In a message dated 98-05-06 20:23:11 EDT, you write: << May God have mercy on your souls, blood-suckers. God already had mercy on my soul, but I'm not a politician or a lawyer so I'll assume the last part was for some other greedy , selfish person. >> Alas, Rev. Bie, that member of your congregation just pitched your sermon over his shoulder the way so many "worshipers" do. My Bible reads, "If anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." (I Timothy 5:8) The responses to your e-mail have indicate that many of us are attempting to do support those who depend upon us. The same Bible instructs, "Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world." (James 1:27) I know for a fact that other technicians besides myself practice working long and charging short when a needy situation calls for it. There has to be a balance between providing for one's own and assisting widows. My wife is proud of me when I arrive at home at the end of the day and tell her how I helped a poor family get a junk piano going to provide a practice instrument. But not if I come home empty-handed! In order for us to be there to give this kind of help, I have to bring home enough to meet our own needs. In fact, the Bible even addresses this principle in a round-about way: "Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need." (Ephesians 4:28) Sermon, anyone? Bill Maxim, RPT
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