Should Christian Give Money to Roadside Beggars
According to the scriptures, a great distinction was made between a professional beggar and a poor person. God gave specific instructions to give to the POOR, not beggars, and here we will know how.
The words for “POOR” are chiefly “desirous,” “needy,” “oppressed,” “to bend” or “bow down, “want”, “a needy one”, those who fear God but are disabled.
The word “Beggar”, the word “beg” and the word “begging” each are mentioned only 3 times in the entire bible (KJV) and this is because God seldom made mention of begging and made NO provision for beggars. There are three main categories of begging mentioned in the bible.
The first form of begging comes as a result of a curse (Psalms 109:10 and Psalms 59:15), the second comes because of laziness (Proverbs 20:4 and Luke 16:3) while the third comes because of social deprivation, physical incapabilities, E.g, blind Bartimaeus (Mar 10:46), “blind man ((Luke 18:35), the lame man at the temple's gate (Acts 3:2) and Lazarus (Luke 16:20-22) .
The word “beg, beggar or begging” used for the poor men who begged in the New Testament came from the word aitéō which is used to mean “Asking,”. In Deuteronomy 15:11 God said, ”For the POOR shall never cease out of the land. Therefore, I command you saying, You shall open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor, and to your needy, in your land. This was to see to it that none was left in destitute.” The very foundation of the Hebrew religion was God's pity on a poor and oppressed people. Therefore these poor men who begged are not vagrant beggars, but poor men who feared God but were less fortunate physically and financially.
These men fell in the category of the law where the poor were provided for by the law of Moses (Lev 19:10; Deut 12:12; Deut 14:29). So by the class of their situation they are not originally beggars but are called “the Poor”.
In every instance in the New Testament where you finds a person begging, it was due largely to the lack of medical assistance; the person was either handicap, blind or physically challenged. Most of the Beggars that we are seeing on the streets are young strapping, sturdy men who is able or working tough jobs, but refuse to accept employment. These men are also under a curse, as it is also predicted of the seed of the “wicked” that they shall be beggars “vagrants”, “wanderers”, “vagabonds” (Psa 37:25; Psa 109:10). They rather live off people's hard earnings and are hardcore vagrant beggars, who are not supported by scriptures, to whom Paul said, 2Thessalonians 3:10, "If anyone doesn't want to work, he shouldn't eat." I am not sure if it is true or not, but I heard that a “Naked begging cowboy” from New York City collects over $250,000 a year from basically just being a beggar with “style.” The concept is if a “normal” beggar is getting plenty of money from just begging, why not beg also? Why should I look for a job? These men are NOT the responsibility of Christian Church and does not fit the charity chain.
Conclusion: These men are not poor by physical incapability; therefore they should work to eat. By giving to these young men we make them more lazy and dependably, and give them a reason not to work or have a life of their own. Our giving to these people can destroy them more, but withholding can jolt their lazy mentality. The scriptures are clear "If anyone (lazy people) doesn't want to work, he shouldn't eat."
According to the scriptures, a great distinction was made between a professional beggar and a poor person. God gave specific instructions to give to the POOR, not beggars, and here we will know how.
The words for “POOR” are chiefly “desirous,” “needy,” “oppressed,” “to bend” or “bow down, “want”, “a needy one”, those who fear God but are disabled.
The word “Beggar”, the word “beg” and the word “begging” each are mentioned only 3 times in the entire bible (KJV) and this is because God seldom made mention of begging and made NO provision for beggars. There are three main categories of begging mentioned in the bible.
The first form of begging comes as a result of a curse (Psalms 109:10 and Psalms 59:15), the second comes because of laziness (Proverbs 20:4 and Luke 16:3) while the third comes because of social deprivation, physical incapabilities, E.g, blind Bartimaeus (Mar 10:46), “blind man ((Luke 18:35), the lame man at the temple's gate (Acts 3:2) and Lazarus (Luke 16:20-22) .
The word “beg, beggar or begging” used for the poor men who begged in the New Testament came from the word aitéō which is used to mean “Asking,”. In Deuteronomy 15:11 God said, ”For the POOR shall never cease out of the land. Therefore, I command you saying, You shall open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor, and to your needy, in your land. This was to see to it that none was left in destitute.” The very foundation of the Hebrew religion was God's pity on a poor and oppressed people. Therefore these poor men who begged are not vagrant beggars, but poor men who feared God but were less fortunate physically and financially.
These men fell in the category of the law where the poor were provided for by the law of Moses (Lev 19:10; Deut 12:12; Deut 14:29). So by the class of their situation they are not originally beggars but are called “the Poor”.
In every instance in the New Testament where you finds a person begging, it was due largely to the lack of medical assistance; the person was either handicap, blind or physically challenged. Most of the Beggars that we are seeing on the streets are young strapping, sturdy men who is able or working tough jobs, but refuse to accept employment. These men are also under a curse, as it is also predicted of the seed of the “wicked” that they shall be beggars “vagrants”, “wanderers”, “vagabonds” (Psa 37:25; Psa 109:10). They rather live off people's hard earnings and are hardcore vagrant beggars, who are not supported by scriptures, to whom Paul said, 2Thessalonians 3:10, "If anyone doesn't want to work, he shouldn't eat." I am not sure if it is true or not, but I heard that a “Naked begging cowboy” from New York City collects over $250,000 a year from basically just being a beggar with “style.” The concept is if a “normal” beggar is getting plenty of money from just begging, why not beg also? Why should I look for a job? These men are NOT the responsibility of Christian Church and does not fit the charity chain.
Conclusion: These men are not poor by physical incapability; therefore they should work to eat. By giving to these young men we make them more lazy and dependably, and give them a reason not to work or have a life of their own. Our giving to these people can destroy them more, but withholding can jolt their lazy mentality. The scriptures are clear "If anyone (lazy people) doesn't want to work, he shouldn't eat."