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I think you have to assess the situation yourself whether there is a true need or not. There are alot of scams out there and organized groups panhandling, then you have the drunks that want 50 cents for a cup of coffee, but you know what he wants to do with it. I handled that situation by offering to take him to the store and buy it myself. He refused and ran away.
I think people should be given a "Hand Up" and not a "Hand Out".
Take a look at this video and I think it's an excellent illustration of helping someone. Anyway, it's really cool!
Assuming for the sake of discussion that the man on the ground in the video was a real blind man...he is nowhere near the kind of panhandler that I have been talking about in North America.
The video was obviously originally done in Spanish and from the looks of things in a Spanish country (perhaps Mexico, or South America somewhere).
As I said before there is a big difference between someone begging on the street because one is incapacitated such that it is very, very difficult if not impossible to find any work at all and a North American panhandler.
In South America there are people who want to work, are able to work, have marketable skills, but who are simply unable to find work because of a terrible economy (much, much worse than anything in the US). In such cases in South America the extended family helps them survive. If one can't find work as such imagine what it is like being blind and old like the man begging in the video and living down there. It would be impossible for that man to find work since there would be 10 able bodied, younger men for every job position available.
What's worse is, imagine churches that don't help such people out! To do something useful and otherwise live with some measure of dignity.
North American panhandlers are absolutely nothing like the man seen in that video. I live in a city where there is work galore. I mean well paying work all over the place. People here are making $17 to sweep in new construction projects. I mean do nothing more than pick up a few scraps of wood and otherwise sweep floors. Companies here will hire just about anyone for such jobs.
A friend of mine is making just that. And he is not fit at all. Another friend of mine is getting $16 an hour to do something else (he was making $14 an hour at a previous job).
Coffee shops, fast food restaurants, laundromats, you name it will pay $10 an hour and up.
There are signs all over this city begging for help. Anyone that is able and wants to work can find work here. Lots and lots of work.
Yet...in all my travels and in all my life I have never encountered a city that is as full of panhandlers as this city is. It is overrun with them. The police here have had to resort to putting up signs at local businesses encouraging the public to not give to panhandlers but rather to agencies and charitable organizations that help the homeless. It's that bad.
Yet people continue to give them free money. It is generally beyond my comprehension as to why they continue to do so. Especially the Christians. Well...I can think of one reason...some people are afraid to tell a panhandler that they are not going to give them money just for the asking...and so they hand over some. To sort of get them out of their hair so to speak (little realizing that by doing so they will, in the long run, make the problem worse as panhandlers get wind of the free money available here).
The reason that panhandlers are overrunning this city is because people keep giving them free money. If no one gave them free money but instead offered to give them some in exchange for some form of work...the panhandler problem would be solved (once the word got out among the panhandlers that the free pickings weren't any good around here anymore).
I think you have to assess the situation yourself whether there is a true need or not.
Agreed. But I would say that a "true need" is not a lack of money when one does not want to work to make some. The true need there is to go find work so as to make the money that is "needed".
When I panhandled, I was simultaneously working. Where I lived, entry-level jobs pay ONLY the minimum wage (maybe 5-15 cents more, but that's nothing). ALWAYS, no exceptions in my experience. I was working hard for $6 an hour and I still had to resort to begging. One would be very fortunate to live in a city where a fast food worker could earn $10 an hour, because most cities in the U.S. will not pay them that much.
When I panhandled, I was simultaneously working. ....I was working hard for $6 an hour and I still had to resort to begging.
I hope you don't mind RalphKNS but may I ask if you are a Christian? It's hard to know who is and who isn't on this forum and since we are discussing panhandling from a Christian perspective it seems only fitting that I should ask (assuming you feel comfortable answering of course ).
Were you a Christian when you panhandled? If you do consider yourself to have been a Christian when you panhandled ...may I ask further if you were trusting God to provide for you and doing what was right by Him when you panhandled? Was that a God honoring thing to do?
I assume from your description that you were able to work (i.e. able bodied) but just weren't making enough for what you felt were your needs at the time.
Lastly...would you resort to panhandling again if at some point in the future you ended up not making enough to meet what you felt were your financial needs?
I don't like asking such personal questions RalphKNS in such a public way but given that you have been open enough to share the fact that you panhandled on a thread where panhandling is being discussed, I figured it wouldn't hurt to see if you might be willing to answer some of the questions I posed.
Just be aware that depending on your answers I might have something else to say about your choice to panhandle/beg . From a Christian perspective I mean.
No, I am not a Christian. If I need to, I will beg for money. Right now though, I have a job that pays me more than the one I had before. Therefore I don't have to beg.
Thanks for your continued honesty Ralph (I hope it's okay to call you that)! I really appreciate that.
I hope you can understand when I say that it would be difficult to discuss this issue with you from a Christian perspective given that you are not a Christian. Until the issues sorrounding why you are not a Christian are resolved that is .
Feel free to DM me Ralph or post further on this thread if you care to discuss why you are not yet a Christian. Assuming you have an interest in discussing that further of course.
I must admit to a certain degree of curiosity as to why someone who is not a Christian is seemingly hanging around on a Christian forum thread discussing the issue of panhandling . Not entirely without precedent mind you but a bit perplexing nevertheless.
im sitting here at school (which is a christian school) and i am reasearching the veiws and beleifs of christain values towards homelessness and stumbled across tis forum. I have not yet read every posts as my lesson times are limited but i am quite surprised at what some christains think about panhandlers.
I assumed that all christians would be willing to give to the needy, but i realised this isnt so.
I have only ever once been approched by a homless person asking me for money in the middle of a main street. I was sitting alone and a manstumbled towards me and for some reason i got scared and got up to walk away, but after i realised he didnt mean me any harm i moved back and listened to what he had to say. He asked for money and i told him i had none. But i didnt actually have any at all. If i had anything i would have happily goven it to him, probably frpom feeling guilty about moving away from him. but none the less the needed money more then i.
I believe that some homeless people have had terrible childhoods and would have no education on how to get a job or earn a wage in the modern age. if a few coins may hep someone out then i would be happy to. I feel sorry for peopl who cannot look after themselves.
I am not a christian, yes i go to a christian school
carlos, i am surprised that someone so well educated about the bible and christian values would reacte this way to a panhandler. Is the way i think about this issue incorrect?
I believe that some homeless people have had terrible childhoods and would have no education on how to get a job or earn a wage in the modern age. if a few coins may hep someone out then i would be happy to. I feel sorry for peopl who cannot look after themselves.
From a natural perspective, what you are saying is perfectly understandable. I mean the belief that some homeless people have had terrible childhoods, don't know how to get a job, and that a few coins will really help them out.
May I encourage you to not think that what is naturally understandable is in line with what God would think about dealing with homeless people?
Nor is what is naturally loving neccessarily what God, who is love and knows what true love is all about, would think to be loving.
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I am not a christian, yes i go to a christian school
I appreciate your honesty porton. There is nothing wrong with not being a Christian and going to a Christian school.
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carlos, i am surprised that someone so well educated about the bible and christian values would reacte this way to a panhandler. Is the way i think about this issue incorrect?
Your statement implies that I should have reacted differently and more in line with what you seem to believe a Christian should have reacted like. I certainly do not have a corner on truth porton so it is definitely possible that I could be mistaken in something I said, an attitude I have, or otherwise. I don't think I am but I am certainly open to that possibility.
It does not take someone well educated in the bible and chirstian values to know truth from God's perspective porton. It takes someone who is humble and broken in spirit and trusting in God. In that sense porton you could be in as good of a position to know what is true regarding how God would want Christians to deal with panhandlers as I or any other Christian is.
By becoming a Christian .
You ask if what you think about this is incorrect. If that is a sincere question may I say that biblically, you cannot truly grasp biblical truth, apart from the operation of the Holy Spirit in your life to lead you.
You can well enough understand things in your head but the eyes of your heart will not be opened to see what the Lord would want you to see from what the bible says. There is a blindness over your heart that only looking to the Lord and relying on His death can take away.
Having said that...yes...I believe you are mistaken about what true love is regarding how to deal with a panhandler. But again porton...what is loving by God will seem like hatred if you do not see things from God's perspective with the help of the Holy Spirit.
May I ask...if you are willing to discuss it...why you are not a Christian porton? Feel free to DM (direct message me) if you prefer rather than discussing that publicly on this thread.
Feel free by all means to post any further thoughts porton. I am just a poster like you. But I really think you need to deal with the issue of why you are not a Christian first, before you will be able to truly see things from God's perspective. I hope that makes sense.
Carlos, I think the bottom line is you simply must not presume you know the personal situation behind why a person is panhandling. If someone asks you for money, and you sincerely don't have it to spare, then it's fine to tell them you don't have any - but ask them if there is anything else you can do for them. A ride somewhere? Do they need a particular clothing item? Would they like you to pray for them?
If you DO have the money to spare, offer to buy them a meal and put them up in a motel room for the night. Offer to help them seek out a church that has some sort of social outreach program.
But keep in mind you could also be getting tested. You never know when you might be interacting with an angel who is sent to see how you will respond to a given situation. Also bear in mind Hebrews 13:2 which states we are to provide hospitality to strangers because in so doing we could be entertaining angels without knowing it.
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). 
. Not entirely without precedent mind you but a bit perplexing nevertheless. 
