Dear Ruth:<br><br>Thanks for the posts Ruth. I agree with you. Everything Paul and Wes say is true, but they don't deal with the reality that the church in this country is very rich and shows very little concern for the poor. I could post lots of scripture, new and old testament, that condemns this, and James' "It it not the rich that oppress you?" comes to mind as does "Be warmed and be filled", and "Pure and undefiled religion is this to visit the widows and orphans in their distress", but these passages don't seem to be heard or preached on often.<br><br>I have been on both sides of the isle, rich and poor, oppressor and oppressed, so I have no particular ax to grind. When I was rich and oppressed the poor as a professing "Christian", I vehemently denied it, somewhere in the back of my mind my conscience bothered me. But now by the grace of God I am in a place where I see the reality of what it is like to be poor and oppressed. Paul is right in that it is not the grinding poverty of so many other places, but it is still hand to mouth, almost no health care, and what there is is prejudiced, even though I pay cash and have never taken a dime of any sort of public assistance. And every day gets worse, physically speaking. I'm not complaining, in fact I'm more content and closer to God than I have ever been and praise God, I can say with Paul, that though my outward man is decaying my inward man is renewed day by day and had I to make the choice over again I would make the same one.<br><br>The point the man was making on Moyers (and it is to the shame of professing "Christians", perhaps eternally, that these points are made almost exclusively on liberal God dishonoring programs like Moyers') is that we live in a society that is fueled by ramant greed and covetousness and that those that have more want more and more and more and that everywhere you look protections to keep the system from running rampant are breaking down. From the advertizment of pharmaceuticals on TV, to the robbing of retirement accounts to ignoring the medical needs of 20% of the population, it's eveywhere, and there is a day of reckoning coming. Most of those that have much take no pleasure in sharing the love of God in material needs with those that have little. Yes, many of the poor are lazy, but the majority are not, they work hard, die young and are forgotten, except they be like Lazarus. You may not like hearing it, but it is true. And some of those that are lazy have been raised that way and were never taught about hard work. Men like Mo Leverett, that Joe mentioned, realize this and are doing something Christ like about it, but his ministry is the exception rather than the rule. <br><br>Thats my opinion.<br><br>In Him,<br><br>Gerry <br><br>
