Dear Editor,
I often hear people say, God helps those who help themselves, and Charity begins at home. They often claim these statements are Biblical. In fact, neither of these statements are found in the Bible. God always helps people, even when they do not do good or help themselves. God gave us the secret of happiness (gaining heaven) when He told us to do good to everyone even our enemies, always forgive those who trespass against us, never take revenge, and never hurt or kill another for any reason. This is what Christ did, and He asked us to be His followers, to do what He did, so we would be happy like Him.
A Christian charity may begin at home, but it does not end there. Christ taught that all people are our sisters and brothers, and are deserving of our help. Christ instructed us that we are to give food to the hungry, water to the thirsty, visit the sick and dying, etc., no matter whether or not they are from our hometown or country, because what we do to all people we do also to Him. When we hurt, kill or allow others to die anywhere in the world, we hurt or kill Christ Himself, and allow Him to die. (Matt. 25) We fail to sufficiently help the thousands who are starving at this moment in Sudan (due to a cruel government which supports an Arab paramilitary death squad), and the millions in Niger, Mali, and Mauritania dying due to drought, locust infestation, and unfair trade practices.
Instead, we have chosen to spend 50% of our resources on war, weapons, recruiting and training people to fight and kill their sisters and brothers in Iraq and Afghanistan. It would take $71 billion a year to eliminate poverty in the world.(U.N) We have already spent 4 times that much on the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, and then we dare ask God to bless America. We should not falsely quote certain statements as if they are Biblical. Rather, we should quote the true statements of Christ, and try living according to them. Then we can dare to say God bless America.
Don Timmerman