Convicted to Help!

In reference to the poor child that is all skin and bones that I posted here today, I am feeling heavily convicted by the Holy Spirit to bring the plight of hunger up, and to warn some in the US that they are heading us in this direction...There but by the grace of God go we. Some conservatives want to do away with food stamps and other basic care services in the US. I guess that this is what they want to see. I wish they would only look upon this poor child to see why we CAN'T do away with the marginal safety net we have in our country. Don't they understand what they want to do?! Are they evil or just plain heartless or stupid. Someone told me today it wasn't the government's job to take care of the poor. If not the government, who then. The government represents our society, and if society has gotten so hard hearted that they have no compassion for God's least, then God have mercy on their souls.


Beth Butler added
I love how the reasoning is this, "Churches and Civic Organizations will pick up the slack." When every study is showing, and every Church planting book is stating the rapid decline of Churches in the US. Tithing and donations are at an all time low for Churches and civic groups- so where are they supposed to get the funding? I love the argument that governments are not to help the poor, that God never wanted that, when the Bible shows clearly that God charged in the OT Jewish Kings with their people's welfare. And to show such disdain for the poor is so wrong for a Christian, when there are over 300 verses in the Bible about the poor, and how God wants us to treat them. 


I understand the need to cut govt spending. I do. We are out of control. But we can do so without relegating the poorest among us to the direst straights of poverty. We can do so without yanking the safety net out from our seniors. For the seniors- let us honor the promises we made and they earned. For the needy, let us make programs that train people for work, and while they are training provide them with limited income, food/housing/medical aid. So by the time they are done with a training course (say as a Plumber's training, or electrician, or a welder, etc...our country sorely needs more trained tradesmen) they have a good paying job and are able to step out of the cycle of poverty. Let's focus our cuts on aid to oil companies, massive tax breaks for billion dollar corporations, build a few less fighter jets a year, and cut aid to countries that don't agree with our policies in the UN at least 60% of the time. (Why give money to places that hate our way of doing things? ) But let's not turn our backs on our most needy, lest we become a caricature of what we were. (As it is, we're on that road already. But we can turn around and redeem ourselves.)