It was a cold, fall morning as we pulled up to church and were just a bit late (Mormon Standard Time). As I was unbuckling my seatbelt, I looked up and noticed someone out under the pavilion. He was wearing shabby clothing and it looked like he was cooking on the barbeque grill.
My thoughts were: “I wonder if he’s o.k., or if he needs some type of assistance.” followed by “We’re late for church and he’s shabby and dirty and what if he turns out to be a psycho like that Elisabeth Smart guy…” followed by “Dude, you’re on your way to church and you will learn about helping those in need. What hypocrite would you be to walk past this guy and then go study about Jesus. Didn’t Jesus say to help those in need and love your neighbor?”
The words of King Benjamin in the Book of Mormon also came to mind. In Mosiah Chapter 4 he says:
16 And also, ye yourselves will asuccor those that stand in need of your succor; ye will administer of your substance unto him that standeth in need; and ye will not suffer that the bbeggar putteth up his petition to you in vain, and turn him out to perish.
17 Perhaps thou shalt asay: The man has brought upon himself his misery; therefore I will stay my hand, and will not give unto him of my food, nor impart unto him of my substance that he may not suffer, for his punishments are just—18 But I say unto you, O man, whosoever doeth this the same hath great cause to repent; and except he repenteth of that which he hath done he perisheth forever, and hath no interest in the kingdom of God.19 For behold, are we not all abeggars? Do we not all depend upon the same Being, even God, for all the substance which we have, for both food and raiment, and for gold, and for silver, and for all the riches which we have of every kind?20 And behold, even at this time, ye have been calling on his name, and begging for a aremission of your sins. And has he suffered that ye have begged in vain? Nay; he has poured out his bSpirit upon you, and has caused that your hearts should be filled with cjoy, and has caused that your mouths should be stopped that ye could not find utterance, so exceedingly great was your joy.21 And now, if God, who has created you, on whom you are dependent for your lives and for all that ye have and are, doth grant unto you whatsoever ye ask that is right, in faith, believing that ye shall receive, O then, how ye ought to aimpart of the substance that ye have one to another.22 And if ye ajudge the man who putteth up his petition to you for your substance that he perish not, and condemn him, how much more just will be your bcondemnation for withholding your substance, which doth not belong to you but to God, to whom also your life cbelongeth; and yet ye put up no petition, nor repent of the thing which thou hast done.23 I say unto you, wo be unto that man, for his substance shall perish with him; and now, I say these things unto those who are arich as pertaining to the things of this world.
I decided to follow the last inside voice and told my wife I’d be right back and walked towards the gentleman.
As I walked over to the gentleman, I noticed he had a bicycle and a trailer with all of his belongings in them. I greeted him and asked him his name. He told me his name was Bill and we started talking. I watched him roll his cigarrete as he told me he was homeless and had chosen to be so. He explained of how he had been baptized in 1972 in California, and made it up to the Seattle area, where we live.
As he described his circumstances I tried to imagine what it must be like to live in the cold, especially during the rainy winters in Seattle. My heart went out to him, and he further explained how he wanted to get a Bible and Book of Mormon and that he wasn’t there to mooch off of anyone, but wanted spiritual nourishment. He had chosen to be homeless rather than live in the shelters where drugs and other bad influences were, and he wanted to come to church to feel closer to God and cleanse his inner soul. He even showed me his church clothes he had specially packed in his trailer. I told him he would be welcome in church and that I’d connect him with our bishop and also with a set of scriptures.
He came to church and participated in both sacrament meeting and the Gospel Principles class and even shared some of his experiences with faith. He was able to get some scriptures and waved and thanked me when church was over.
As we drove home, I felt glad to have helped him and prayed for his safety and spiritual strength. However, my thoughts also turned to the Elizabeth Smart case once again and how the person who had abducted her was a homeless guy that her father had brought home to help.
The questions came to mind “How can we help our neighbors and still be wary of the safety of our families and those around us?” “How can we avoid being manipulated?” “Should we just follow our hearts and help those in need without thinking of possible consequences?”
Jesus gives us the answers to some of these questions in Matthew chapter 25. He says about those who help the needy:
34 Then shall the King say unto them on his aright hand, Come, ye bblessed of my Father, cinherit the dkingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
42 For I was an ahungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
Personally, I feel it is very important to help those in need and give them support as Jesus and King Benjamin admonish us to. However, we do need to be wary if we’re not sure we can trust the individual of how much information we give them and allow them to come into our lives. “Taking someone in” as Jesus suggests doesn’t mean (in my opinion) bringing them into your home and giving them full access to everything. It means finding a place to give them shelter, giving them a good meal, helping them find a job, etc. I am very happy to help people and love them, but love and trust are not the same thing.
My reasons for doing this could be viewed as fear-based and I realize that fear is the opposite of faith. I could see how someone would say that if we don’t bring someone in and treat them like a brother, that is lacking in faith. My opinion is that helping people while still being cautious until they’ve proved trustworthy is being wise…not fearful.
How do you feel about this and what do you do to help those in need?
11 comments
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November 26, 2009 at 3:40 am
Taylor
I myself am pretty poor, however I know that there are others that are poorer. A couple of months ago I was going to lunch at an inexpensive fast food resturant, as I was walking into the establishment I saw an obvious homeless man digging through the trash outside. The song, “Because I have been given much” came pooring into my mind and I decided that I would help the man. I asked him if he was hungry and he indicated that he was. I told him that I would pay for his lunch. I went into the restaurant and purchase two of what I was going to have for lunch. It was only a .99 cheeseburger but it was all I could do at the time. I walked back out and gave the man the food. He thanked me and walked away.
To this day I still get choked up because in that moment I felt closer to the Savior than I had felt in a fairly long time. I wish I could have done more.
It is the goal of my wife and I, that when we get into a better position that we can do for others what we hope someone would do for us when we were down on our luck. Don’t get me wrong the Lord certainly has blessed us more than I could have ever have hoped for, but I think sometimes it would be more meaningful if those same blessings would have come through another.
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November 27, 2009 at 6:54 am
Kate
I think we often try to make the choice for another by dictating how they should use the help we give them. For example, instead of giving someone money, we invite them into our homes to ‘work for the money’, requiring them to ‘prove’ they really need our help. This violates their ability to choose for themselves and also puts us at risk.
Choice and the freedom to choose are the greatest gifts we can give another person. If we choose to give money or education in an effort to help another, we are also giving the gift of choice.
I hear people say ‘I don’t give money to beggars because they will use it for drugs.’ We don’t know for sure what the money will be used for – and we prevent another person from choosing (for good or bad) when we withhold what is not ours to begin with.
It works out that giving choice to another person helps us maintain our own safety. By giving money, we are not putting others in a situation where they can hurt us or take advantage. By seeking opportunities to volunteer our time at shelters or as a teacher/educator, we are giving back in a mutually beneficial way.
Safety and choice go hand in hand.
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November 29, 2009 at 3:16 am
Ariel
It’s important to remember that in the Smart case, Mitchell (the perp) wasn’t ever brought into their home or given “full access to everything.” Ed Smart paid Mitchell to work on his roof, and Mitchell only saw glimpses of other members of the Smart family- just enough to get interested, I guess. Even those glimpses turned out to be too much in that particular case.
I think we need to give reasonably, but remember that sometimes there are extreme cases that no one could predict. Nothing is 100% safe, and depending on individual circumstances, different people will need to make different decisions about giving.
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December 1, 2009 at 10:24 pm
ama49
Hi Taylor,
I think you have very good goals and really it doesn’t matter if we have a lot to give or a little because none of it is ours anyways. God has loaned it to us to see what we’ll do with it. If we are practiced in giving when we’re poor then we’ll have the habit (hopefully) when we’re rich too.
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December 1, 2009 at 10:25 pm
ama49
Kate,
I like your attitude and approach to giving. You’re right that God has given us everything and we have agency to do what we want. The scriptures tell us to give so we should do just that.
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December 1, 2009 at 10:26 pm
ama49
Ariel, nice points on giving. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I completely agree with you.
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December 6, 2009 at 3:30 am
mormoninvestigator
As someone who works in a government social service agency in NY it has been my job to examine applications for assistance and determine who gets help and who doesn’t following strict guidelines that are set by the state.
Before beginning my job I was a supporter, if not vocally at least mentally, of the government run programs. However since being in the employ of the “system” I have had a change of heart. So many of those who use the system are cheating it and thereby the helpless taxpayers. Also the private run (and mostly religious) organizations who help the homeless in my area are bilking my county for hundreds of $ a day for the homeless people they shelter – to place one person in emergency housing for one in my county cost the taxpayer anywhere from $500-$800 in one of these shelters.
So what am I saying? We do need to be wary of whom we help and how we help. I am touched by the passage from the NT in the post, equally so by the BoM quote and I am all for helping those in need, but ultimately helping those in need should lead to self-sufficiency for those being helped somewhere down the road, and we must prayerfully discern as Christian when we should be giving the full amount of assistance we can or when we are helping those who either have alterior motives (to do us or someone harm) or who can rightfully help themselves but choose not to
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December 6, 2009 at 3:32 am
mormoninvestigator
“to place one person in emergency housing for one”
Should say for one DAY 🙂
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December 7, 2009 at 6:23 am
ama49
Mormoninvestigator,
Amen to your comments! The whole LDS Church Welfare System is centered around not only helping people get help, but helping them become self-sufficient. In fact, there is a great article by Thomas S Monson called “A Provident Plan–A Precious Promise.” He talks about how Ronald Reagan approached the LDS Church to learn about how to help people get back on their feet again without using the system. You should check it out here:
http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=0&sourceId=27deef960417b010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD
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February 23, 2010 at 5:31 am
Doug
My wife and I were stopped by a homeless man while on vacation in SLC when we were first married 20 years ago. Coming from the East coast-it’s amazing that my first run in with the homeless was in Utah. This man approached me and asked for money for food. I said a quick prayer and remembered seeing a Subway down the street and offered to take him down the street and buy him lunch-not only did he turn me down-he yelled at me and cursed at me! Good move! I assume he wanted the money for whisky or something. Flash forward 15 years I was with my one son, who was 7 at the time, at Market East in Philadelphia and was approached by a homeless man. Once again there was a Subway nearby (they must blanket the globe!) and offered to buy him lunch. His eyes filled with tears and he ordered the cheapest item on the menu. As he sat down to eat my son noticed that this man bowed his head to give thanks to the Lord. Both my son and I wept–it was a sacred moment. I have volunteered in homeless shelters and brought the youth from church to a rescue mission-but that experience with my son was a special moment that reminded me that God has a special place in his great heart for the lost, the hurting, the lonely and the hungry.
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February 26, 2010 at 5:49 am
ama49
Doug,
Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing that. There is the spirit behind helping those in need! I love your story.
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