I remember a friend of mine in Florida who made a big push for his church to hand out bottles of water on the beach during the summer.
“We want to show people the love of Jesus!” Ok, that’s important.
“We want people to know we care!” Well, sure we do.
“So here’s what we’re gonna do – we’re gonna go down to the beach where all the European tourists, who had enough money to vacation overseas, will be lounging around. We’ll go up to them politely, and when they lower their Ray-bans, offer them a bottle of cheap water we bought in bulk at Costco. They will put down their Mojitos and be moved by our outrageous sacrifice for Christ, subsequently giving their lives to Jesus kneeling in the hot sand. THIS IS HOW WE WILL CHANGE THE WORLD!!!”
Seriously?
One of my pet peeves with religious groups is their love for “symbolic gestures”. They love to do things that look good, but require very little sacrifice on their parts and that end up doing very little actual good in the world. The water bottles on the beach is one shining example of a useless Christianity that “means well” but does nothing of substance.
Like when people take their worn out crap to Goodwill simply because they don’t want to do a yard sale or just throw the stuff away. Instead, they “virtue signal” and make themselves feel like a hero, when some pour soul (who’s probably in recovery) has to rummage through their junk and throw most of it away.
Like when you hand $5 to that homeless guy on your street corner, which he will then use to buy alcohol 95% of the time. Instead you could have actually sacrificed 30 minutes of your own time and taken him over to McDonald’s for a meal. There, you’d sit with him, learn his story, and actually help his hunger while showing someone actually cares about him.
“That’s too dangerous!”, you say? Well, my dad does it. I’ve actually been with him and watched him do it. And by the way, my dad is in his 90s.
So what was your excuse again?
This is also why your endless political posts only make me roll my eyes. How come?
Because most politics is also nothing more than the same “symbolic gestures”, where we congratulate ourselves for voting for the people who promise they will make a difference for hurting, marginalized people. But what those people are really doing is just amassing power, using it to exert control over others, and creating an endless bureaucracy that will employ all their friends until Jesus comes back.
But voting for the person who says they care makes us feel good. It says that we care, we think. But little of that kind of “caring” is helping anyone.
The Bible is pretty clear about where the responsibility for helping others lies. It’s never our Christian duty is to give toward some government program claiming to help (as I’ve heard Stephen Colbert claim), but never get your own hands dirty. In fact, it says getting your hands dirty and making it personal is the only thing that really counts:
“Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” – James 2:15-17
No, I’m not against the government helping people in need. From working with foster kids and helping the homeless, I know many of those services are greatly needed. By the way, that’s one diabolical way the quarantine during Covid hurt at-risk children. They survive on school breakfasts and lunches, which became harder to get when schools were shut down.
And the public school teachers that poor kids saw every day were the best agents against abuse they might be enduring at home. Without daily contact with teachers to witness and report neglect, kids fell through the cracks during Covid.
As a result, suicide rates among minors skyrocketed during that year. So sometimes “good intentions” done badly can end up in death.
I’ve lived in two major “world class” large cities during my life, and worked in the inner-city there to help underserved people. Those cities were both run by political systems that prided themselves on caring for the disadvantaged. But those cities were the absolute WORST at actually fixing the problems. One actually shut down the only functioning homeless shelter in town because some yuppies nearby didn’t like it existing near their high-rise condos. When it hurt their property values, they condemned the shelter and put people on the streets in sub-zero temperatures.
By the way, it was the local churches there who took up the slack. We went out in these sub-zero temps and brought the homeless in our own vehicles back to warming shelters in the churches. Not one government dime was spent in the process.
All these heartless acts against hurting people were done by the people “virtue signaling” their compassion through their politics. So you can spare me your talking points.
If you want to change the world, let the politicians take care of themselves. Don’t worry, they always do.
But if you’re sincere and want to do more than symbolic gestures, then get to work. Foster a child, mentor a young person, volunteer at a shelter.
Do SOMETHING…ANYTHING besides just talk about how much you care!
In real Christianity, your thoughts and prayers only count if you are praying with dirty hands.
