Taliban are remarkably similar.<\/p>\n

And yet, when God was critical of the ancient Israelites, not a one of those things came up in the words of the prophets. Hear what Isaiah had to say:<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cShout it aloud, do not hold back.
\nRaise your voice like a trumpet.
\nDeclare to my people their rebellion
\nand to the house of Jacob their sins.
\nFor day after day they seek me out;
\nthey seem eager to know my ways,
\nas if they were a nation that does what is right
\nand has not forsaken the commands of its God.
\nThey ask me for just decisions
\nand seem eager for God to come near them.
\n \u2018Why have we fasted,\u2019 they say,
\n\u2018and you have not seen it?
\nWhy have we humbled ourselves,
\nand you have not noticed?\u2019
\n\u201cYet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
\nand exploit all your workers.
\nYour fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
\nand in striking each other with wicked fists.
\nYou cannot fast as you do today
\nand expect your voice to be heard on high.
\nIs this the kind of fast I have chosen,
\nonly a day for people to humble themselves?
\nIs it only for bowing one\u2019s head like a reed
\nand for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
\nIs that what you call a fast,
\na day acceptable to the Lord?
\n \u201cIs not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
\nto loose the chains of injustice
\nand untie the cords of the yoke,
\nto set the oppressed free
\nand break every yoke?
\nIs it not to share your food with the hungry
\nand to provide the poor wanderer with shelter\u2014
\nwhen you see the naked, to clothe them,
\nand not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
\nThen your light will break forth like the dawn,
\nand your healing will quickly appear;
\nthen your righteousness will go before you,
\nand the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
\nThen you will call, and the Lord will answer;
\nyou will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
\n\u201cIf you do away with the yoke of oppression,
\nwith the pointing finger and malicious talk,
\nand if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
\nand satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
\nthen your light will rise in the darkness,
\nand your night will become like the noonday.
\nThe Lord will guide you always;
\nhe will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
\nand will strengthen your frame.
\nYou will be like a well-watered garden,
\nlike a spring whose waters never fail.
\nYour people will rebuild the ancient ruins
\nand will raise up the age-old foundations;
\nyou will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
\nRestorer of Streets with Dwellings.
\n \u201cIf you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
\nand from doing as you please on my holy day,
\nif you call the Sabbath a delight
\nand the Lord\u2019s holy day honorable,
\nand if you honor it by not going your own way
\nand not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
\nthen you will find your joy in the Lord,
\nand I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land
\nand to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.\u201d (Isaiah 58)\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So should you now feel guilty? Are we doing it all wrong? If we want to \u201csave America\u201d do we need to stop treating our poor and disadvantaged so wretchedly?<\/p>\n

But are we in fact neglecting the poor and disadvantaged?<\/p>\n

Consider:<\/p>\n

In 2011 the United States Federal Budget was 3.6 Trillion dollars.<\/p>\n

20 percent (731 billion dollars) of that was for the Social Security Program<\/p>\n

21 percent (769 billion dollars) went to Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children\u2019s Health Insurance Program<\/p>\n

13 percent (466 billion dollars) went to Safety Net programs, that is, aid to individuals and families facing hardship. These programs include: the refundable portion of the earned-income and child tax credits, which assist low- and moderate-income working families through the tax code; programs that provide cash payments to eligible individuals or households, including Supplemental Security Income for the elderly or disabled poor and unemployment insurance; various forms of in-kind assistance for low-income families and individuals, including food stamps, school meals, low-income housing assistance, child-care assistance, and assistance in meeting home energy bills; and various other programs such as those that aid abused and neglected children. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s 54 percent of the Federal Budget.<\/p>\n

How\u2019s the rest of the Federal money spent?<\/p>\n

7 percent goes to Federal Retirees and Veterans
\n3 percent for Transportation Infrastructure
\n2 percent for education
\n2 percent for science and medical research (So for instance, less than 0.5 percent of the budget goes to NASA)
\n20 percent for defense and international security assistance
\n6 percent for interest on the national debt
\n1 percent for non-security international
\n4 percent miscellaneous<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what the FEDERAL government spends. <\/p>\n

That does not even count what the individual STATES spend on social programs.<\/p>\n

Nor does it count what is spent by charitable organizations. Donations just to charitable organizations by Americans in 2009 totaled 304 billion dollars!<\/p>\n

It is good to care for the poor, the needy, the suffering. It is what God asks of us and expects of us.<\/p>\n

So it puzzles me when I hear people tell me that the United States doesn\u2019t care about the poor and disadvantaged. Based on the money spent, we in fact seem to care a great deal. <\/p>\n

Could we do more? Of course. We can always do more. We could always pray more, exercise more, work harder, study harder, be kinder. But does that mean that I should feel guilty all the time, speak nothing but criticism, and bad mouth everyone who doesn\u2019t believe exactly the same as I do? Probably not.<\/p>\n

Should I pat myself on the back for how good I am, how generous, how noble, and how kind I am? Probably not.<\/p>\n

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A lot of people, when they think of what it means to be righteous, start listing the things that they do not do. They will focus primarily on the things that they themselves don\u2019t do, the things that they are … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"yes"},"categories":[18,17,16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2674"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2674"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2674\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2676,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2674\/revisions\/2676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}