Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!lll-winken!sun-barr!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: gross@dg-rtp.dg.com (Gene Gross) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Some food for thought. Message-ID: Date: 25 Oct 90 07:06:29 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Data General Corporation, Research Triangle Park, NC Lines: 38 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu [Gene Gross asked at one point whether there is a Biblical requirement that we only help those who are believers. This provoked a reaction from Kevin O'Brien: >How can you praise Jesus in one paragraph and then ask if Christians >should only help out "believers"? Did Jesus only help those who "believed" >in him. If that were the case, not many people would have been helped. >People are people, no matter what their beliefs are, and as people, they >deserved to be helped. I think that is how Jesus would have wanted it. --clh] Often times I ask questions to evoke a response from others. Unfortunately, there are some who will not help another unless that person is known to them as a Christian--by their definition of course. So, I merely asked the question. My personal undestanding is that Christians are called to help others in need, regardless of their state of grace. If we help only those we love and who love us, what is the difference then between us and the world. The world does this much. I believe that Christians are called to help care for a world in pain and anguish. Yes, this includes presenting the Gospel to them as the Holy Spirit leads. But we should also be feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, caring for the sick and infirm, visiting the imprisoned, providing shelter to those without shelter, and so much more. But once, so many years ago now, I belonged to a religion that claimed to be Christian. Yet they did not do such things--even for their own members. Sometimes, if one of their number was in dire straits, some in the congregation would help, but it was not something official. So in asking the question concerning post-salvation works, I was trying to see how others viewed things. I did mean to present such a dichotomy as you have seen. Sorry. Beacuse He lives, Gene