What Would Jesus Do?
10
I have grown to really enjoy going to the movies by myself. You get to focus on the movie and you have time to form your own opinion about the movie before you hear someone else's opinion. I also like not being limited to which movie I should see or when to see it. However, when I went today I was pestered by a lady pan handler for some money. Now, because I was alone I felt a little freaked out about this and ended up just pretending not to hear her and getting in my car.
Despite this, the question has lingered in my mind, what should I be doing when people ask for money? As a Christian I am to give to those in need. Some smelly, uneducated, lonely woman walking around a movie theater at 11:30 at night sounds pretty needy to me. I'm not retarded though, I know she like all the others just wants money for booze or drugs. So I posted the question to my Weight Watcher message board people. So far they have come up with tha tno you shouldn't give money but you should (if you can afford to and feel so inclined) give gift certificates to places like Kroger or McDonald's. Reason being that you can't buy alcohol with a gift certificate. But you know, sometimes a person isn't needing a can of beans they need a bus ride or gas for their car. So when I think about it, I wonder does it really matter what they are spending the money on? Should I play God and dictate what they should be spending the tiny bit of money I would give them? Should I keep a 5 in my pocket and just give cash? Should I ignore them like I have been doing? What would Jesus want me to do? I have in the past and plan to in the future (since currently I'm broke) I plan on supporting organizations that would give aid to the homeless. Is this enough? Does doing this sort of charity omit me from having to give to the person asking in front of me? Or am I also supposed to help them too? Do I offer to call the police so they can be taken to a shelter? At what point do I give and at what point do I refuse? It is very confusing. You'd like to think it was so black and white, but I don't think the situation is so clear. What do you think?
I have grown to really enjoy going to the movies by myself. You get to focus on the movie and you have time to form your own opinion about the movie before you hear someone else's opinion. I also like not being limited to which movie I should see or when to see it. However, when I went today I was pestered by a lady pan handler for some money. Now, because I was alone I felt a little freaked out about this and ended up just pretending not to hear her and getting in my car.
Despite this, the question has lingered in my mind, what should I be doing when people ask for money? As a Christian I am to give to those in need. Some smelly, uneducated, lonely woman walking around a movie theater at 11:30 at night sounds pretty needy to me. I'm not retarded though, I know she like all the others just wants money for booze or drugs. So I posted the question to my Weight Watcher message board people. So far they have come up with tha tno you shouldn't give money but you should (if you can afford to and feel so inclined) give gift certificates to places like Kroger or McDonald's. Reason being that you can't buy alcohol with a gift certificate. But you know, sometimes a person isn't needing a can of beans they need a bus ride or gas for their car. So when I think about it, I wonder does it really matter what they are spending the money on? Should I play God and dictate what they should be spending the tiny bit of money I would give them? Should I keep a 5 in my pocket and just give cash? Should I ignore them like I have been doing? What would Jesus want me to do? I have in the past and plan to in the future (since currently I'm broke) I plan on supporting organizations that would give aid to the homeless. Is this enough? Does doing this sort of charity omit me from having to give to the person asking in front of me? Or am I also supposed to help them too? Do I offer to call the police so they can be taken to a shelter? At what point do I give and at what point do I refuse? It is very confusing. You'd like to think it was so black and white, but I don't think the situation is so clear. What do you think?