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Since then, I understand better than ever that many homeless folks are just ordinary people who were eviscerated by a series of personal tragedies and traumas, and maybe they didn't have a Christian friend and/or a church that helped them "bounce back."
You could drop "Christian" from that and change "church" to any institution. Unless you think only Christian friends have a monopoly on pulling people out of bad situations? Which would be an odd position to hold.
I was on the other side of the friendship you describe and I am not at all Christian. Very much not.
But I was in a chat room one day and met a nice gal there who I was talking to a few days. Over the course of this conversation it came to light she was orphaned and had been living with some pretty awful relatives. Her and her brother. So they left. And she was struggling hard to work enough to keep them under a roof and pay for his schooling. She had deferred her own university career to do this and pretty much every other aspect of her life too. She was basically living for him.
For fun some years ago I built a small house on my land. Just to see if I could. One hell of a learning curve it was! Plumbing, wiring, foundations, building, everything! But I did it.
So I put 2 and 2 together and realised I had this empty little house on my land and I offered it to her. Her and her brother stayed there for just shy of 3 years. It changed their life. Living rent free opened up options for them that working hard to just meet the rent precluded them.
I did it because it was the right thing to do. Nothing Christian about it, and no church involved.
You could drop "Christian" from that and change "church" to any institution. Unless you think only Christian friends have a monopoly on pulling people out of bad situations? Which would be an odd position to hold.
Speaking as a professional writer, I stand by my statement. They're my words and it's my personal story and I told it true. When you tell your personal story using your carefully chosen words, I shan't tell you to alter your words.
Yet no one told you to alter anything. I am not sure why every reply I get from you jumps to the non-sequitur of wanting to tell me what your writing background is - rather than replying to anything I actually said in my post.
No - telling you you could remove a word without changing the content is not asking you to alter anything. Rather it is a commentary on the content and the meaning of that content. Which on a discussion forum - which this is - I am perfectly entitled to do.
The simple fact remains that homeless people are helped all the time. By both individuals _and_ institutions. And not all those individuals or institutions were religious in any way.
Yet no one told you to alter anything. I am not sure why every reply I get from you jumps to the non-sequitur of wanting to tell me what your writing background is - rather than replying to anything I actually said in my post.
No - telling you you could remove a word without changing the content is not asking you to alter anything. Rather it is a commentary on the content and the meaning of that content. Which on a discussion forum - which this is - I am perfectly entitled to do.
The simple fact remains that homeless people are helped all the time. By both individuals _and_ institutions. And not all those individuals or institutions were religious in any way.
The response was wrong, but I can see how it happens. As someone who volunteers with two separate programs, I can tell you that there are many homeless cases that are simply beyond the ability of your local church to help. As one example, given how many homeless have substance abuse issues and thereby need to fund their addictions, theft can be a big problem. The other dimension of homelessness is how so many have deep emotional issues that are simply beyond the ability of the small local church to handle, given the need for specialized training. Yet that only provides you with a reason, not an excuse. Simply booting you out would have been a severe disconnect with that church's mission.
At our Episcopal parish, our response is twofold. We have affiliated ourselves with two nearby ecumenical homeless ministries to provide a full range of services, supporting them with funding and volunteers. That way, when approached, we refer them to those shelters, even providing transportation. We also act as a host parish for a comprehensive program that houses homeless families, giving them food, shelter, companionship, and a program that helps them find housing and employment. That way, we can truly help the homeless by giving them more than three hots and a cot.
The approach we don't employ? Aggressive proselytizing. We believe that compassion and caring are far more effective testimonies to Christianity than the Bible-beating boot camps that lots of homeless ministries use.
I have to mention a rather blatant claim earlier in my time here where some poster "Refuted" me by citing a church down the road where people arrived in wheelchairs and shuffling along on crutches and comin' out dancin' and singin' an' prausin' Jesususgod, and the truck filled up with Crutches and wheelchairs..
And I, duly impressed, asked where this church and road was as surely it was attracting a lot of attention and he still hasn't got back to me.
Odd how some kinds of healing never happen isn't it...as observed by the French writer Anatole France. On a visit to the shrine at Lourdes, seeing the discarded canes and crutches, he exclaimed, “What, what, no wooden legs???
Location: at the foothills of the cascades, washington
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Years ago, I became homeless by choice and then got involved with heroin among other drugs/alchoholism while living on the street. I always appreciated churches/temples that would open their doors for shelter or had soup kitchens and clothing banks and some would even help with bus tickets. Having been raised Jehovah's Witness, it's one thing that always bothered me about that religion....how they do none of that, and yet are quick to look down on other religions.
After enduring a horrific, heart-breaking tragedy, I ended up without a home. I turned to several area churches (ministers and pastors) and most didn't know what to do with me. My elder family members and society *LITERALLY* turned their back on me.
Initially, I found the most comfort and help and practical support within the Catholic church. I got kicked out of a Methodist church and a Presbyterian church for "loitering" (I was sleeping in the pews), and most churches don't even open their doors during the day.
The Catholic churches keep their doors open throughout the day, and when I walked out (after praying and resting), someone would often smile at me and say, "God bless you."
For someone drowning beneath the massive waves of grief and despair, that smile and those words were like being pulled up out of the dark, roiling waves.
A Christian friend found out that I was sleeping in my car and invited me to stay at her house until I got back on my feet. She was an angel walking this earth.
Since then, I understand better than ever that many homeless folks are just ordinary people who were eviscerated by a series of personal tragedies and traumas, and maybe they didn't have a Christian friend and/or a church that helped them "bounce back."
My homelessness was very brief (a couple weeks) but it would have become something much worse if a Christian friend and the Catholic church hadn't stepped out of their comfort zone to save me from myself.
Have you ever been homeless? How did you get back on your feet?
I used to donate to a man who ran a mission, I would show up with groceries, money, items, and I did this for a while, years.
Then one day I lost everything, my job, my car, and I was stranded and so I went to this mission where the owners knew me well, and I assumed they loved me. I only need a place to stay Sat and Sunday night and I had come late on Sat. The next morning they woke me up earlie to get ready for church but I couldn't go and when I told them I coudn't go, they threw me out. I have never been so disappointed so much in people.
I am so glad you found solace in a church and that someone helped you.
I think, as a society, we are so cruel.
I wish there were more social services for homeless people and that more people cared.
No one should have to sleep out in the cold.
I think that many people who find themselves homeless have no idea where to begin to find the social services that do exist. I just did a search on them for my state. I'm surprised to see all the different types of homeless programs. Some for women who are pregnant and/or have small children, some for men, some for teens.
Some are run by religious organizations, some secular/government.
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