From: 
Newsgroups: aus.religion.christian
Subject: Re: Welfare in Scripture
Date: Tue, 08 Dec 1998 02:47:09 GMT

 wrote:

>Coming back from the short-term missions time in Bombay, India where I worked
>with street kids, beggar children and people in semi-permanent slums, and
>seeing how welfare and minorities have come up in various threads over the
>last few days, I'll attempt to demonstrate what Scripture says in relation to
>welfare:
[snip lots of Bible verses:
Lev 25:35-37, Deut 15:7,8,11 Deut 24:14,15,17
Proverbs 18:23, 19:17, 22:13, 22:2, 22:22 & 23, 29:7, 29:13, 31:8-9
Mark 10:21, 14:7, Luke 14:13-14, James 2:5]

Good post Lawrence, but here are some verses you missed, which
speak even more directly about welfare:

Leviticus 19:9-10
"When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field
to its very border, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your
harvest. And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you
gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for
the poor and for the sojourner; I am the LORD your God."

Deut 24:19-22
"When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf,
do not go back to get it. Leave it for the alien, the fatherless
and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all
the work of your hands.
When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the
branches a second time. Leave what remains for the alien,
the fatherless and the widow.
When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over
the vines again. Leave what remains for the alien,
the fatherless and the widow.
Remember that you were slaves in Egypt.
That is why I command you to do this."

Deut 14:28-29
"At the end of every three years you shall bring forth all the tithe
of your produce in the same year, and lay it up within your towns; and
the Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance with you, and the
sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your towns,
shall come and eat and be filled; that the LORD your God may bless you
in all the work of your hands that you do."


If those 3 verses aren't examples of welfare, I don't know what is.

Peter Ballard
Adelaide, AUSTRALIA

http://www.ozemail.com.au/~pballard/
[personal opinions only]