Christians..If you pass a homeless person on the street without trying to help them?

Question

....does that then make you a hypocrite?

Answer 1

It means you missed an opportunity to pass yet another earthly test. It doesn't matter if they are homeless or want to buy a beer, it's all a test. That person may not even be human.
All this is the happening, going on, of planet school.
God bless us all...

Answer 2

Indeed that does. In fact that makes everyone a hypocrite, everyone is, including you and I, that is to say if we helped the homeless person.
Christians go to church and although some believe that they have done the right thing, isn’t always true. True Christians are those that do not think that they did well, but what they did right. If that meant clothing and feeding a homeless man, good, but helping that person get a job and doing something for himself is even better.
It should not matter if you are Christian or not. Helping a homeless person should be an action that we must all do, but of course in our society that not many people seem to want to make a difference.

Well I hope this helped.

Answer 3

Hardly anybody in the world lives up to the standards that are specifically issued to Christians by Jesus in the New Testament. Jesus said we should give away all of our earthly things to those poorer than us, He said we should never judge our neighbors, He said we should abandon our families and lives in favor of spreading God's word as far as possible. Obviously most Christians, about 98%, don't do these things, because it's impossible to do those things while still living a life, with a job, a house, and the material things that everyone has. This was always one of the weaker points of Christianity for me, because when this point is raised in church the answer is inevitably danced around, people just hymm and haw and say, "but we're doing the best we can to be good Christians, that's all we can do..." Not hypocritical per se but almost all Christians fail at really practicing their religion's teachings, instead they just pick and choose the easier parts (like attending church, bashing gays, and protesting abortion) and play those up, hoping it'll compensate.

Answer 4

There are many agencies and shelters available to the homeless, esp. in larger cities. Many homeless also get some kind of govt check. What I'm saying is, yes it's ok to pass the homeless on the street. Some are there for a scam and you can't know which ones.
If you want to help the homeless, direct them to a local shelter or work with the shelter to make their lives more bearable. You could offer clothes and toilettries, socks, gloves, etc. to shelters.

Answer 5

Charity is a personal decision. Each individual must make a conscientious decision as to whether or not he/she should help someone they see on the street. If I see someone, my first inclination is to avoid them because they might be pro-beggars. Of course, I generally succumb to sympathy, but in the back of my mind I assume that at least some of those on the streets aren't really as strung-up as they'd have you believe. There's no hypocrisy in passing a homeless person in the street. Jesus was poor as dirt and homeless, but he stayed on the move and led a productive life. (did you ever think about that?)

Answer 6

Dear Buttercu,

Being a hypocrite is not practicing what you believe and i think any Christian will tell you that they have failed at times to live perfectly like Christ. In that way the Bible is right when it tells us that every body falls short of God. No one can live like Christ without Jesus' help.

That being said, the truth is we can't help every body, but we should most certainly help as many people as we can and especially as God puts it on our heart.

When i was a college student i went out one night to purchase groceries. In this neighborhood where this 24 hour Ralph's was located there were plenty of homeless people. i ended up giving away most of my groceries, and prayed that night with about 7 homeless people. There were many more across the street, etc. i have to say that i think that night i was able to show these homeless people that God loved them because i loved them.

And i think God cares for the homeless (His Word has so much to say about loving the homeless). And God cares about people's hearts towards the homeless (He promises harm to those who harm the helpless in some verses). And as a believer one ought to develop a heart like Jesus'.

One last story- our church recently was involved in a joint church clothes drive with 3 other churches and we had over 200 bags full of clothing and blankets which we handed out to families in Tijuana. We had a line several miles long of people waiting to receive clothes- when we had passed out all the clothes. Awhile later, people came after the lines had died down, and i even gave away one of my own t-shirts (it was an extra shirt i had in my gym bag that was washed). The point being what if 4 more people had shown up???

i think God wants Christians to do the best that they can, and there are moments when we do act ignorantly towards God's commands, and God reminds us, and gives us opportunity after opportunity to serve Him. i admit that although i try my best, i fail in helping every individual i can every day... but i do my best- and trust that God knows my heart as i serve Him, and am thankful that i am not judged based on what i do or don't do, but judged upon what Christ has done for me.

Hope that helps. Kindly,

Nickster

Answer 7

I don't think it would make you a hypocrite, but I guess that if some one had the call to do that then didn't...yes it would be.

What is help? Do you mean to offer them a place to live with my/your family? I wouldn't do it. If you mean throwing a few bucks at them, how is that helping them? Talking to them, yes that would help, pretending like they are not there, no that doesn't help. Directing them to a shelter may help.


Would you help a homeless person? if I can I will. Would you?

Answer 8

We're all hypocrites at one time or another. There are people that go to my church, for example the youth minister at my church was in a bar on a Saturday night and Sunday morning he was talking about what trips the youth would be going on.
But it isn't none of my business, because I'm a sinner just like everybody else.

Answer 9

I really hope they give them money, otherwise how would they get home by taxi? I take them home frequent, after several hours of begging on the Plaza and elsewhere. We usually hit a liquor store, fast food place, than to an apartment complex that is nicer than what I live in. Don't believe me? I have video from my security camera, of them talking about their take for the night. Been sending it to reporters at the KC Star. And yes, it is legal for me to be recording. My cab is a business, and even if it wasn't, it is specifically legal in Missouri, as long as I'm a part of the conversation.

Don't give to them, there are plenty of shelters that could make better use of the money.

Answer 10

I think a real Christian would be moved with compassion and buy them food or do something else for them, but in this day in age you can't just go and hand people money like you used to. Also there may be other factors keeping someone from helping that person at the very moment, so I would not be able to judge them as hypocrites. Plus, that isn't my job.