God as My Financial Adviser

FARNAZ

You made a comment about one of the things that the Rabbi had in his posting, which was, ""There are times we are commanded to alleviate poverty and others when we are told to accept that it will be with us always (both passages are found in the same chapter of Deuteronomy)."

I happen to think that these two go very much hand in hand.

Yes, we are to alleviate poverty however we can but also we should not let the fact that we will never be able to totally eradicate it stop us from doing what we can.

I think the, "accept that it will be with us always", can help those that feel overwhelmed by the poverty, in all of its forms, around them to do what they can and leave the rest in God's Hands, so to speak, but to not get discouraged and give up, when what they are doing might not seem to be putting a dent into it at all.

Take care, be ready.

Sincerely, Thomas Paul Moses Baum.

Japanese are with Hittitians
japanese are in the excavations and exhibitions.

Holland is with tulip, wind mills and cheese.
people around Van Lake are with cheese and wind mills.

Queen of Holland and Queen of England
for the sake of St Andreas

Mother of Wife of Saarkashvilli and Landlady of Georgia, the land of trainways and Red Cross in the future 95 years.

Her MAjesty of Holland and England are invited to come together to agreement.

sorry, not .com, but .org

Ankara, temple of solomon, capital of hittitians, romans and celts, near the capital of Georgian Genoese michael merlin magician st germain adamus.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc0iq2ShRus
www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6DrMGLkVKw
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeUeHOAermI

Bathsheba (Hebrew: בת שבע‎, Bat Sheva), in the Hebrew Bible, was the wife of Uriah the Hittite and later of David. She was the mother of Solomon.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathsheba
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_%28Prophet%29

Rabbi,

"There are times we are commanded to alleviate poverty and others when we are told to accept that it will be with us always (both passages are found in the same chapter of Deuteronomy)."

"The poor will always be with us."

Yes, but we don't all read this the same way. Many Jews, I among them, read this to mean there will always be others to whom we have an obligation. Judaism views poverty as wrong, as an injustice. We are obligated to end it. Tikkun Olam, end of discussion.

This is a sad period for us, Rabbi. It is a reminder for me. We are obligated.

i enjoyed your writing and it made me think ..some times a good thing some times i irritate people with what i think.. i think lol...what i'm reminded of in my own experience and maybe it has some validity one of the problems with modern giving is a lot of people give annonmously to big orginizations this i think bring two unfortunate but all to predictable results...first it cost more money to help people through big charities it very simple they have to pay all those saleries and have all those buildings and do all that promoting to get more money there is no two ways about it it does cost money and second i think when people recieve and give anoonomously you take the humanity out of the process ..there is something special about an individual helping an individual and asking nothing but for them to help somebosdy out when they are able. it also insures that people are not able to fool themselves by thinking humans are not actually suffering when they are which is important when making decisiions on what kind of society we want to try to build and maintain morally.

Strike 1 - foolishness of the faithful a la Susan Jacoby
Strike 2 - biblical illiteracy a la Professor Thistlethwaite
Strike 3 - needless belly-aching a la Cal Thomas

You'rrrrrrrrrrre OUT!!! God as My Financial Adviser

When you go in search of God look for the money. God and money go together like bees and honey.

Brad Hirschfield: You say, "When feeling materially poor, we can recall that there is always someone with less."

what's the point of this? Does it make you feel better?

what about if you ARE that person with the least?

Somebody's got to be at the bottom. what do you say to that person?

In all fairness, when I'm in a bad situation, I try optimistically to think that it could be worse. I think about the good things I still have and not just the bad things that have come my way. I do it as a way of preparing myself for the battle at hand. But I don't look to a specific person or group who's in worse condition as a way of feeling better about myself. Truly, it doesn't seem like a very nice thing to do.

Is it necessary to look down on someone to feel better about yourself?

Brad,

As a sometimes participant in On Faith I am simply awed by your insight and acceptance of the simple gifts of faith. God after all did create a universe exquisitely tuned to the needs of life, and we who live in it might well feel more at peace when we stay in touch with that.

As a young and unwilling Christian, turned Atheist, returned Christian, I have seen and lived many of the views by the various panelists and bloggers here On Faith. But like you I do find peace in an outlook not greatly distant from what you express in this essay. There may be detailed differences but in the main, much is the same.

Once again, thank you for your essay and thoughts. I hope that, in spite of the inevitable abuse you will encounter in this rambunctious and sometimes uncivil blog we have here, that you will continue to offer your ideas. The Jesuit who used to opine here had a similar grounded approach and feeling to his posts. There is not enough of that to go around.

Thank you, and please keep up the good work.