Does Christian charity obligate us to provide designer shoes, cell phones, and flat-screen TVs?

With all the entitlements the poor receive in the US, many can hardly be called poor. Their income is the result of what politicians do with other people’s money to buy votes. They are not producers, just consumers. They know how to work the system and that is their employment. I deal daily with the attitude that government redistribution generates – contempt for country, teachers, a free education, and always there is a sense of entitlement – that they are owed something. They are not poor in material goods, but have impoverished spirits. Christian charity obliges me to show them tough love, and point out the danger in their thinking.

When I help people materially as Jesus commanded us to do, I look for those who are really in need, like the elderly couple who worked all their lives, raised their children without government assistance, and live on the pitiful earnings of social security because they do not have the strength to continue to work. Or the widow who just lost her husband to cancer, has monumental bills to pay, and children to raise. Or the working poor who work multiple jobs and still cannot afford much beyond the bare necessities. They earn too much money to qualify for welfare but would greatly benefit from assistance. Or the ordinary residents of poverty stricken nations, or those suffering from devastating natural disasters.

I think it is plain to see that children with cell phones, Ipods, and Wii systems who brag about their possessions, own expensive new clothing and shoes, and get free school breakfast and lunch clearly do not know the meaning of poverty.

retard downsboys don’t deserve help.

I don’t remember that bit from the bible. If I were a Christian I would put my hand in my pocket and do what Jesus damn well told me to do in the bible, not like he’s mincing his words, or being ambiguous when he instructs you to cast off your wealth, is it?

When one out of every 50 children in the US is homeless, I’d say we’ve got plenty of poor to help.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1883966,00.html

I’ve seen ones who don’t have much yet they have those things that you speak about. There are places where you can purchase designer clothes and a flat screen tv for a reasonable price such as Good Will or other thrift stores. That’s why they’re there to provide luxuries at a lower cost. Why shouldn’t they have them?
I used to be Director of Food Ministries at my church and we would open up our food bank once a week. There were times when I delivered the food to the homes of those less fortunate and found that their homes even though were old and run down on the outside were clean on the inside and they had some of those luxuries. I never judged them for I felt that it was ok. Their children were happy, fed and had a nice tv to sit and watch on hot summer days.

Edit: I agree with Colette, there are many people out there that need our help.

No. Western Christians confuse the desperately poor in places like Haiti with people quite well off by historical standards. There are people who game the welfare and charity institutions to make a living off a false poverty. They drive to the food bank in late model cars dressed in better clothing than the charity workers.

Real poverty is represented by those who would stand in long lines for a bowl of rice. It is these people who need our help in the form of the basic necessities of life.

Good question !

Jesus mainly wants us to help the poor in Spirit – atheists, agnostics, non-Christians – by sharing with them the living Gospel (Good News) of Jesus’ Plan of free salvation for those who believe and follow His Teachings. .

Most churches waste needed money by giving physical needs to the poor which the city, state and national governments are able to do.. Training the poor who can work would be better than just physical hand-outs. If any poor can not work, they can get SSI federal benefits.

Peace and progress in Spirit and in Truth !

Charity has many forms. First of all charity means love and so whatever you give, even if it is the most dear or precious thing in the word and you don’t give out of love, you are doing no charity at all.
You know what St. Paul said that if he gives a lot of money, help another person even with sacrifice and so many others but there is no love or not given with any spirit of love towards the other than it means nothing at all. So Christian charity does not obligate us to give the luxury things that you mentioned. They still are good if given, to make it clear, but there are more other important things that we can give out of charity to others, beginning with the basic needs that a person needs to live and live as a human being. This includes food, clothes ( not necessary being designer’s ) or popular trademark which makes them very dear. Besides these there are many other basic things. Money is good because those who are taking care of sharing them can buy what is necessary to those people or even families. They can be used to build up shelters, schools or hospitals, especially in the third world countries or where countries are hit by natural disasters.
However charity can be given neither in goods and nor in money but by listening to the other persons or helping them in any way. Jesus told us that the poor will always be with you. And this is totally true for even if the world is rich there are still poor and these are found even in the so called modern or developed countries. You still find them. When giving charity it depends on how the person or how much the person can afford to give. In God’s eye it is not the quantity that counts but how much it is given from our hearts. As we read in the Gospels and Jesus was by the door of the temple seeing the people giving their money and there was a very poor woman who gave just a small coin but it was too much for her and Jesus praised her for the others gave of their excess while she gave from what she just needed to live. A Chinese proverb says that it is better to teach one how to do fishing than giving him the fish yourself. It makes much sense for if you teach him he can fish for himself while if you just give him the fish it is just for once.
Most important still remains that charity is love and whatever is done for the others well being should be out of love.St. Paul says "Faith, Hope and Charity, the best one is charity for it lives on forever.