It's not spiritual enough, Part 2

In addition to the Scriptural reasons indicating that the Church should be involved in helping the poor, there are many additional reasons the Church should care about those less fortunate.



A few years ago, I went with a group of college students to a Christian university located in a major city. This university had a beautiful campus with a domed chapel, ornate buildings and beautiful grounds. As we were admiring the school, one person (whose religious leanings were agnostic at best) commented about the irony of such oppulence in a location dedicated to Christian worship when so much poverty existed merely a few blocks away in the inner city. Ultimately, he commented that it was hard for him to believe the message of Christianity when Christians wasted so much money on themselves without demonstrating love to those in need.



This experience indicates that there are people who choose not to believe in God because of they way they see Christians treating poor people. If Christians were to demonstrate a heart of compassion for the sick and needy, might it not sway some of these same people towards God? I cannot quantify the number of people who reason as my friend did at that university. However, it is not unusual to hear similar criticisms everywhere you look. A simple search of the internet reveals numerous people who embrace this reasoning. (Austin Cline's "Poverty & Religion," http://atheism.about.com/b/a/232637.htm; S. Menon's "Christianity and Poverty: correlation or causation?" http://www.christianaggression.org/item_display.php?type=ARTICLES&id=1137122831; Athiest Revolution's "Religion and Poverty in Mississippi," http://www.atheistrev.com/2007/10/religion-and-poverty-in-mississippi.html; James R. Gorman's comment on Michael Harrigan's journey away from religion in "Conversation with a Athiest -- Micael Harrigan on Religion and Socialism," http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=1795; Poch Suzara's "Poverty in the Phillipines," http://atheistangpinoy.blogspot.com/2006/04/poverty-in-philippines-by-poch-suzara.html).

What could be more spiritual than working to convince unbelievers of God's existence? Although helping the poor is an indirect method of doing this, it is still a method of persuasion. Sometimes actions that preach are just as important as words that preach.